LilMtnCbn
02-03-2004, 06:14 AM
http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/02022004/news/73843.htm
Adoption bill aims to open records for adults
By Shir Haberman
shaberman@seacoastonline.com
CONCORD - On Tuesday the Senate Public Institutions, Health and Human Services
Committee will take testimony on a bill that would allow adult adoptees access
to their original birth certificates bearing the names of their birth parents.
The legislation, Senate Bill 335, is being sponsored by Manchester Democratic
Sen. Lou D’Allesandro.
"I have two adopted children, and my oldest asked me to put this bill in,"
D’Allesandro said. "My daughter has had a series of health problems, and
maybe if we had had better information (about her birth parents), it could have
helped."
Its backers say this bill is a compromise.
An attempt to open to adoptees all of their birth and adoption-related records,
including medical records, failed in the House three years ago. Adoption
agencies and attorneys said that bill unfairly exposed birth parents who
expected that their identities would be forever confidential.
This session, the Catholic Church has come out against the bill, D’Allesandro
said.
"The Catholic Church is opposed to this because they think it could lead to an
increase in things they oppose," he said.
The church is allegedly concerned that if the bill passes and mothers who are
now considering adoption know that their children could locate them sometime in
the future, they may choose abortion over adoption, the senator said.
One adoptee who is supporting the bill said a mother’s expectation of privacy
is unrealistic.
"Anonymity is a myth, has been a myth for more than 20 years, and those who
suggest that it exists perpetrate a cruel hoax," said Steve Varnum of Warner.
"What they should have been telling birth moms for at least the last 25 years
is: If your son or daughter wants to find out who you are, he or she probably
will."
Varnum, an adult adoptee, called the notion of birthparent anonymity "a myth
that has kept adoptees from their birth records for too long."
Holding newspaper and magazine articles about adoption searches and reunions
from the mid-’70s onward, Varnum said, "With all of these searches going on -
and they became so common, adoption agencies got in on the act - how could any
birth mother reasonably believe her name was going to remain a secret forever?"
Senate Bill 335 is modeled after Oregon’s Measure 58, a ballot measure that
became law in 1999. Although it would allow adult adoptees to get noncertified
copies of their unaltered, original birth certificates, it does not grant
access to any other birth- or adoption-related records.
Birth parents may request and submit to the state a simple contact preference
form saying either that they would like to be contacted, would like to be
contacted only through an intermediary or prefer not to be contacted. When a
preference form has been submitted, an adoptee who requests his or her birth
certificate will also receive the form.
Under current New Hampshire law, adopted persons who request birth certificates
receive amended certificates containing the names of their adoptive parents. To
access their original certificates, they need to go before a Probate Court
judge and show "good cause" to have the records unsealed.
Kansas, Alaska, Delaware, Oregon, Tennessee and Alabama are states where
adoptees have the legal right to their own birth information.
Paul Schibbelhute, a birth father who is one of the originators of SB 335, said
Oregon’s law has been very successful. In the first three years the law was
in effect, the state issued nearly 7,300 original birth records. Birth parents
submitted 469 contact preference forms; only 81 asked for no contact.
Implementation of Oregon’s Measure 58 was delayed for a year while a small
group of birth mothers challenged the law, saying their rights would be
violated. Schibbelhute, who lives in Nashua, said none of the feared things the
bill’s opponents predicted has come true - birth mothers haven’t complained
that their privacy was violated, the number of adoptions has continued to
increase and the number of abortions decreased.
Donna Chagnon, a Warner mother who surrendered a child 30 years ago, said:
"Poll after poll in this country show that the majority of birth mothers favor
open records. Nonetheless, open records will not happen until society
recognizes that the right of the child takes precedence over the right of any
dissenting adult - especially when that child had no legal representation in
the adoption transaction.
"All kids, whether adopted, or children of divorced or deceased parents, have a
right to know their origins. They should not be penalized for the way they were
conceived."
The Senate Public Institutions, Health and Human Services Committee will
continue its hearing on SB 335 at 3 p.m. Feb. 3 in State House Room 105A. The
first hearing on Jan. 15 was recessed after 20 minutes, after Sen.
D’Allesandro, state Rep. Janet Allen and Steve Varnum of Warner spoke.
SB 335 has drawn interest from groups of adoptees and birthmothers from all
over the country. Adam Pertman, executive director of the Evan B. Donaldson
Adoption Institute and author of the book "Adoption Nation," has said he plans
to testify at the Feb. 3 hearing.
-------------------------
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown
Adoption bill aims to open records for adults
By Shir Haberman
shaberman@seacoastonline.com
CONCORD - On Tuesday the Senate Public Institutions, Health and Human Services
Committee will take testimony on a bill that would allow adult adoptees access
to their original birth certificates bearing the names of their birth parents.
The legislation, Senate Bill 335, is being sponsored by Manchester Democratic
Sen. Lou D’Allesandro.
"I have two adopted children, and my oldest asked me to put this bill in,"
D’Allesandro said. "My daughter has had a series of health problems, and
maybe if we had had better information (about her birth parents), it could have
helped."
Its backers say this bill is a compromise.
An attempt to open to adoptees all of their birth and adoption-related records,
including medical records, failed in the House three years ago. Adoption
agencies and attorneys said that bill unfairly exposed birth parents who
expected that their identities would be forever confidential.
This session, the Catholic Church has come out against the bill, D’Allesandro
said.
"The Catholic Church is opposed to this because they think it could lead to an
increase in things they oppose," he said.
The church is allegedly concerned that if the bill passes and mothers who are
now considering adoption know that their children could locate them sometime in
the future, they may choose abortion over adoption, the senator said.
One adoptee who is supporting the bill said a mother’s expectation of privacy
is unrealistic.
"Anonymity is a myth, has been a myth for more than 20 years, and those who
suggest that it exists perpetrate a cruel hoax," said Steve Varnum of Warner.
"What they should have been telling birth moms for at least the last 25 years
is: If your son or daughter wants to find out who you are, he or she probably
will."
Varnum, an adult adoptee, called the notion of birthparent anonymity "a myth
that has kept adoptees from their birth records for too long."
Holding newspaper and magazine articles about adoption searches and reunions
from the mid-’70s onward, Varnum said, "With all of these searches going on -
and they became so common, adoption agencies got in on the act - how could any
birth mother reasonably believe her name was going to remain a secret forever?"
Senate Bill 335 is modeled after Oregon’s Measure 58, a ballot measure that
became law in 1999. Although it would allow adult adoptees to get noncertified
copies of their unaltered, original birth certificates, it does not grant
access to any other birth- or adoption-related records.
Birth parents may request and submit to the state a simple contact preference
form saying either that they would like to be contacted, would like to be
contacted only through an intermediary or prefer not to be contacted. When a
preference form has been submitted, an adoptee who requests his or her birth
certificate will also receive the form.
Under current New Hampshire law, adopted persons who request birth certificates
receive amended certificates containing the names of their adoptive parents. To
access their original certificates, they need to go before a Probate Court
judge and show "good cause" to have the records unsealed.
Kansas, Alaska, Delaware, Oregon, Tennessee and Alabama are states where
adoptees have the legal right to their own birth information.
Paul Schibbelhute, a birth father who is one of the originators of SB 335, said
Oregon’s law has been very successful. In the first three years the law was
in effect, the state issued nearly 7,300 original birth records. Birth parents
submitted 469 contact preference forms; only 81 asked for no contact.
Implementation of Oregon’s Measure 58 was delayed for a year while a small
group of birth mothers challenged the law, saying their rights would be
violated. Schibbelhute, who lives in Nashua, said none of the feared things the
bill’s opponents predicted has come true - birth mothers haven’t complained
that their privacy was violated, the number of adoptions has continued to
increase and the number of abortions decreased.
Donna Chagnon, a Warner mother who surrendered a child 30 years ago, said:
"Poll after poll in this country show that the majority of birth mothers favor
open records. Nonetheless, open records will not happen until society
recognizes that the right of the child takes precedence over the right of any
dissenting adult - especially when that child had no legal representation in
the adoption transaction.
"All kids, whether adopted, or children of divorced or deceased parents, have a
right to know their origins. They should not be penalized for the way they were
conceived."
The Senate Public Institutions, Health and Human Services Committee will
continue its hearing on SB 335 at 3 p.m. Feb. 3 in State House Room 105A. The
first hearing on Jan. 15 was recessed after 20 minutes, after Sen.
D’Allesandro, state Rep. Janet Allen and Steve Varnum of Warner spoke.
SB 335 has drawn interest from groups of adoptees and birthmothers from all
over the country. Adam Pertman, executive director of the Evan B. Donaldson
Adoption Institute and author of the book "Adoption Nation," has said he plans
to testify at the Feb. 3 hearing.
-------------------------
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown
