An independent voice for ethical adoption
Open Records: Talking Points
- Adult adoptees are not allowed to access their original birth certificates and adoption records. No other American citizen is denied the right to his or her identity.
- Refusal of access is a violation of an adoptees right to equal protection under the law.
- Contrary to popular belief, records were not closed to protect the privacy of birth mothers.
- Legislative history shows that records were originally closed to protect adoptive parents and adoptees–two classes of people who overwhelmingly support open records.
- Opponents of open records are most often agency professionals who benefit from the secrecy of closed adoptions. Legislators should ask why they have such a vested interest in keeping records closed.
- Courts have upheld open record victories despite challenges based on the right to privacy issue. The courts have ruled that no such right exists in this instance.
- Abortion is not the issue. It is used solely to distract from the real issues at hand–that access to records is a basic civil and constitutional right and that there are no compelling governmental interest arguments to keep records closed.
- Most other countries with comparable legal systems and recognition of rights have open records.
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