One Voice-The Bill
Paula Benoit, former small business owner and candidate for Maine State Senate in District 19, was sitting in on a Judiciary Committee work session and heard the legislators talking about opening birth certificates to adult adoptees born in Maine.
The bill to provide original birth certificates to adult adoptees was voted down in Committee. After lengthy conversations with supporters of the defeated bill she began thinking that if she were elected Senator, she would look into this legislation. As an adoptee, Paula became the voice of adult adoptees born in Maine after 1953.
Co-sponsoring LD 1084, (several other bills had been submitted, combined by the Revisor’s Office, and the sponsors all became co-sponsors) Senator Benoit gave testimony and revealed a personal side to the bill that had been missing in past attempts. Open and honest when she spoke to the committee, the Senator explained the importance of allowing adult adoptees having access to their original identity.
When the bill was passed out committee, it was passed with a minority report. This meant a majority of the committee did not support opening the birth certificates to adult adoptees. Usually a minority report is unlikely to get enough support to pass the House and the Senate. The supporters and sponsors of LD 1084 immediately took action on getting their message to legislators letting them know they needed to support the minority report if they believed all adult adoptees are entitled to their original birth certificates.
Senator Benoit contacted every Senator and Representative, sending copies of her statement and testimony to them plus a handwritten note. This served her well. Many legislators mentioned they never understood the view of the adoptee.
Some legislators came to her and expressed that they had a personal connection to the bill; “My gosh, my grandma was adopted, I guess I don’t know who I am either,” and “My neighbor just adopted children, wouldn’t it be great if they had access to family medical information.” Through Paula Benoit’s efforts, legislators were able to understand what it meant to be adopted and not have access to original identity.
Family Connections
While working on Legislative Document (LD) 1084 (An Act to Provide Adult Adoptees Access to their Original Birth Certificates) as a co-sponsor and State Senator, Paula Benoit felt it was important for her to understand what other adoptees had gone through in years past, and what future adoptees would experience if LD 1084 did not pass.
The Senator petitioned the Probate Court in the county of her birth place. She went before the Probate Court Judge and he told her she did not have "sufficient need" to allow her access to her original birth certificate. Since 1953 adult adoptees have heard those words too many times.
A few weeks after LD 1084 was passed by the Legislature and signed into law by the Governor, Senator Benoit received a letter from the Probate Court informing her of her birth mother’s and father's name and date of death.
After searching the names on the Internet and discovering they lived in the Wilton, Maine area, she sent an email to the State Senator representing that district. He sent a response telling her that he not only knew them, they were his grandparents! That made the Senator a biological nephew to Senator Benoit. His father was her oldest biological brother. The two Senators had been working side by side in the Senate chambers and had absolutely no idea they were biologically related.
Interestingly, the Probate Court did not sent the original birth certificate, which was what Senator Benoit petitioned the court for. They took it upon themselves to research her biological parents and offer their death notices.
This is example of why the courts have no business deciding who, and who may not, have access to their original birth certificates. Every adult adoptee have access to what all non-adopted persons have, their original birth certificate.