Myth: Sealed record adoption law guarantee anonymity for birthparents. Fact: Sealed records do NOT guarantee a birthparent's anonymity. Even in sealed record states, if a child is relinquished but not adopted, the records stay open. A judge can open adoption records at any time, for "good cause shown". If birthparent anonymity had been the reason for sealed records, the records would have been sealed at the time the birthmother signed relinquishment papers, rather than at the time the child was adopted. Myth: Birthparents have a right to privacy from their offspring. Fact: Our nation's courts have spoken on this subject and have CLEARLY stated that the right to birthparent privacy does not extend to withholding birth information from the person to whom it belongs, the adoptee. Our laws should not deprive one group of their civil and human rights to protect another group from past actions. Sundquist vs. Doe (Tennessee) Myth: Open records is the same as open adoption. Fact: Open records and open adoption are two very different things. Open records is the ability of adult adopted citizens to access their own original birth certificates and other court documents pertaining to them. Open adoption is where adoptive parents and birthparents keep in contact when the child is growing up. All triad members are in contact with each other. Myth: Open records causes more abortions and less adoptions. Fact: The facts don't reflect this statement. In Alaska and Kansas (both open record states), the abortion rates were lower than other states as a whole, while the adoption rate per thousand live births were higher than the surrounding states, including OURS! [Source: Flango and Flango, National Center for Court Statistics, "How Children Were Adopted in 1991," 74 Child Welfare 1018, 1021-22 (1995)] |
| Myths vs. Facts on Open Records |