Student Group Advocates for Original Birth Certificates for Adult Adoptees

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Student Group Advocates for Original Birth Certificates for Adult Adoptees

AUSTIN, Mar 16, 2005/ A group of students from the University of Texas at Arlington Graduate School of Social Work will get a lesson in legislative education on Thursday and Friday. As part of a class project, they will go to Austin to educate legislators about House Bill 770 and Senate Bill 364, which would grant access to original birth certificates for adult adoptees. The group of students have teamed up with the Texas Coalition for Adoption Resources and Education (TxCARE) to meet with legislators and discuss personal stories of how adoption has affected them. They will be joined by students from the Texas Tech University Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance, the Texas Tech School of Nursing, and individuals affected by adoption from Austin and East Texas.

Since the early 1970s, the state of Texas has sealed birth certificates when an adoption is finalized. An amended birth certificate is issued, and the original is only accessible with a court order. This can be difficult to obtain, as the petitioning party has to show “good cause”. Sometimes, even adoptees who need this information for medical history purposes are denied access to their records. The most common reason cited is the preservation of “birth parent confidentiality”. HB 770/SB 364 would grant access to original birth certificates to adoptees upon reaching age 21, and would create a “contact preference form” to allow those birth parents who do not wish to be reunited with the adopted person an opportunity to express that preference. If any birth parent can provide a copy of the signed affidavit of relinquishment of parental rights relating to the adopted child that promises anonymity, the original birth certificate cannot be release without a court order. It is doubted that any such document exists.

“Over 95% of birth parents do not want ‘confidentiality’, nor were they ever promised it. This notion of a lifetime of secrecy was forced upon them, and we have never found a legal document making that kind of a promise,” said Nancy Schaefers, adoptee, and President of TxCARE. Katy Perkins, President of the National Association of Social Workers Maverick Student Chapter and adoptee, explained “this is not about search and reunion, it is about rights. Most people have easy access to this very personal and vital information about themselves, and they take that for granted.”

The students from UTA believe that having such a diverse range of perspectives will help legislators see that records access is an important issue affecting many different facets of life. “If I were adopted, I would want to know that I had the same rights as everyone else,” said Karyn Kelbaugh, social work group project member, “and it’s discriminatory to treat them differently simply because of the circumstances surrounding their birth.”

TxCARE is a grass-roots organization of adult adoptees, adoptive & biological families, adoption professionals, organizations & others concerned about adoption issues. TxCARE’s mission is “to promote an adoption system based on honesty and trust that protects the interests of the adoptee, birth family, and adoptive family, while placing the adoptee's interests first if there is a conflict.”

Contact: Nancy Schaefers, TxCARE President, +214-363-0515, nes710@aol.com
Katy Perkins, NASW-UTA Maverick Student Chapter President +214-952-2125, kathrynkperkins@yahoo.com