What rights do non-adopted individuals have that adopted individuals lack?

Question

I stumbled across a couple of "adoption" questions and it seems adoption is more of a hotbed of discussion than the other "A" word.

I have never really thought of adoptees much (except while watching "Mommie Dearest") and guess I just always assumed most adoptees were happy to have been adopted but would sometimes like to meet their biological parents (now I'm afraid to say "birth parents").

I guess I'm just looking to educate myself more on this issue, and where the malcontent comes from.

Answer 1

I am speaking on behalf of the UK when I answer this.

Over here, we have rights just as any normal english citizen. We have access to our files.

I think USA doesnt allow access to adoption files, which I think is totally wrong. Infact, its shocking. I feel for the adoptees out there, as I wouldnt have got anywhere without being able to view my files.

They are important to me.

On the other hand though, we have no restrictions on what we can do or anything. We are not different from anyone else. Certain people on here seem to think they are.

Cant please everyone though.

Answer 2

we lost the right to know our own selves,and were expected to "start" our lives from when the adoption was finalised.therefore,our true life did not start when we were born,but when we were adopted.non adopted people know they started life from birth.in my case,i was 8 months old.prior to that i was known under a dfferent name,and lived with a foster family i know nothing about.so to answer your question,the rule was that i did not exist legally until i was 8 months old!

Answer 3

What rights do non-adopted individuals have that adopted individuals lack?

The right to just be who they are. The right to SEE where they come from. The right to KNOW who they are from birth. The right to FEEL their own emotions without being shamed for them. The right to their medical files. The right to speak up about their own experiences.  

Lastly... The right to mature and age.

Answer 4

just a couple that come to mind:

-access to their "actual" birth record.

-knowledge of their heritage.

-access to information on their extended family.

Answer 5

I had to spend what should have been a worry and care free time, childhood, working to pretend I had not lost my mother, and try desperately to fit into a family who was very different than I am.

Adoptee and author, Betty Jean Lifton explains it flawlessly here:

"Though we are not from the same family, we were from the same closed family system ― a socially engineered arrangement that was designed to cut us off psychologically, as well as legally, from our genetic and cultural heritage.

The closed adoption system forces everyone in the adoption triangle to live a double life. In order to survive psychologically, the adoptee has to live "as if" born to the adoptive parents. The birth mother has to go on with her life "as if" she never had a child. And the adoptive parents have to live "as if" this is their biological child.

I came to see this mechanism of doubling that everyone did as a form of dissociation. When you dissociate, you split off the part of the self that is too painful to deal with. For the adopted child, this means splitting off the grief and loss and the need to know one's heritage. When years later the dissociation wears off, and adoptees go in search of the original mother to learn the circumstances of their birth and relinquishment, all of those once split off emotions are released. The unresolved grief and anger can be overwhelming.

Understanding the survival mechanism of dissociation helped answer the question that I and so many adoptees had once we woke up from what I call the Great Sleep. How had we so passively accepted that we were not to know the mother and father who gave us life, and to learn the circumstances of our birth and relinquishment. "

Living with secrets, lies, and pretending is an emotionally unhealthy way to grow up.  I have been in reunion with my natural mother for 20 years, so I've accepted my childhood.  But I'm deeply saddened that adoption in America has changed little, and children are still living this way today.

Another article that explains what's wrong with adoption in N. America is here:

http://www.angelfire.com/or/originsnsw/w...

Thanks for your question!

Answer 6

I agree with most of what has previously been posted.  But I would like to add that being placed in adoption was a decision made entirely by others.  Also, the decision about my placement with a family was made entirely by others.  Obviously I was a newborn baby and could not speak for myself.  But, the court did not even consider appointing some one to represent my interests before the courts.  My bparents provided  false medical history.  Some of the information given to my aparents by the social workers was also blatantly incorrect.  Absolutely no attempt was made to confirm any of that information.  My desire to know the facts about my bparents and bfamily is not considered as important as my bparents request for anonymity.

Luckily, my adoption was a success story.  Be that as it may, my rights were trampled.

Answer 7

Good question.

Check out b*****d Nation the countries largest adoptee rights organization http://www.b******s.org

Depending on how much you want to get into it, for starters adoptees have their real birth certificates sealed by the state upon the finalization of the adoption and a new "amended" or what I call FAKE birth certificate is issued that ommits the biological parents names and replaces them with the adoptive parents names. Some states allow falsification of place of birth to relate to where the adoptive parents were living at the time of the adoptees birth. This is complete fabrication, my adoptive parents, didn't have anything to do with my birth, weren't present and didn't even know I was being born at the time it happened.

Babies, are now also having different "prices" in adoption agencies reflecting a racist market demand for white newborn infants above all other races who's prices differ. This new market has had research and $$ invested into it to target mothers and expecting women out of their children to provide the product for the consumer ( which is of course an infant ) and its taken the lead over the children and youths who really need it like those in  the foster care system.

That should be a good start for you :)

Answer 8

The non adopted have access to their history.  They have access to a document that accurately records their birth.  They know their full medical history.  If they don't, then they have someone who does.  Their parents can't deny them the document that records their birth.   The non adopted unless of course they are an adoptive or natural parent aren't told to shut up and be grateful that they were not dumped, aborted and so forth.  They are not considered  neurotic and insane if they do their family history tree.

Answer 9

Thank you for asking.  In 44 states, adopted citizens do not have the right to unconditionally access the factual records of their own births.  In theory, they can access them in all 50 states, but only 6 states allow them to do so without condition, in the same way as their non-adopted counterparts.  The adopted person's birth certificate is sealed and replaced by an "amended" birth certificate that shows information that is related to the adoption, rather than the birth.  For example, the natural parents' names are removed and replaced with the adoptive parents' names.  The adoptive parents' names are not simply added.

If a person is relinquished by his or her natural parents, that person does not lose the right to his or her original birth certificate.  It is only if the person is placed with an adoptive family AND if the adoption finalizes (which usually takes at about 6 months,) that the original record is sealed.  If the child is never adopted, the original record stays unsealed.  If a child is adopted but the adoption "disrupts" (the adoptive parents "return" the child) then the original record UNseals.

Adult adopted citizens were not always barred from accessing their own birth records.  The sealing of these records began in the 1930's to hide the shame of out-of-wedlock pregnancy and infertility.  Prior to this time, records were not sealed, and were available to adopted persons, without restriction, in all states.  It was also a means allowing adoptive parents anonymity from the natural parents, as some feared the natural parents might return to take the child back. Some states did not close records until much later, while some never closed records.

This unequal treatment under the law is discrimination by the state that holds the birth records.  It also violates the adopted person's constitutional right to privacy from government intrusion.

Answer 10

There are no rights that are not given to adoptees. They have the same rights as everyone else.  "Mommie Dearest" is not a good thing to base adoption by as it was an isolated thing and not what typical adoptions in a healthy situation look like.