The Editor
The News Tribune
P.O. Box 11000
Tacoma, WA 98411
Dear Editor,
I am both an adoptee and adoptive father of three children writing IN SUPPORT OF SB 6496 AND HB 2810 which would grant adoptees access to their original birth certificate. Access to one's original birth certificate is a civil right taken away from adoptess as a consequence of misguided and uninformed social policy promoted under the guise of "the best interest of the child" during the 1930's-1950's. As one who holds three graduate degrees in addition to my doctorate and is a college professor I assure you I am in no way a child; however, like all other adoptess in the Untied States except in Alaska and Kansas I am denied access to my original birth certificate for life. This irony is not lost on my Korean born son for whom I have not only his original birth certificate by also his family history including the names of this biological parents, siblings, and their address in Korea.
The Bible says the truth will set you free so let me tell you the truth about some of the arguments against open records. The truth is that birth mothers were never given a guarantee or promise of confidentiality because adoption records are sealed when the adoption is finalized; not at the time of relinquishment. The fact is that in the Tennessee case of Doe v. Sunquist the Supreme Court of the United States held that the right of privacy does not extend as far as maintaining anonymity from one's biological children. The truth is that longitudinal studies in those countries which have opened previously closed adoption records prove THE RATE OF ADOPTION GOES UP and THE RATE OF ABORTION GOES DOWN when records are opened. The fact is that 90 per cent of birth parents are happy to be found contrary to the impression given by the media in those rare cases of acrimonious rejection which are sensationalized to garner high ratings.
I urge you to take both the high moral and legal ground and support the restoration of the civil right of adoptees to access their original birth certificate without any type of white out or other defacement, amendment, contact veto, or intermediary system at the age of majority.
Sincerely,
John W. Sweeley, D.D.
Proud Member of Bastard Nation
Baltimore, Maryland
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