Ten Reasons ADULT Adoptees Should Have Access To Their Original Texas Birth Certificates
posted by K at 9:26 AM
This is a site that is all about Adoption Rights, focusing on Texas adoption rights. We will be posting links to current legislation, information about how to contact Representatives and links to other useful sites. Our goal is to educate people about what's happening in Texas with regards to adoption laws, and discuss what that means for adoptees, birth parents and adoptive parents. Please respond to posts with comments, suggestions, questions and helpful links. Thank You!
3 Comments:
I agree. Oregon has an "Open Records Act" and so should Texas...
because I was told by a Texas court
house that I'd need a "special mas-
ter" (exotic attorney).
I live in California now; I'm an
ex-Houstonian...
3:47 PM
I wrote to the court and requested my file be opened, due to medical issues I faced at the time, and the Judge denied the request but suggested that I might want to contact a Special Master of the court, to see if they could assist me.
I did contact one of the Masters of the Court suggested in the Judge's letter, at the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, and have initiated efforts to see if she can obtain my records. However, as a Master of the Court, she is forbidden from releasing any of the information in the records to me; she is only authorized by me, with the assistance of having a copy of my original birth certificate in her possession, thanks to the Court, to attempt to locate my birth mother and see if she can facilitate either an exchange of health information, or whether or not my birth mother would be open to contact. Regardless, without the birth parents' permission, she still cannot release her name or information to me. It is a less than ideal situation.
Additionally, in the case of the Archdiocese, the cost will come to about $600.00, including a one hour counselling session with someone trained to deal with adoption and post-adoption issues (in this case, a counselor at one of the local girl's homes).
What it all means in the long run could be everything or nothing at all; hopefully, it will be at least somewhere in the middle.
The woman from the Archdiocese did say that, because the Court had recommended that I might try to use the services of a Master of the Court, that they might be more open to allowing them to serve as mediators and might be more likely to turn over the records to them to assist in my search. It did not mean that they would *definitely* agree to release the records to them, but she felt that the odds were good, since the Judge referred me to them in the first place.
I originally hired a search firm, OmniTrace, but after almost three years they've been less than worthless in getting any information to me, although they assured me, when I signed up with them, that I had more information than a lot of adoptees, and they should have no problem finding my birth mother. Three years, and over $800.00 later, I still have nothing to show for it but a hand full of e-mails, in response to my calls to them. They don't check back in with you or follow-up. The most recent e-mail informed me that their contract searcher had lost my non-ID and could I please fax it to them again.
To say I'm frustrated would be an understatement...
Anyway, hope this helps.
Starfire
6:12 PM
I am trying to help my son find his birthmother, because he has a right to know, and also health issues. His was also a closed adoption. I'm sorry you went through all that for nothing, and my son the same thing. TEXAS NEEDS TO CHANGE THIS LAW.
2:46 PM
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