Alabamians Working
for Adoption Reform
and Education
Web Site: http://www.alabama-adoption.org
HB690 At a Glance
Fact Sheet
Alabamians Working
for Adoption Reform
and Education
Web Site: http://www.alabama-adoption.org
HB690 At a Glance
Fact Sheet
HB-690 will provide any Alabama-born adult who has a sealed original birth certificate housed at the Department of Vital Statistics with full and unrestricted access to that document. This includes adoptees, as well as adults whose births were legitimized and were issued an amended birth certificate as a child.HB-690 does not open records held by DHR, private agencies, or attorneys to adult adoptees. It only addresses documents on file with the State Registrar.
HB-690 provides original birth certificates ONLY to the adult person whose birth it records. It does not open confidential records to the public.
The supporters of HB-690 believe that every Alabama-born adult should be treated equally under the law with regard to obtaining their own vital records. Therefore, we believe that HB-690 should be passed as written and are asking the Alabama State Senate to do so without further amendments. We view this as an issue of fundamental civil and human rights.
Alabama’s birthmothers report that they were not promised anonymity from their biological sons and daughters and, in contrast, were assured that they would have complete access to their adoption information. The vast majority of Alabama birthmothers relinquished children into a system which assured adoptees of full access to their records upon reaching the age of majority.
Supporters of HB-690 are not asking the Senate to cast a vote on whether it is okay for adoptees to search. HB-690 is about much more than searches and reunions between adult adoptees and their birthparents. It is about removing roadblocks between and their own vital records. Searches and reunions are a separate issue and happen with increasing regularity anyway, even under the sealed records system.
Not every person who wants to request a copy of his or her original birth certificate is doing so to facilitate a search. Many people with sealed original birth certificates need them to prove citizenship when requesting passports or applying for jobs with security clearances. Amended birth certificates often contain limited information that is insufficient for proving U.S. citizenship. Furthermore, many adults want their original birth certificates for other reasons of personal interest, which may not include searching.
Prior to January 1, 1991, Alabama adult adoptees were able to view their entire adoption files on demand. Whereas most of the nation and the world were investigating ways of providing adoptees with more information, Alabama went the opposite way during an overhaul of the Adoption Code in this one particular area.
Several Alabama adoption professionals were quoted during the 1970s and 1980s as supporting the system of open records for adult adoptees as one that was progressive and without problems. Statements were issued during the 1980's by Alabama’s private adoption agencies in opposition to closing records to adult adoptees.
States which allow adult adoptees unrestricted access to their original birth certificates have higher rates of adoption than the national average. In the United Kingdom, records were opened to adult adoptees in 1976. Although the numbers of children being placed for adoption was declining before and after that time (due to reduced stigma against unwed mothers keeping their babies), the rate of decline actually dropped after records were opened. We know of birthmothers who deliberately crossed state lines to relinquish children in Alabama because records were open to adult adoptees. Open records for adult adoptees is adoption-friendly.
States which allow adult adoptees unrestricted access to their original birth certificates have lower rates of abortion than the national average. Similarly, abortion rates in the United Kingdom were not affected at all when records were opened to adult adoptees there in 1976. If anything, the rate of increase in abortions dropped.
The vast majority of those touched by adoption, adoptees, birthparents, and adoptive parents, support unrestricted access for adoptees to their own vital records. The possibility of unsuccessful reunions between adoptees and their birthparents is not a reason for withholding vital records from adoptees. Adult adoptees and their adult birthparents are capable of managing their own interpersonal interactions and negotiating their own relationships.
We believe the Alabama State Senate should support restoring truth, honesty, and dignity to the adoption process in Alabama. Prohibiting adoptees from obtaining their own vital records is a relic of the past, and only perpetuates stigmas of shame and associated with adoption.
We believe in the strength of the close bond between adoptees and their adoptive parents. Withholding private, vital records from adoptees suggests that the bond is fragile and would be damaged by an adoptee seeking his or her own historical information. This not true. Many adoptees report feeling closer to their adoptive parents once the veils of secrecy have been lifted.