USA TODAYFebruary 20, 2008
Story on adoption records provides public benefit
Letter to the Editor: Sally Brown - Livermore, Calif.
Thank you so much for your objective feature on the "rights" of mothers who gave up children for adoption vs. the "rights" of adults who were adopted ("As adoptees seek roots, states unsealing records," Cover story, News, Feb. 13).
When I relinquished my son to adoption in 1950 in New Jersey, I was 22, single and unprepared either financially or emotionally to face the scorn of a community that thought I was still a "nice" girl. By 1981, my idea of myself had strengthened, and I was able to reveal my secret to my daughters and search for my son so I could answer his questions.
For any state to interject itself between a competent adult and his or her child is an unwarranted intrusion into a citizen's private history. The facts in USA TODAY's cover story prove wrong the notion that the availability of honest birth certificate information will produce more abortions.
Continued secrecy might protect those agencies and institutions that gave false information to either relinquishing or adoptive parents, but it does not protect any valid interest of the state.
I commend USA TODAY for bringing these facts to the attention of a wide readership and trust that it will not abandon the topic. The electorate needs to know the facts.
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