NEW JERSEY: Adoptees Celebrate Senate's Passage of "Birthright Bill," March 4, 2008

NORTH JERSEY.com
by Leslie Brody

Adoptees celebrate Senate's passage of 'Birthright Bill'
Tuesday, March 4, 2008


Adoptees pushing for access to their birth records celebrated Monday as the state Senate passed their "Birthright Bill," 31-7.

Pamela Hasegawa, spokeswoman for the New Jersey Coalition for Adoption Reform and Education, has fought for 28 years for a bill that would enable adoptees to try to find their birth parents, learn their medical histories and understand their heritage. Her group will now focus on lobbying for the bill's passage in the Assembly.

"I'm always optimistic," Hasegawa said.

The bill (S-611) would give parents who relinquished children for adoption a time-limited option to have their names and addresses redacted from the original birth certificates given to adoptees. It also would allow birth parents to express their preferences regarding future modes of contact. Any birth parents who wanted to remain confidential would have to provide detailed family medical histories.

Opponents have long charged that open access to birth records violates the privacy of women who placed their babies for adoption under a promise of confidentiality; some of these women might not hear about open access provisions in time to have their names withheld.

To pass, the bill would need to be heard by the Assembly Human Services Committee and approved by the full Assembly.

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