THE IDEA OF ADOPTION...

THIS IS A MUST READ article if you have any questions about the history of adoption records in America. It is an extremely intelligent article looking at the LAWs and history surrounding the issue. PLEASE read this!

"There is intense debate taking place around the country about whether to open birth records to adult adoptees. Our understanding of the legal history relevant to this debate is incomplete and inaccurate. This Article provides a more accurate history of adult adoptees' access to birth records, and it uses that history to analyze what has been a complex relationship in this area of law between legal rules and social attitudes. The analysis traces how social attitudes and understandings have likely affected the construction of rules, how rules in turn appear to have affected attitudes, and how, finally, attitudes may have extended and perpetuated rules. " -Elizabeth Samuels

The Idea of Adoption - American Adoption Congress