MISSOURI--Missouri Adoptees Hope for Better Records Law; families hope to gain more rights, December 13, 2007

BLUE SPRINGS EXAMINER,
December 13, 2007
Missouri adoptees hope for better records laws: families hope to gain more rights
By Hugh S. Welsh/hugh.welsh@examiner.net


For adoptees born in Missouri, getting a passport can be stroke-inducing - literally.

"I've heard horror stories about people dropping dead after getting turned down for passports, because their amended birth certificate says their adoptive father gave birth to them," said Marilyn Waugh, who works in Kansas' adoption records department and is the director of the Adoption Concerns Triangle in Kansas, "or, if the adoptees' adoptive mother is significantly younger than the adoptive father, then the adoptee's mother could appear to be 8, 10 or 12 years old when she gave birth; this reads like a false form of identification."

In Missouri, adoptees cannot obtain a copy of their original birth certificate or adoption record.

For some people, this represents an infringement of constitutional rights. For others, the inability to identify birth parents is a detriment to their health.

Such was the concern of Waugh's birth daughter, whom Waugh gave up to adoption in Kansas when she was young.

As it turned out, a genetic disease existed in Waugh's family tree, Ehlers-Danlos Type 4.

Waugh's niece had been diagnosed with the disease, which is caused by a defect in collagen synthesis and is treatable. In the case of Waugh's niece, the severity of the disease ultimately claimed her life.

Waugh had already been sought out by her birth daughter and the two had been in regular contact. So, when Waugh learned the news, all she had to do was pick up the phone.

"I can only imagine what it would be like for birth mothers who cannot get a hold of their adopted child when it really matters," Waugh said.

After undergoing extensive testing at the KU Medical Center, Waugh and her birth daughter came back negative for the disease.

Waugh has been working diligently over the past decade to see that Missouri implement an open-record policy for adoptees as Kansas did in the 1950s.

Kansas allows adoptees to obtain adoption records and original birth certificates when they reach the age of 18. Kansas is one of just eight states with such a policy.

Missouri is among a handful of states - including Minnesota, Oklahoma and Colorado - considering similar legislation. Beginning in 2009, Maine will become the ninth state to have open records for adoptees.

In Kansas, all an adoptee has to do to obtain a certified copy of their original birth certificate is write his or her name at birth and check yes on two boxes: one asking if he or she has been adopted, the other asking if he or she is requesting the birth record before adoption.

The request for an adoption record is every bit as easy, requiring completion of a one-sided sheet of paper asking for basic personal information and a dated signature.

According to Waugh, the state gets more than 500 requests for adoption records every year.

She said Kansas does not allow birth parents to decline contact with their adopted children, which is one of the most pressing issues facing open records for adoptees.

At present, Oregon is the only state where a birth parent can opt to check a box refusing future contact with his or her child.

Opponents to open records argue that abortions would skyrocket if such a policy was established in Missouri.

Thomas Atwood, president of the National Council for Adoption, recently said the following on National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation":

"What I would say, for some women, is that they won't choose adoption unless they can choose it confidentially. What is that number? I don't know. But it clearly has a micro or personal effect."

Waugh, a reunited birth mother herself, has a different opinion.

"I believe every state would benefit from an open-record policy toward adoptees," Waugh said. "There's nothing shameful about giving your child to someone better equipped to love and care for that child; virtually all adoptees I've ever met are thankful for the decision made by their birth parents."


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