Family Forum / Parenting / Adoption / May 2006

http://www.ecnnews.com/cgi-bin/15/etstory.pl?-sec-morning+adoption0505.em

Law giving adopted children their birth records gains steam

By Ed Mason
Staff Writer

BOSTON - Adults who were adopted would have greater access to their
birth records under a plan gaining strength among state lawmakers.

Massachusetts has kept birth records sealed since 1974. But a bill
being considered by the Legislature would allow adopted children, who
are now 18 or older, to have access to their birth certificates.
Adoptive parents could request records for their children younger than
18.

To access the records, the adopted person would have to have been born
in Massachusetts on or before July 14, 1974, or after Jan. 1, 2008. The
2008 start date was chosen to give prospective birth parents
substantial notice that the law was changing.

People born between those years would access the information through
the Registry of Vital Statistics. A connection between biological
parents and child would be made if the birth records indicate the
parents want to be contacted. Going forward, birth parents would sign a
form indicating if they want to be contacted by their child.

State Rep. Karen E. Spilka, D-Framingham, said the exemption of nearly
34 years protects birth parents who gave up children for adoption
during those years when records were sealed.

"We're trying to say that we're not changing the rules midstream," said
Spilka, co-chairwoman of the Legislature's Children and Families
Committee, which approved the bill yesterday.

The bill approved by that committee was a compromise. The legislation
originally would have opened all birth records.

State Rep. Barbara A. L'Italien, D-Andover, said there shouldn't be any
restriction on birth record access. L'Italien, also a member of the
Children and Families Committee, said she is concerned the legislation
excludes a large group of adopted people just because of when they were
born.

"Everyone should be able to obtain their birth certificate," she said.

L'Italien noted that adopted children also need birth certificates to
find out their medical histories. She said it's possible the bill could
be amended to allow for medical histories to be obtained
confidentially.

Adopted people born in Massachusetts now must go to court to get their
birth records. People born after the nearly 34-year exception period in
the bill also would have to go to court if birth records indicate the
parents don't want their information disclosed.

But concerns over divulging the identities of anonymous birth mothers
has been a central reason why the bill has failed to become law in the
10 years its sponsors have pushed it. Some lawmakers blocked the bill
for fear the Legislature would be breaking an implied promise of
confidentiality made to birth parents.

Parents with adopted children have pushed for the change in the law.

Helen Killian, an adoptive parent from Concord, who attended the
Statehouse hearing, said her 39-year-old daughter should be able to
have an accurate record of her birth - not a certificate with her
adoptive parents' name on it.

Killian also said advances in medical treatment make it important for
adopted children to know their family medical history.

Pam Wood, director of Bethany Christian Services in North Andover,
which arranges adoptions, said the legislation reflects an increasing
openness.

"Older adoptions were in the dark and people hid that they'd had a
child," Wood said. "The trend is toward more openness."

Her agency arranges adoptions where birth and adoptive parents are in
touch for years, allowing the children to know their heritage while
permitting parents access to important medical information.

Thomas Atwood, president of the National Council for Adoption, said his
group opposes the legislation. He worries that the contact preference
form that a parent fills out won't prevent adopted children from
seeking out their birth parents once that information is made public.

He also thinks making future adoptions public could have unintended
consequences.

"We believe a woman with an unplanned pregnancy should have the right
to chose a confidential adoption," Atwood said. "If you remove the
confidential option, then the only confidential option left is
abortion."