Open Records for Adult Adoptees, Page 2

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Other arguments are:

Birthparents (or adoptees, or adoptive parents) don't want open records.

77% said YES to Parenting Magazine Poll that asked "Should adoptees be able to access their own birth records?"
(Parenting Magazine, August poll results, November 2000, p. 30)

1 "birth" mother (out of thousands in 18 years) refused contact from her adult child.
Winona Durbin, Adoptions Social Worker, Riverside Co. Social Services, Riverside, CA

93% of adoptees were pleased with the outcome of their reunions with "birth" parents;
50% of reunited adoptees now visit on a regular basis;
17% of reunited adoptees had only one meeting.
Dr. Paul Sachdev, Professor, Memorial University, St. Johns, Newfoundland

94% of adoptees who wrote to public officials favored model state adoption legislation allowing open records; 6% opposed it.
Study by Harriet Ganson and Judith Cook, 1986, presented to American Society Association 81st Annual Meeting
We have passive registries for those who want to reunite.

NEW YORK STATE REGISTRY
35 matches in 9 years, of adoptees with "birth" parents, were facilitated by New York's State Registry as of 6-92, despite 2,119 adoptees and 932 "birth" parents registered, at an average cost of $275 each. New York Dept. of Social Services

Dead People cannot register.
The Registries are not advertised.
People may have moved out of state and are unaware of their existence.

One important thing to remember in this whole discussion: We are talking about open records for ADULT ADOPTEES. This means that a birthmother will have, at a minimum, 18 years before the adoptee can even begin to search for her, IF they so desire. A lot can happen in 18 years to change a birthmother's mind about contact.

Adoptees want the same rights that everyone else in the United States has: access to their own information. Instead, total strangers are allowed to look at our information, yet the State does not trust us with it. We are 'infantilized' in the eyes of the law. Not all adoptees are going to search. That is their right. Not all adoptees will want their information. That is their right. But we need to put the issue of reunions into the hands of the people whom it will affect, not state legislators who are quoting laws from 70 years ago which were passed in a much different society than what we have today. As far as birthmothers' rights, they have the right to say "no" to a reunion. But let us adoptees have access to our history.

Tim Roberts
Adoptive Parent
Adoptee Reunited 7/13/97

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