The Open Records Debate, Page 3

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The Positions

For purposes of this article, the many possible variations within each position have been distilled into three major groups.

PRO: For Open Records

What They Say

Those in favor of open records are advocating for the equal right of unrestricted access to original birth records for all adult adopted persons, i.e., the same right given to non-adopted adults.

They further support that:

birthparent privacy is not an open records issue, since "open records" simply means access to the information, not a mandate for contact,
open records are not a threat to adoptive parents, and
instances of abortion will not increase with open records, among others.

Why They Say It

A synopsis of the main arguments supporting open records.

A separate class: This group believes that any form of restriction (court order only, vetoes, intermediaries, mutual consent, etc.) serves to separate adult adoptees as a "class" of people, and treats them not as adults but as children who need the supervision of others.

Secrecy implies shame: Adoption author Marcy Axness writes, in Painful Lessons, Loving Bonds: "If we didn’t find (adoption) so contemptible, so laced with shame, why would our laws be so vehemently constructed to protect everyone from the shame returning to their doorsteps?"

Fundamental right to know: Judge Wade S. Weatherford, Jr., Seventh Judicial Circuit Court, SC, said in a ruling on an adoptee’s petition to gain access to adoption records: "Mankind is possessed of no greater urge than to try to understand the age-old question: ’Who am I?’ ’Why am I?’... Those emotions and anxieties that generate our thirst to know the past are not superficial and whimsical. They are real and they are ’good cause’ under the law of man and God."

Major Players

For those interested in getting involved with advocacy for open records:

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Comments

I was adopted in central Indiana in 1988, 2 days after my birth. It was a closed adoption. Around the age of 10 when I learned to use the Internet, one of the first things I did was e-mailed the adoption agency my parents worked with. At that age, as deeply as I loved my adoptive parents, I absolutely needed to know who my birth mother was. It was not at all that I wanted to live with her or even meet her. All I wanted was to know her name and see a picture. I yearned to see why my eyes were brown and why my hair was so fine. Not knowing where you come from is one of the worst feeling in the world. There is a void in my life that will never be filled.

Should I meet my mother, and she shuns me, that's okay! However, it is my RIGHT! NOT A PRIVELEGE! NO ONE should get to make that decision for me! I am certain that the men and women who make these laws know exactly what their heritage is. They cannot even BEGIN to comprehend the pain we all feel! What about our birth parents? Do they not have a right to know the flesh of their flesh?! We have the right to know each other! Parent and child. This is the most sacred connection other than that of the Almighty Father. WHY on Earth should ANYONE get to make that decision other than us?! If the law was made to protect adoptees from the pain of rejection, that is completely absurd. We should be able to choose whether or not we meet our BLOOD family! I cannot stress enough that this decision is not for ANYONE to make other than us!

I do agree that if the birthparent chooses to be anonymous to his/her child, the adoptee should not be able to contact that parent. However, I do believe that the adoptee should AT LEAST be able to see a picture and be offered some information about their ancestry and a DETAILED, updated medical history. The laws must change. Adoptees do not deserve this anguish laid upon their shoulders because of someone elses decision. It is not our fault. We all deserve better.

Posted by: Hillary473 at 04/24/2008 01:19 AM

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