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This week a Senate panel in New Jersey finally unanimously approved a bill (S611) that will allow adult adoptess to get their original birth certificates which are currently sealed by law. This bill will allow adult adoptees or the adoptive parents of a child to petition the state registrar for a copy of the original birth certificate which contains the names of the adoptee’s biological parents.
Open record advocates have spent close to thirty years lobbying for this bill, so it has been a long time coming. They recruited rap star, Daryl McDaniels, who is known to most as DMC from the group Run DMC to help them get this passed.
Daryl McDaniels is an adoptee who didn’t learn of his adoption until seven years ago. While writing his autobiography he began asking his mother questions about his birth and she reluctantly admitted that he was adopted. This came as a huge shock to him because he “always thought he knew who he was.”
Those who oppose the bill say that by allowing adoptees access to their original birth certificate the rights of the birthmothers are not protected. Daryl discussed this during his personal testimony before the panel.
“I understand protecting the rights of the birth mother, and there should be a protocol for that. This is not about making the birth mother’s life hectic. This is about the right of a human being to know the truth of the story of my existence.”
In order to protect the rights and privacy of birth parents who may not want to be found, they will have one year from the date of the bill’s enactment to fill out a form stating that they wish to remain anonymous. They’d be required to complete a medical and history form every ten years until the age of forty and then every five years after that in order to keep their anonymity.
Now, the bill awaits a full vote of the forty member Senate.
