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| A new law will allow Ohio adoptees to have access to their birth records. Image: Shutterstock |
Thousands of Ohio adoptees will have the opportunity,
starting today, to get their history, including potentially access to their
birth parents, thanks to a new law granting them access to their adoption files
and birth certificates.
Adults
adopted between January 1, 1964 and September 18, 1996 can now request this
information from the Ohio Department of Health.
It’s estimated that about 400,000 people will request this information,
which was previously unavailable due to a court order from 1964, which made
these records off limits.
After
extensive lobbying, the records were made public again in 1996; however, the
law was not made retroactive for those who were caught between the two legal
actions. This was due in large part to
pressure from a variety of groups, including abortion opponents who worried
access to these records would discourage expectant mothers from giving up their
children for adoption.
The
new law allows birth parents to opt in or out of having their contact
information made public to adoptees. It
also allows birth parents to update their medical records so that adoptees can
have access to this information.
“It’s
about adoptees having the civil right to information that all other Americans
can have about themselves,” said
Betsie Norris, executive director and founder of Adoption Network
Cleveland, which was heavily involved in the fight to change the law.
Ohio
is the ninth state to make these records available.
In
general, the response has been positive, though some birth mothers are hesitant
to open themselves up to past trauma leading to the adoption. However, it will be up to the adoptees to determine
whether or not to contact their birth parents.
One
interesting case is that of Cathy Doyle, who was born in New York but adopted
in Ohio. Her records remain unavailable
to her because she was not actually born in Ohio, though future laws on the table
may change that. What makes her case
unique is that she is the adopted sister of Ohio Senator Bill Beagle, who
co-sponsored the new state law, in part because of her situation.
Doyle
remains frustrated by the situation. "Those are my
records, and in all other circumstances parental rights expire when a child
turns 18," she
said. "But when it's an adoptee, it's a life sentence."
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