For those who are a part of the adoption world one of the most hotly debated issues is whether birth records should be open or closed to adoptees. With this issue comes strong feelings on both sides. In most states adoption records are fully sealed and inaccessible, unless the adoptee petitions the court. In 16 states these records are fully or partially available upon request with no court involvement, and also may depend upon when you were born. In a few states records are completely prohibited and the adoptee will never have any access to them. Alaska and Kansas have always made original birth records available.
As an adoptee, I feel that all adoption records should be open. I believe that this can only strengthen the quality of the institution of adoption itself and positively affect all those involved in it. I am not one of those people who did not know I was adopted. I have always known. My parents are good and loving, and provided me with all that I needed as a child. However, just because they were very good parents did not decrease the inherent need I had to look at a face that is similar to my own.
Open adoption records would provide the tools for people to learn indispensable information that is provided to all other Americans beside themselves. Sealed records violate adoptee’s rights as human beings. Adoptees are discriminated against like no other group in this country. Records should be opened so that we have the same rights as those who are raised in their biological families.
Open records in no way threaten the institution of adoption. There will always be mothers and fathers who are willing to chose a different path by giving their child away, just as there will always be those parents who wish to provi...
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...2002): p271-310. Academic OneFile. Web. 17 Feb. 2012.
Fleming, Caroline B. "The open-records debate: balancing the interests of birth parents and adult adoptees." William & Mary Journal of Women and the Law Spring (2005): 461-480. Academic OneFile. Web. 17 Feb. 2012.
Freundlich, Madelyn. For the Records: Restoring a Legal Right for Adult Adoptees. Evan B. Don Aldson Adoption Institute. New York, NY. (November 2007). www. Adoptioninstitute.org. Web. 17 Feb. 2012.
Sorosky, A.D., Baran, A., & Pannor, R. The Adoption Triangle. New York: Doubleday. (1984). Print.
Whittaker Hughes, Susan. “The only Americans legally prohibited from knowing who their birth parents are: a rejection of privacy rights as a bar to adult adoptees' access to original birth and adoption records.” Cleveland State Law Review. 55.3 (Summer 2007): p429-461. Academic OneFile. Web. 17 Feb. 2012.
Dukette, R. Perspectives for agency response to the adoption record controversy. Child Welfare 54(8):545-555, September-October 1975.
Many potential adopted parents have experienced heartbreak, anguish and other problems that can be associated with adoption. There is an imbalance in the Nations foster care system and the system needs to be strengthening and the quality of services improved.
First, social-work and mental-health experts have reached a consensus during the last decade that greater openness offers an array of benefits for adoptees—from ongoing information about family medical issues to fulfillment of their innate desire to know about their genetic histories—even if the expanded relationships prove difficult or uncomfortable for some of the participants (Verbrugge). An open adoption is when the natural mother and the adoptive family know the identity of each other and could obtain background or medical history from the biological parent. In an open adoption the parental rights of biological parents are terminated, as it is in a closed adoption, but an open adoptio...
Adoption is governed individually by each state, Kansas and Alaska allow adult adoptees full and unconditional access to original birth records. There are many campaigns that support the right to find adoptees’ birth parents. One of these campaigns is the green ribbon campaign. This campaign fights for the opening of any and all birth records in every state. “A number of large adoption agencies are major supporters of the so-called Uniform Adoption Act of 1994 (UAA) that would reinforce and enlarge secrecy provisions of adoption law”(about.com, 2). Many courts including the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals have heard cases that pertain to the opening of birth records of adoptees’.
Samuels, E. (2001). The Strange History of Adult Adoptee Access to Original Birth Records. Adoption Quarterly, 5(2), 63-74.
For a mother or father to learn that their adopted child, who they believed was an orphan, actually has a caring and loving family is heartbreaking. Adoptive parents feel guilty. The children yearn for their true home. The biological family feels deceived and desire for their child to return. This situation is far too familiar within intercountry adoption cases. Many children are pulled away from home, put into orphanages, and painted as helpless orphans. The actions perpetrated by adoption agencies reflects an underlying network of corruption and exploitation. This is not for the purpose of discouraging international adoption, but to shed light on the horrific practices taking place behind the scenes. Intercountry adoptions are often tangled
During the 1960's and 1970's another monumental shift changed the views of adoption. With unwed mothers lessening and the legalization of abortion by the 1973 Roe v. Wade trial, the number of healthy, white infants adoptees dropped. Even though there wasn't that many white babies to be adopted, African-American babies swa...
Ami. "Adoption Ethics." Walking By the Way. N.p., 15 May 2013. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
... to fairly enforce such a program. This objection was backed by multiple scenarios which demonstrated that most punishments are implausible. In response to this objection, I discussed Lafollette’s idea of removing children and putting them up for adoption. This plan involved orphanages or third party adoption indefinitely or until their biological parents became licensed. I also formulated an enforcement plan consisting of heavy fines and jail time for unauthorized children. Although this plan is harsh, it is fair and enforceable, thereby refuting the objection that there is no way to enforce parent certification. This paper discussed objections and responses to Lafollette’s argument which concluded in the reaffirmation that parent licensing is a possibility.
In the Unites States, the first adoption law was passed in Massachusetts in 1851. This law called the 1851 Adoption of Children Act based adoptions on child welfare rather than on the benefits for adoptive parents. This law ensured judicial discretion of “fit and proper” parents. Another milestone for adoption came in 1868 when the Massachusetts Board of Stat...
International adoption stunts the growth of domestic adoption in the United States. While many kids are available for adoption in the U.S, more kids are being adopted internationally. The reason for this may be because “many people choose to adopt internationally because there is a less chance that the biological parents will try to find their children later in life; whereas if adopted in America, there is a greater chance that the biological parents will search for the child” (Databasewise.n.d.pp 1-2). Not only do the adoptive parents want to be sure that the biological parents do not find their biological child, but they also want to avoid confrontations that can eventually have volatile results. Since there is a great need for domestic adoption in the United States, many American citizens believe that people should be banned from adopting children overseas (carp.1998.pp 135). For example, recent studies have shown that the USA is faced with a very serious problem. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, between “1999-2006,an average of 129,884 children are in public foster care every year waiting to be adopted” (adoption alternativ...
Appell, Annette R. "The Open Adoption Option." Childrens Rights litigation 13.1 (2010): 8-12. 15 March 2014. < http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy.ohiolink.edu:9099/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=54322125&site=ehost-live>.
Tavernise, Sabrina. “Adoptions Rise by Same-Sex Couples, Despite Legal Barriers”. New York Times. 14 Jun. 2011: A.11. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 04 Dec. 2013.
Children all over the world should be able to live a great life. Adoption provides a happy and healthy home for foster children all over the world. Adoption can be temporary or until a child is eighteen years of age. There are many reasons why the biological mother of a child may consider putting their child up for adoption. Those reasons may be because they were young or because they were not financially stable to have another life to be responsible for. Although revealing the identity of a biological mother to an child may be heartbreaking, it is more important that a child knows who they really are. An adopted child should be told who their biological mother is because they will not be kids forever, they should know their families’ health history, and
For many Americans the ability to have children is halted by medical conditions from either the husband or wife, or some women just do not want to bear a child of their own. There are many options available to these people. Some are very costly and may produce no results or over produce results ending with 7 fetuses in one womb. One of the best options is adoption. There are thousands of children in need of a home in the country and around the world. With that adoption comes much joy and in some cases much frustration. In this essay we will take a brief look at open verses closed adoptions and the effects of each.