Birth record rights and reasons?

Question

I was wondering if most adoptees are wanting open records for the sake of open records and to obtain original birth certificates or to aid in the search for birth-families? I am actually a reunited adoptee. A few years back my quest for open records would have been primarily about locating my birth-family. Now my reasons are more along the lines of because I can. I intend to go through the process in LA just so I can say I did. I run a search and reunion wesbite of sorts and am interested in helping others with the process.

Answer 1

I have been in reunion for 20 years.  I have my OBC.

The reason I am MOST upset by closed records is because people I care about, my adopted brother, for one, cannot find his family for under $2, 000.  There are two adoptees who post here who cannot crack the code to get their OBCs and find their families.  Between these 3 adoptees mentioned, they are parents to 7 children.  That they cannot get medical information for them OR their children.

Because I know my mother, I know that I have to have annual eye exams by an ophthalmologist.  I have the potential to have inherited a disease that I can at least slow down with early detection.  And that is just one thing...

Answer 2

would you pm me the link to your webaddress, I pass around search help whenever the opportunity presents itself.

I'm in reunion, and have been for almost 7 years. For me it is pursuing my civil rights. If the non adopted get it, why can't I? I want it, because it is a sign of my birth, how I entered this world. It is a record of how I came to be. My connection to my ancestors. To my people.

Thanks :)

Are you in LA? Join us for the protest :) http://www.adopteerights.net

Answer 3

i am 25 years old 2 months i found my birth mother i have been looking for since i turned 18 she started looking at the same time i was adopted through the Mormon church. several time we both contacted LDS social serevices and i was told that my recoards where sealed. now when she called  they told her there was no baby and she should stop looking. i posted  on FARR in FL  4 years later i'm HOME with my Blood my Family. Now should all recorads be open YES for many reasons health, location, and most of all for PEACE OF MIND!the lord and my self only know how painfull this 25 years have been all i wanted was to know who I am.

Answer 4

I've already found my first mother.  For me, being able to see my own birth certificate is all about the principle of the thing--i.e., my civil rights.

Answer 5

Civil rights, being treated equally and fairly.

I met my entire family in 1996, I know who they are.  And yet I STILL cannot have a copy of my OBC.  I am discriminated against for the sake of "protecting" my n-mother's privacy...but just what privacy are they protecting when I could tell them her name, phone number, address, birthday, favorite color, mother's maiden name, heck...anything you want to know, I could tell them.  Same for my n-father, except he passed away last year.  

So what's to protect?  Why can't I have my own birth certificate if I already KNOW who's names are on it?

Answer 6

While I do think it would help in the search and reunion process, my interest, like Laurie's (and yours, it sounds like) is in the civil rights aspect.  I'm going through the process right now of trying to get my documents.  My first mom happily signed all the necessary forms.  Now it seems to be a waiting game.  As I've told others, I cannot quite put into words why it's important.  But it's a symbol of a lot of things important in my life, and it's mine.  I would like it back, and I think I'm entitled to it.

Answer 7

I was reunited before I even knew about adoptee rights issues.  I had hired someone and got my parents' names for $100.00.  It took 2 hours for the person to get back to me with the names after I hired him.  

Because reunions happen all the time with or without open records, it comes down to civil rights.  No one should be treated unequally under the law due to a status that is beyond his or her control, such as having been adopted.

Answer 8

Yes part of it is to find my natural mother but since my birth certificate is not complete.  I do need it for that purpose.  I want to be able to prove that I am indeed an American citizen.  Many adoptees have to deal with this issue.  I have heard countless stories in the news no less where an adoptee can't open their records to prove that they are citizens because their adoption was not done correctly.  I effectively become a prisoner in my own country without much of a choice about it.  I can't even get a passport.

Answer 9

Hi Me,

I am a firm believer that everyone should have equal rights to their own records.  It's a matter of fairness for all.  

Personally, I have been in reunion for many, many years so it is not about trying to locate my natural family.  The U.S is behind other advanced nations in this respect.  Only 6 states currently allow adult adoptees equal rights to non-adopted adults.  Kansas & Alaska have always had equal access laws for adoptees.  I doubt if all adult adoptees there have utilized that right.  The point is, it's there if they want to, just as it is for non-adopted adults.  That's how it should be in all the states.  The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute agrees.

The fact remains that there will be reunions regardless.  This is not about reunions.  It's about whether adult adoptees should have fewer rights than other citizens.  My opinion is everyone should be equal.  It should be each adoptee's choice whether or not to access their records, to trace their genealogy, or to make contact with a natural relative, the same as it is with non-adopted people.

Although it would not benefit me personally as far as gaining additional family information, I am a strong advocate for children affected by adoption.  I want something better for them than what the last generation of adoptees got.  If they choose not to access their records, that's fine, too.  They may change their mind later.  I want everyone to have that option, not just the ones whose mommies say they can have that right.  

Just as not all adults exercise their right to vote, they still have that right.  It has been fought for and won for all.  It's a matter of fairness.  Good luck getting your records.  Thanks for asking this question,

julie j

reunited adoptee

Answer 10

My daughter and I had been in reunion for 8 years when her son got sick. We had looked for her father but came up empty so we backed off for a while. When her son got sick and the doctors needed to have a place to start we went looking again. I found him and reunited the two of them. We got all the information she needed to date and now it's just about being like everyone else. My daughter doesnt' need her birth certificate for reunion or medical info any more. It would just be nice to be able to get one like everybody else.

Answer 11

For me when I wanted open records it didn't have anything to do with the Adopted person I was married too... or for him to search....

I wanted open records because I was the mother of an adopted man's children and every time I took my kids to the doctor, or completed medical reports half the page was empty or filled with question marks....

For me it was the fact that My children wanted to know their roots...being in a very Irish family genealogy was a prime focus and No One could ever figure out if my daughter was taking the side of the North and got my fathers Dark Irish or if her striking beauty come from another source... It turns out that it Did so my Gut was correct....

My bio children are a good deal Native American which explains where she got this beauty that is Nothing like how I look...  I nearly sent her back at birth and said I thought she had been Switched Until I rocognized her lips

Meeting her biological Grandparents filled in the blanks....

For me It was not only about the Adopted Person but, about his children as this information was as much theirs as it belonged to their father.....