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This article examines all sides of the issue that has the adoption community up in arms.

Continue reading The Open Records Debate

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.