(This was originally written to combat the Uniform Adoption Act. We believe that records should be open to natural parents also. We are working on a position paper that supports that belief.)
February 22, 1997
Dear Senator _____________ ,
The Adoption Healing is comprised of over 400 Adoption Agencies, Mental Health Facilities and Adoption Search/Support Organizations in 9 countries, representing hundreds of thousands of individuals whose lives have been directly affected by adoption.
We have great interest in the passing of legislation that gives adopted adults absolute right to access to their original birth certificates and other identifying information.
Sealed adoption records which cut off adoptees from their heritage is not in the best interest of the child. In Kansas where adult adoptees have had the right to their records for over 40 years, the Department of Social Services reports no problems, no complaints, no legal actions of any kind as a result of adoptees being given their original birth certificate at the age of 18. From a psychological perspective, the lack of information about one's heritage can cause severe pain to those who feel the need for this connection with one's roots. In almost every other country in the world, adoptees have the right to their original birth certificate at the age of majority. The New York City Commissioner of Human Rights under Mayor Dinkins has stated publicly on more than one occasion that adopted people's human, civil and constitutional rights are being violated by the sealed records laws. (I personally served on Matilda Cuomo's 1993 advisory panel to the adoption option. By the end of our term, 38 of the 40 panel members were of the belief that adopted people should never be cut off from their roots, and as is practice in England, the adoptees right to know should supersede a natural parents "supposed" right to privacy.
Laws that forbid someone from knowing the details of their birth, an event that the adoptee participated in, is de- humanizing to say the least. The psychological literature about an adoptee's need to know the facts of his or her life is clear. The writings of Annette Baran & Reuben Pannor, Erik Erikson, Marshall Schechter, Nancy Verrier and others point out the developmental difficulties and later life problems faced by adopted people. The mental health facilities and prisons in this country are over populated with adoptees. It is not a crime to be given up for adoption, yet adoptees face a life sentence of never knowing the most basic facts about their lives.
Absolute Access to identifying information gives adopted individuals what they deserve. The right to search for and contact their original family. Laws that restrict an individual from knowing their heritage are a travesty. The law, to date, states that adopted people should not be allowed to know who they are because it might upset someone. Is that a reason to stop someone from finding their roots, their heritage, how they arrived in this world. The United Nations/UNICEF World Conference on the Rights of the Child guarantees that every child in the world has the right to know and have contact with their family. A Right!
We implore you consider supporting such legislation.. There are no good reasons that someone should be denied information about the beginning of their own life. This is humane legislation to support those adopted individuals who wish to embark on the most human endeavor.
"The Law must be consonant with life. It cannot and should not ignore broad historical currents. Mankind is possessed of no greater urge than to answer the age old questions of Who Am I? and Why Am I?. Even now the sands and ashes of the deserts are being sifted to find where we took our first steps as man. Ancient religions often used ancestor worship in one form or another. The thirst to know the past is neither whimsical nor unjust. It is real and is good cause under the law of Man and God" The Honorable Wade Weatherford, South Carolina District Judge granting an adoptee access to his records.
Respectfully, Joseph M. Soll, C.S.W.,
Director
If you have comments or suggestions 
info@adoptionhealing.com
This page was updated on February 2, 2010