Short Stuff: Birth Certificate Access

were published it from the Conversation. We're working largely from an article by Andrea Ross, right, and this is all about the thorny matter of uh whether or not, not really whether or not, but the idea that a grown up or maybe sometimes not even grown up adopted person um might want to gain access to their original birth certificate.

And in many states in the United States, those are sealed and you are not allowed to unless you jump through a lot of hoops, which is really interesting, Like you think access to birth certificates would be the most boring thing you can think of, But um, I saw it described as a basic human right to know your genuine identity. UM. And that's a really good point. I can't I It's just I'm sure it's so easy for somebody like me on the outside to just be like, well,

sure you know, do that or don't do that. It's is it that big of a deal. And then to to put yourself in somebody's shoes is going through that who wants to know who their biological parents are and is not allowed as being prevented from doing that by the state. I can't imagine anything more frustrating than that. Really, Yeah, I got some thoughts, but we'll we'll pepper those in. As it stands now, there are ten states in the United States that offer um complete access to their original

birth certificates. Um. In eighteen states, I believe that you need a court order, Is that right? Yeah? In eighteen states, UM, what happens is they put your original birth certificate under seal and they issue you a supplemental birth certificate that doesn't have your biological parents names on it has your adoptive parents names. And in those states, if you successfully petition the court, they will unseal your original birth certificate

and then you can find out who your biological parents are, right. Uh. And then in twenty three states there you can get a redacted version, which I don't even see the point that. Uh. And then in twelve other states they have restrictions that allow for access. And this is the one I really don't understand. It's just between if you were born between

certain time frames. So the best that I can come up with for that is that there were laws passed that that named like those dates that are still on the books that are now affecting people today's but those dates have been outlived. So now there's people who have access to their birth certificate, whereas other people who were born after a different date don't, which makes it arbitrary

and an easy low to overturn. Okay, all right, well let's take a break and we'll talk about kind of where this came from and how the culture has shifted over the years right after this alright, so amending birth certificates uh started I think I'm saying birth Uh this started in the nineteen forties, originally to kind of keep parents from interfering with the adoptive family of the child.

And there has been, um, you know, a big swing over the last seventy years since since then as far as what the norms are like, things have really changed

over the years in terms of how adoptions go down. Yeah, because Andrew Ross points out that there's a lot of people who think that the off the book's reason for sealing birth certificates was also to protect the identity of unwed mothers, because back in that time, if you're if you were out it as an unwed mother who had had what they considered illegitimate child that you put up for adoption, Um, it could probably make it hard for you to get a job. You might lose friends, your

neighbors might shun you. It was a big deal. And so yeah, she's saying, like, we've really come a long way since then. So if that's really the reason why we were sealing birth certificates to begin with, it doesn't make any sense anymore. Yeah, And there's a lot of states that have come around since then. Obviously we mentioned those ten that now allow complete access, but as we speak, there are other states that are kind of in the

midst of enacting new policy changes. I know Tennessee in Connecticut and Rhode Island all heaven and the last few years, UM kind of put legislation for word that favor access for uh. I keep saying kids, but I guess usually you have to be over eighteen, right, Yeah, that's another thing too. There are some so clearly there's a big patchwork of laws, right and depending on what state you live in, you might have, like you said, unfederal access

or no access at all. But then there's a bunch of states that have laws that say, when you turn eighteen, you can get your original birth certificate if you ask for it. Yeah, and it's you know, adoption is different across the board in all states anyway, So it's when I was going through it, I just remember being shocked at sort of every state has its own set of rules and laws and um, which you know, obviously a lot of people feel that's how it should be, states

just choosing the way they want to do things. But there is no sort of straight ahead way that you can say this is how adoption works. So it doesn't surprise me that there's no straightforward reason or way that people can determine or get their hands on their original

birth certificate. Right. So yeah, and like you said, there are some changes on the horizon, Like I think Tennessee said that um they said a parent, a birth parent is no longer allowed to veto UM the their biological child's right to access their original birth certificate, which is a It's a feature in a lot of states as well, where you can be granted access to if you petition at court, but your biological parent has the right to

say Nope, they can't, I don't want that released. And usually it goes the other way to the biological child can also can can revoke or veto the release of their own birth certificate to their biological parents. Yeah, I mean it is. It is a thorny issue when you start looking at kind of both sides, because you certainly feel like it's a right to be able to know where you came from. Uh, and it's certainly made a lot easier these days with DNA testing, if that's something

that someone can afford to do. But uh, you also think about, you know, the right of a biological mom to retain their privacy, because if they had an adoption plan to begin with it, one of the reasons may have or one of the things that went along with that may have been like, listen, this is why I'm doing this. I don't want to be contacted. I don't want to have a relationship. And you know, I guess at the end of the day, even if they live in a state where they can make contact, the biological

parents can still say, well, now I don't want a relationship. Yeah, they can for sure. So to kind of like take a middle ground for some of these states that don't have unfederate access to original birth certificates, they've created something called Confidential in their intermediary services, and it's basically like Tinder, but for adoptions or biological families. Right, so one family member can say, hey, I really want to get in touch with my biological parents. Can can you see if

you can put me in touch with them? That that service will contact the biological parents and the biological parent, and so will they're swipe left or right right. Um, Here's what I didn't see mentioned anywhere that I can't quite wrap my head around is that these days, it's, Um, I think it's very uncommon for adoptive parents too to not share this information and to say like, no, I'm not gonna let you know who this was. That's a very old school sort of way adoptions used to go.

So I'm kind of wondering how much this matters in these modern times where we're generally parents are pretty open about saying like, hey, this is who your logical parents were. If you ever want to get in touch with them, we can try and do that one. Yeah, so um, Andrea Ross sites one statistic. I'm not sure if it's in the United States in general or if it's in

New Hampshire. But um, less than one percent, actually less than three quarters of a percent of birth parents said that they don't want to be contacted by um their biological child ever. Yeah, that I want to know more about that because that just says in states like New Hampshire, right, But that seems like a very narrow sort of well, states offering unrestricted access. So yeah, I don't know, it's

it's I guess it's kind of unclear. Yeah, well it gives so if you have unrestricted access to your birth certificate, I think the state some states give the biological parent the right to say please like check the box like don't I don't want to be contacted ever kind of thing. So, like the the kid might be able to see who the biological parent is, but there they will also get a message thing like don't don't bother this, they don't

want to be contacted. Yeah, it's you know, this is something I'm going to face one day as a parent of an adopted child, and it's I think they say that girls usually are more interested in this earlier than boys, and that like in the teenage years, typically girls might be a little more interested in making that connection. In boys,

it's like sometimes in their adult life. But you know, this is something we're gonna face and we're always it's always that thing where you you're gonna do We're gonna do the right thing and be like, all right, if that, if now is the time, we'll try. But there's always that risk that biological mom or and or dad it's just gonna say no, thank you, And then you know, that's just something you've got to go through. Is a family. It's tough, tough stuff, and that's one of the tough

parts about adopts. Yeah, but you guys are a strong family. You can do it. Yeah, And you know, I would love for there to be relationships one day, but that's something that you know, you can't force them, So we're definitely not one way or the other for sure. I think that's a good thing to remember and to end this episode on what do you think? I totally agree and short stuff is out. Stuff You Should Know is

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