Open Adoption Records; A Positive Change? The U....

Open Adoption Records; A Positive Change?

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that they will not stand in the way of adult adoptees receiving copies of their original birth certificates, complete with birth parent names. On June 12, 2000, the full U.S. Supreme Court denied a motion to stay a new Oregon law allowing adult adoptees to receive copies of their original birth certificates. Tenessee recently had joined the states of Alaska, Delaware, Oregon, and Alabama in allowing adult access to birth records.

What Does This Mean for the Adoptive Family?

Many of us who adopt have the fear that reconnection with birth relatives will damage our own relationships with our children. However, while there's little hard research about this, anecdotal evidence suggests that relationships in the adoptive family are actually strengthened when an adoptee searches with the adoptive parent's blessing and support.

Two adult adoptees that I know had very different ideas and experiences with regard to their birth families. One good friend of mine actually located her birth mother only to be rebuffed by her and asked not to contact her again. A relative of mine has confided in me that she never had to the need to search out her birth family and couldn't explain why she never had any desire to do so.

My daughter was not adopted in this country; therefore the above new laws will not apply to her. I have always said however, that if she wanted to travel to Russia to find out what she could, that I not only wouldn't stand in her way, but I would help her and travel with her. I like most other adoptive mothers I love my daughter as if I gave her life. She is and always will be a part of me. As with my older children and their new step mother, I do not worry that their love for me will be diminished. I am grateful that they have someone else in their lives who loves them. My only concern is that if my daughter does find her birth family that the experience is a positive one unlike my friend who discovered that "Mom" never wanted to be found.