Facts to Know…
About Adult Adoptee Access to Original Identity
1 Millions of adult adoptees’ original identities have been sealed without their permission.
2 For years opponents of original birth certificate access have perpetuated the myth that birth mothers were promised privacy. Studies now show, privacy may have been offered by adoption agencies and entities receiving profit from the adoption process, but birth mothers were never promised anonymity under any state law.
3 Birth certificates were first sealed to protect the birth mother and her family from public knowledge and stigma, NOT from the adoptee.
4 The adult adoptees’ request for original birth identity is not a betrayal of the adoptive parents, but is a healthy and valid need to know who they are.
5 States withholding original birth certificates from adult adoptees equal protection by denying adoptees the same rights as non-adopted persons.
6 Unlike non-adopted persons, adult adoptees must petition the courts and prove “good cause” for obtaining original birth certificates, and be at the mercy of the presiding Judge.
7 As states have amended their laws to provide adult adoptees access to their original birth certificate, there has been no evidence of the sorts of negative consequences repeatedly predicted by opponents of changing these laws.