Do any of you have experience with protection orders from the court?

Question

My adopted children have a court order that forbids the bio parents from ever being told of thier whereabouts, any info regarding us, etc. When they turned 18 we gave them all of the info we had including a copy of the protection order. How does this effect the adoptee's rights to get info on their birth parents? Social services can never give them the info and we don't have much info to share with them. Any thoughts? My children aren't actively seeking their bio parents, but this is one of those "weird issues" that make releasing all info to bio parent or adoptee not so clear cut.

Answer 1

Unfortunatly there's a good reason for the protection order. Maybe the kids really shouldn't find these people, who knows what damage they could still do to them. It is a catch 22 issue though.  The kids deserve to know their heritage but at the same time it could be very unhealthy for them.

Answer 2

The court order only prohibits the bio parents from getting information on the kids, not the other way around.  They are adults now, and they can write to the state for what is called non-identifying information.  Every state is required to give this to adult adopted people upon request.  Contact the social services department to inquire about it.  It can include information such as height, hair color, ages at birth, maybe some social and medical information.  It does not contain names.

Also, I'm wondering now that I think about it, don't the children already know their natural parents' names?  I wonder this because there is an order of protection, which I assume has their names on it.

In which state were they adopted?  Some states do allow adult adopted persons to access their original birth certificates?  This link will give you information about access rights in the state in which the adoptions took place.  It will also give you more information about obtaining non-identifying information:

http://www.adoptiononline.com/aecrecords...

Answer 3

You sealed their fate when you agreed to the fact that they are forbidden to get the info.

Unless they obtain it some other way, and I think that may be doubtful.

In essence, I doubt they will ever find out, unless they happen upon some website where their parents have posted any relevant details.

In other words, it's like a needle in a haystack.

I feel for you then;, hindsite is 20/20...I'm sure had my parents known that what they did would prevent her from finding us, perhaps they would have reconsidered..I don't know

because I don't even know if she HAS tried to find us..now that my parents are dead, it's a done deal, I guess.

Answer 4

We are at the front end of this situation.  We adopted fairly recently and the birth parents of our kids have specifically been barred from seeking contact.  This is not something we asked for, but agree with the ruling given the history of the bio family (violence, drugs, jail time, etc).  However, we are making sure to keep everything we have from the adoption, including their complete case file, so our sons have that information should they decide to locate their birth family when they are adults.  

I would think there is nothing baring your children from getting whatever court and CPS records are available.  The ruling was against the birth parents and should be part of the open records of the court.  It might take a lawyer to crack them open, but nothing too difficult.  Also, with the Internet and other resources, it isn't hard to locate people with just a name and a possible area of residence.

Answer 5

Since your children weren't asking for this information, what possessed you to give them all this information?  It seems to have been uncalled for.

Nothing you can do now of course, once the egg is fried you can't make it raw again.