NEW JERSEY: Letter by Patrick Brannigan, NJ Catholic Conference--State's Adoption Law Protects Privacy of Birth Mothers, Too--April 22, 2008

ASBURY PARK PRESS
April 22, 2008

State's adoption law protects privacy of birth mothers, too

By PATRICK R. BRANNIGAN

I write to point out misstatements and misrepresentations by individuals and groups who are trying to eliminate an important privacy for birth mothers — a privacy that has been protected by law for decades. Those who want to eliminate a mother's privacy claim that New Jersey's adoption law protects only the adopted child. That claim is wrong. New Jersey's adoption law protects all of the parties: the child, the birth mother and the adopting parents.

The Catholic Church has provided adoption services in New Jersey for well over a century. The New Jersey Catholic Conference has long supported mutual consent reunions and the sharing of health information between adoptees and birth parents. Catholic Charities provides adoptees with information about their social background and health information even in instances when they are unable to facilitate a reunion.

In the 1977 Mills case that challenged a sealed adoption record in Atlantic City, the court reviewed at length the interests that are involved in placing adoption records under seal. Superior Court Judge Philip Gruccio noted that the purpose of the Adoption Act is to protect the child placed for adoption, the adopting parents and the birth parents. Analyzing each of their respective interests, Gruccio first addressed those of the birth or natural parents, and the adoptive parents.

He determined the assurance of secrecy regarding the identity of the natural parents enables them to place the child for adoption with a reputable agency, with the knowledge that their actions and motivations will not become public knowledge. Assured of this privacy by the state, the natural parents are free to move on and attempt to rebuild their lives after what must be a traumatic and emotionally tormenting episode in their lives.

The adopting parents also have an interest in having the birth records placed under seal. They have taken into their home a child who they will regard as their own and who they will love and raise as an integral part of their family unit. It is important to these adopting parents that they may raise this child without fear of interference from the natural parents and without fear that the birth status of the illegitimate child will be revealed or used as a means of harming the child or themselves. The state has an active interest in protecting and nurturing the growing family relationship it has statutorily created.

Clearly, the court recognized that the state has an obligation to protect the interests of all three parties. Gruccio wrote, "The statute requiring that the records be sealed clearly serves the interest of all three parties in the adoptive triangle: adoptive parents, natural parents and the child." Thousands of birth mothers placed their children for adoption through the New Jersey courts in reliance on that statutory assurance of privacy.

It is time for those trying to end the privacy of birth mothers to tell the truth: New Jersey's adoption law protects birth mothers, adoptees and adopting parents.

Patrick R. Brannigan is executive director of the New Jersey Catholic Conference, which represents the Archdiocese of Newark, the dioceses of Camden, Metuchen, Paterson and Trenton, Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Passaic and Our Lady of Deliverance Syriac Catholic Diocese.


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NEW JERSEY: Letter from Linda DeBrango--Adoption Bill Fair and Balanced, April 10, 2008

ASBURY PARK PRESS
April 10, 2008

Letter: Adoption Bill Fair and Balanced

As an adult adoptee, I have been following the progress of the pending state legislation to permit adoptees access to their original birth certificates. I find the views in the March 21 letter "Unsealed record breaks promise" to be perpetuating the negative stereotypes that were the prevailing wisdom for years.

Until the 1970s, unwed mothers were sent away to give birth in shame and secrecy. Birth mothers were counseled by social workers to forget their babies and to go on as if nothing had happened. Keeping their babies was never an option, as they were told their babies would bear the stigma of illegitimacy.

Opponents of the proposed legislation miss a key point about anonymity. No one is proposing that birth records be made public. The purpose of this legislation is to give adoptees, the people who are the subjects of the sealed documents, access to records pertaining to them. For adoptees, our legal identity does not match our genetic identity. In this age of DNA testing, we are at a distinct disadvantage. Learning the identity of one's birth parents can be a matter of life or death, not idle curiosity.

The proposed legislation adequately balances the adoptees' need for accurate family medical information with preserving the promise of anonymity made to birth mothers. Upon passage of the law, birth mothers will have a one-year period in which to indicate whether or not they wish to be contacted by their children. If a mother does not wish to be contacted, she must provide a detailed family medical history to be placed with the original birth certificate. Currently, adoptees must hire an investigator, who obtains the birth record by suspect means and makes the first, often unsettling contact with the birth mother. It makes for a great Lifetime TV movie, but it causes more pain and expense for the parties.

It is my hope that this bill becomes law in New Jersey.

Linda DeBrango

BRICK

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NEW JERSEY: Editorial--Ocean View--A Journey into the Labyrinth, March 31, 2008

TRI-TOWN NEWS,
March 31, 2008

Ocean View
A journey into the labyrinth
PATRICIA A. MILLER

Born 8-20-50
Baptism - done
Birth weight
Present weight - 111/2 pounds approx.
Full term - normal delivery
No immunizations given as yet
Parentage - American of German, English
and Slovak ancestry

That was all the information my adoptive parents had to go on when the Catholic Children's Aid Association placed me in their home two days after Christmas. When my adoption was finalized inMarch 1952, the court papers noted that my natural mother had surrendered me in writing and that my father was "unknown."

The two-page judgment of adoption also noted "the condition in life of the child's parents" and said the adoption would be in my best interest.

"...from the date hereof, the rights, duties, privileges and relations heretofore existing between the said Patricia Ann Zurick and his parents shall in all respects be at an end..."

But it didn't end there. And it still has not ended.

That long-ago legal document provided only bare details about my beginnings in this world. But it did hold one all-important clue- my natural mother's last name. It's a detail the state of New Jersey decided that no adult adoptee should have, back when adoption records were sealed in 1940.

I was lucky. My adoptive father handed me the final adoption papers on the day I turned 21.

"You have a right to see this," he said.

Most adult adoptees aren't so fortunate. Their ancestral quest can't even begin without that last name.

The questions began in my childhood. My earliest memory goes back to age 3. It was New Year's Eve and the bells and honking cars wokeme.Mymuch-loved parents came into the room to comfort me. It was then, if my memory is correct, they dropped the bombshell and told me I was adopted.My natural parents, they said, had died in a train wreck.

And my life changed forever.

Occasionally, I would summon up the courage to askmymother aboutmy natural parents. It made her uncomfortable. She told me she thought the last name had started with a Z.

My phantomparents hauntedme. I had an irrational fear they would snatch me off a street corner on my way home from school. At night, I imagined them in the shadows of my bedroom.

When I was in my early teens, my mother dropped another bombshell. My natural parents had not died in a train wreck.

It tookme untilmymid-20s to begin the search. I went to my birthplace, Margaret HagueMaternityHospital in Jersey City.A kind lady in the records department listened to my plight and told me she was sorry she couldn't give me the hospital records. But she gave me some very important advice.

"Go to your family doctor, sign a records release authorization form with your original name, then send it back to me," she said. "We get a lot of people like you here."

The papers arrived in my doctor's office soon after. That was when I learned I weighed 5 pounds, 13 ounces, that I was 19 inches long, that I arrived three weeks early and that I was my natural mother's fourth child. The papers had another stunning bit of information - both my natural mother's and father's names. My parents had been married at the time of my birth. They were both from Shamokin, Pa., a small coal-mining town.

My then-husband went to the Jersey CityHall of Records and wove a story about a medical emergency. We needed my family's history and we needed names, he told the clerk.

The clerk was angry. He said the information was sealed by state law. My husband persisted. I was very sick, he said, and we needed the information.

The clerk walked away. He came back several minutes later with a ledger book and dumped it on the counter.

"Here," he said. "You didn't get this from me." The birth records matched the hospital records. I knew who I was.

But the subterfuge the adoptedmust resort to continued. I went to St. Aedan's Church in Jersey City, where I had been baptized six weeks after I was born. The rectory receptionist greeted me warmly when I asked for a copy of my original baptismal certificate. I gave my last name as Zurick. She left the room and returned a few minutes later. Her demeanor had changed. "What are you trying to pull?" she asked angrily. "You know we can't give that information out."

Shortly after that, I dialed Pennsylvania information and asked for any Zurick listings from Shamokin. There were quite a few. I closed my eyes and picked out one. It landed on the name Joseph Zurick.When I dialed the number, his wife, Gertrude, answered. Instead of being annoyed by a stranger's call, she was intrigued.

That was the beginning of a five-year friendship. I learned the man listed as my natural father had been an alcoholic, who brutalized my mother and three brothers. She left him and moved to North Jersey in 1946. They never divorced. He tried many times to get her to return.

We visitedmyAunt Gertrude andUncle Joe in 1977. No one answered the front door, so we walked around back. My aunt and uncle had just returned from church. They had a group of relatives assembled to see the stranger who had come to visit. When I rounded the corner of the house, there was a collective gasp. To use an old cliché, I was the spitting image ofmy natural mother.

I never met her. We did reach her by phone once. She denied ever having me.

I wrote to her. I told her I had no wish to intrude on her life, that I just wanted some basic medical information and family history. She never answered.

Adult adoptees should not have to resort to lying or misrepresentation to find out who they are. Imagine telling an African- American, Chinese, Hispanic, Irish or person of any ethnicity they are not entitled to their original birth certificates.

The New Jersey state Senate approved bill S-611 recently. The bill would allow adult adoptees to petition the state registrar for their original birth certificates. The bill now heads to the Assembly.

That's the good part. But the bill also gives biological parents a year to file a "no contact" letter to allow them to remain anonymous. The birth parents would instead have to provide a family history form and update it every 10 years.

That's too big a loophole.Adult adoptees have a civil right to their original birth certificates. It's that simple.

Patricia Miller is a managing editor with Greater Media Newspapers.

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NEW JERSEY: Commentary--Adoptees Back Action by Legislators for Right to Learn Who They Are, March 16, 2008

ASBURY PARK PRESS
March 16, 2008

Adoptees back action by legislators for right to learn who they are
By PEGGI STURMFELS March 16, 2008

Our state legislators are considering legislation to restore to more than 150,000 citizens their right to know who they are. Adoptees over the age of 18 would have access to their original birth certificate, or access to their family history, including medical, cultural and social information.

As these deliberations take place, I would ask that the legislators take a moment to see a moment (or many moments) of my life. Sometimes it is a seemingly benign comment. At a lively discussion with a group of friends, one member decries what the "bastards" did. While others laughed, I cringed a little. Bastard was the offensive word and bastard is what I am.

I have lived for more than half a century in a world that defines me as less than — or must prove myself as worthy of personage as — my friends, my neighbors, strangers and my family.

Our culture diminishes adopted children in many subtle ways most folks don't even think about. In words and laws, adoptees have been thrown into a caste system that encourages secrecy and shame. And somehow we have allowed the children who have had no say in the causative circumstance or the behavior to be the bearers of that secrecy and shame.

For centuries, bastard children could not inherit from their biological parent, unless that parent acknowledged them. That acknowledgment often happened by adoption. Then and even today, adopted children have to be specifically acknowledged in some wills.

"Orphans" are thought of as poor souls, conjuring up images of Oliver Twist, malnourished children and rat-infested living quarters. Adoption became a way of rescuing them. But with the rescue, we often put upon them the burden of showing they are worthy of that effort.

We feel that they should be grateful for the chance of being adopted. And we question the appropriateness of their behavior should they ask the questions that all people have a birthright of knowing the answers to.

Have you sat with your kids, looking through the family album or old pictures, telling them the stories of their history? The stories passed down through generations that completes their legacy and gives them a past to build their future.

I've got that, too. But the nagging truth is that mine is borrowed. So who am I really? The agency said I was the shame of a one-night stand. I preferred my version of the love child of two people torn apart by circumstance and time. Newfound family members share different facts that bear no resemblance to the ones my adoptive parents were told.

Critics of these bills talk about a presumed pact made with birth mothers to protect them from public scrutiny.

But who protected the children from public ridicule? Who went and stood beside the children in the school yards as kids taunted them, telling them that something was so horrible about them that their own mothers didn't want them?

Who benefited from the incomplete grade received on the seventh grade science project requiring students to trace their family tree? What pact held these kids in their arms at family reunion gatherings that made them outsiders? What regulation explained away the fear and hurt of hearing your cousins being referred to as the "real grandchildren" by your grandmother?

What document gave comfort or support every time a doctor asked about family medical history and the answer is always "I don't know"? And who was served when polite people and the state decided that bastards were to be labeled illegitimate.

Protecting the privacy of one family so often abused the everyday living of the child given away. And their family, too.

Tell me what day you were born? Me? On or about Dec. 10, no one is sure. Tell me what ethnic background you claim? Me? I've been told either Irish or Scottish, maybe some English. Recently, I might be Swedish.

When did you take your first step? What were your first words? Where did you spend the first three years of your life? Whose eyes do you have? Whose smile? Nose? Me? Again, nothing.

One of my quirky little "adoption" phobias? I refused to date anyone with red hair, because I was afraid he might be my brother.

How was your parents' health? Arthritis, strokes, breast cancer, Alzheimer's, etc.? And your children, who do they look like? Do they have a heart condition? Hearing loss? Kidney disease? Allergies and asthma?

And their children, a new generation now faced with having to have genetic testing because there are no answers to basic questions. My decades-long search for answers has revealed half-sisters and half-brothers, cousins, aunts and uncles and stories that didn't match the agency's "unidentifying" information. But only possibly — because absent my birth certificate — there is no verification, no certainty that I belong to these people.

Let me say one more thing about this need to protect the birth mothers, or the adoptive mothers from this horrible secret pain (their child) that they have had to endure. As a mother, both biological and adoptive, it is my obligation to do everything I can to ensure the emotional health of my child. When my daughter needed to find answers, my husband and I did whatever was needed to help her make that journey, even though we were frightened by what she might find.

Passage of open records for adoptees will restore to hundreds of adoptees in New Jersey and their families the basic human right to know who they are. It's what you've known all along. Why can't we?

Peggi Sturmfels, Jackson, is a member of NJCARES, a network of volunteers, donors, service groups and charities.

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NEW JERSEY: NJ Bill Would Open Birth records to Adoptees, March 14, 2008

PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
March 14, 2008


N.J. bill would open birth records to adoptees

By Adrienne Lu

Inquirer Trenton Bureau
Like many adoptees, Heather Mulford goes through life with questions she may never get answered.

She wonders why her blond hair started turning gray when she turned 18. She worries about passing hidden genetic problems on to her three young children. And she would like to know which country or countries she could trace her roots to.

But unlike some adoptees, Mulford - a 38-year-old high school social studies teacher from Chester Springs - says she spends very little time pondering such questions.

"I'm not a huge believer in genetics," says Mulford. "Being a mom is getting up in the middle of the night and dealing with the fevers and kissing the scraped knees and rushing to the hospital to get stitches."

"Giving birth," she adds emphatically, "is just biological."

Even so, a TV program broadcast recently about another state giving adult adoptees access to their birth records caught Mulford's attention enough to send her to the Internet to look up information about a similar bill pending in New Jersey.

If signed into law, that bill would allow adult adoptees from New Jersey, such as Mulford, access to their original birth certificates, including their birth mothers' names - assuming the birth mother does not notify the state otherwise within a set period. The bill has cleared the Senate and is headed to the Assembly.

The issue is a sensitive one, given the delicate balance between an adult adoptee's right to know more about his or her origins and a birth parent's right to privacy.

In some cases, birth parents were promised by adoption agencies that the records would be sealed forever. According to the nonprofit Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, the courts have typically found that such promises contradicted state law and are not legally binding. But no matter what the law says, some remain uncomfortable with the idea of the state breaking a promise made by someone else.

In New Jersey, some adoptees and advocate groups, including the New Jersey Coalition for Adoption Reform and Education, have been fighting for years to give adult adoptees access to information about their births and adoptions.

Few with firsthand experience on the other side of the issue are willing to speak out, however, because in many cases to do so would mean revealing secrets they had hoped to keep hidden for life.

Search for information
David Brodzinsky, a clinical and developmental psychologist who taught at Rutgers University for 32 years and now lives in California, said all human beings search for themselves, at some level. An adoptee's search for information about birth families, he said, is simply an extension of that search.

In addition, adoptees can feel emotionally undermined by the lack of control created when a state bars them from information on their own backgrounds, he said.

Mulford, who was adopted from New Jersey, says her parents never made her adoption - or those of her brother and sister - an issue.

Their parents answered questions about their adoptions much like any other parent would answer questions about their children's births, she says. In Mulford's case, the adoption story included an account of a ride home on a corporate jet when she was just three days old, an account that made her, as a child, feel important and wanted.

No grudges
Mulford holds no grudges against her birth mother, she says. Instead, she's grateful that woman made the decision she did so that Mulford could grow up in a loving family.

"If anything, I've felt overloved, because if you think about it, adoptees are wanted," she says. "The parents go out of their way to have their child."

Still, Mulford says, becoming a mother herself prompted her to start thinking about how nice it would be to be able to answer some of the questions at doctors' offices - whether this or that disease or condition runs in her family, for example.

Even so, Mulford says she would never demand to learn her birth mother's name if she would rather not be known.

Such mixed feelings are not uncommon among adoptees, Brodzinsky said.

"It's natural to have some degree of ambivalence," he said. "It may be about many things. You may be curious but anxious about what you'll find out or how you'll be received. We're always anxious about the unknown."

In his experience counseling adoptees, Brodzinsky said, most who do undertake a search are glad they did, even when it doesn't go as well as they had hoped.

"Most people are glad that they searched because it has helped them to answer questions," he said.

Some adoptees develop a compulsion to find their birth families.

Mulford, though, is not one of those people. She is not sure she would want to meet her birth mother, if given the option, although she would like to reassure her that she made the right decision.

Mulford imagines her birth mother was an unwed teenage girl who might appreciate knowing that the baby she gave up is now a mother and a teacher, a productive member of society.

She also worries that she could hurt her parents' feelings by seeking out her birth mother. She takes offense when some people refer to them as her "adoptive" parents. To her, she says, they are simply her parents - no qualifier necessary.

Mulford says she doesn't understand the adoptees who talk endlessly about the emptiness they feel inside because they were adopted.

"Live for what you have," she says. "If you spend your life feeling a void, how about appreciating what you have?"

"I guess," she concludes, "that's the way my parents raised me."

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NEW JERSEY: Birth Records Focus on Debate, March 12, 2008

EASTON (PA) EXPRESS-TIMES
March 12, 2008

Birth records focus of debate
March 12, 2008
By Trish G. Graber


TRENTON | Amy Lerke-Gonzalez always wondered whether she looked like her birth mother.

But the Washington resident, adopted at 2 days old, never sought out her birth mother.

"I always felt like my mother who adopted me was my mother," said Lerke-Gonzalez.

At 40 years old, Lerke-Gonzalez is still unsure whether or not she will ever contact her birth mother.

But Lerke-Gonzalez, herself an adoptive parent, is sure of one thing: She and other adoptees should at least have the opportunity to learn about their roots.

A state proposal, which has been debated for more than 20 years, is again making its way through the Legislature and would give adoptees the ability do so.

The bill would unseal state adoption records, providing adoptees access to their original birth certificate at the age of 18. It would also allow the adoptive parents of a minor access to the information.

Advocates who have pushed for the measure say that adoptees have the right to know their cultural background as well as their medical history.

"We've done nothing to get born at a time when our parents either believed or were persuaded that they couldn't care for us, and we get punished," said Pam Hasegawa, spokeswoman for the New Jersey Coalition for Adoption Reform and Education.

According to Hasegawa, about 150,000 adoption records remain sealed in New Jersey.

Seven states allow access to records

Only seven states allow adoptees access to their original birth certificates, according to NJCARE. They are Alabama, Alaska, Delaware, Kansas, New Hampshire, Oregon and Tennessee.

Typically, an amended birth certificate is issued for adopted children, naming their adoptive parents and oftentimes giving the child a new name.

The legislation to provide adoptees with their original records has remained controversial because opponents believe a birth mother was guaranteed the right to privacy when she gave up her child.

"Some of these cases are sad; they involve people being raped by family members," said Patrick Brannigan, director of the New Jersey Catholic Conference. "And they were told that they can go on and live their lives and the child will be nurtured and comfortable."

Brannigan has advocated for amending the measure to allow the information to be distributed only when both the birth parents and adoptive parents agree to it.

Advocates for opening the records to adoptees have shown no signs of making such a concession. And supporters, like Lerke-Gonzalez, remain adamant.

"I think that once a child is 18 that they should know," Lerke-Gonzalez said. "I think it helps in a lot of ways, not just health-wise but for their own heart."

Lerke-Gonzalez learned of her mother's background after receiving a letter 17 years ago from the New York state registrar. It said her mother was trying to contact her and included a phone number for her biological brother, Max.

Lerke-Gonzalez made the call and spoke to Max's wife.

She never called her birth mother.

"I just really didn't feel that I had anything to say to her," she said.

Lerke-Gonzalez never sought out her medical information -- but, advocates believe, at least she had the ability to do so.

Advocates hope bill finally passed

Advocates are hoping that this year a law will be enacted to give others the same opportunity.

The state proposal was approved by the Senate last week.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, would unearth original birth certificates for adoptees.

However, it would allow a one-time, one-year window from the time the law is signed for birth parents to contact the state to specify that they want their identities kept private.

If their identities are withheld, birth parents would have to disclose their medical, cultural and social history, which would be provided to the adoptee upon request.

Birth parents could also stipulate if and how they would like to be contacted.

"This bill has been around in the state Legislature for a long time, and I believe we've been successful in crafting a measure which gives birth parents ample protection, should they desire it," said Vitale.

The measure must still be considered by the General Assembly.

Trish Graber is Trenton correspondent for The Express-Times. She can be reached at 609-292-5154.

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NEW JERSEY: NJ Adoptees May Get Access to Records

Comments

BERGEN RECORD
March 10, 2008

N.J. adoptees may get access to records
BY ELISE YOUNG

New Jersey adoptees, historically denied their full life stories, soon may gain access to their birth parents' medical histories and cultural backgrounds.

They also could learn the names and addresses of their birth mothers, even if those women once were guaranteed anonymity forever.

For some people, the prospect of unsealed records invokes unmitigated joy. For others -- some who had their babies decades ago, when out-of-wedlock births were a stigma -- the feeling is sheer terror.

"The truth is I can never have any real peace," one woman wrote lawmakers preparing to vote on the matter, "because now I never know whether a knock on the door or call on the phone will be his attempt at trying to intrude in my life against my repeatedly declared wishes to be left alone."

She submitted anonymous, written testimony and recalled the shame and fear of a high school pregnancy. When she gave up her son, she was assured they could meet in the future only if both agreed. More than 30 years later, the woman wrote, "my birth son ... is trying to hunt me down."

"This is really about identity and truth of a human being's existence," Darryl McDaniels -- better known as the rapper DMC -- told a state Senate committee when he testified about learning he was adopted. "I want my book to begin from Chapter 1 and not from Chapter 2."

Philip Foley of South Jersey testified on behalf of his wife, who as a teenager was raped, conceived and sent to a home for unwed mothers.

"She held on to the only comfort that she was offered -- promises that once her ordeal was over and adoption papers signed, her secret would never be revealed to anyone, ever," he said. For more than 30 years, he said, not even he knew.

Ten years ago, the child located her birth mother.

"I cannot describe the pain I saw on my wife's face when she was forced to tell me her secret as her world was falling apart," he said.

The state Senate approved the bill last week. If it gets support in the Assembly and is signed by Governor Corzine, adoption information could be available as early as next year. Information about all adoptees' pasts would be available, no matter how long ago they were given up and what promises were made to their birth mothers.

Maine, New Hampshire, Delaware, Tennessee, Alabama and Oregon have changed their laws to allow such access, according to the American Adoption Congress, a non-profit group that advocates for greater availability of birth records. Kansas never restricted such records to adoptees.

In New Jersey, activists have tried to unseal the state's adoption records for nearly 30 years, citing needs from the practical (concerns about genetic health conditions, for instance) to the philosophical (a curiosity about one's roots.).

For just as long, a coalition of opponents – including the American Civil Liberties Union and the New Jersey Catholic Conference -- have pushed back just as hard, chiefly arguing for rights to anonymity granted to birth parents.

Patrick Brannigan, executive director of the Catholic Conference, said the group -- whose members include the Archdiocese of Newark and the dioceses of Paterson, Metuchen and Trenton -- supports the release of medical information. But to disclose birth parents' names without their consent, he said, would be "a callous betrayal."

"A simple and fair approach would be a mutual-consent registry," he said.

But state Sen. Loretta Weinberg, D-Teaneck, said the bill takes birth mothers' concerns into account.

"We've made a great step forward to protect everyone in the system," Weinberg said.

Under the law, information now sealed by the courts would be accessible by adoptive parents, adoptees over 18 and the adoptees' children.

Shortly after birth, the biological mother would indicate how she wants to interact with the child in the years ahead: directly, through an intermediary or not at all.

The mother also would submit family information, including medical, cultural and social histories. Those details would be released to adoptees upon request. But the mother could stipulate that her name and contact information be withheld.

Birth mothers who gave up their children years ago would have to contact the state to indicate their preferences. Critics say such a requirement is risky: What if some women never learn about a change in the law? What about women who fear that contacting the state somehow would lead to mailings or phone calls from a government agency, which would tip off family members to an old secret? What if the birth mother's name were released accidentally?

"Our position is that a person should not have to opt out of having their name released," Brannigan said. "We always have said that we are supportive of reunions and of people finding out information about their heritage -- if it's of mutual consent."

State Sen. Bill Baroni, R-Mercer, who was adopted, said his vote to release the bill from the Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee was one of the most difficult he ever cast.

"This is an imperfect compromise," Baroni said. "One some level you're dealing with contrasting values. You have promises made 20, 30, 40 years ago. And you have many adopted kids who have a real need to understand their past. This is not legislation that everyone is going to be happy with. It's incumbent on people like me to publicize the opt-out provision."

McDaniels, the rapper who was 35 when he learned he was adopted, recounted how a clerk denied him access to his birth certificate in New York State.

"She said, 'That don't exist' -- and this is what killed me -- 'to you,' " he said.

Eventually, McDaniels said, he reunited with his birth mother. But at 43, he said, he continues to reassure his adoptive parents that he considers them his family.

"I want to fix it so adoptees don't have to go through what I'm going through today," he said.

E-mail: younge@northjersey.com

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NEW JERSEY: Law Would Unseal State Adoption Records, March 9, 2008

GLOUCESTER COUNTY TIMES
March 9, 2008

Law would unseal state adoption records
By Trish G. Graber
tgraber@sjnewsco.com

Alice Miceli was 7 years old when she discovered the Paulsboro couple she called mom and dad were actually her adoptive parents.

But it wasn't until she was 35 that she decided to seek out her birth mother.

Like so many adopted children, Miceli immediately hit a brick wall.

Her adoption was closed and, by law, her original birth certificate unavailable to her.

"A stranger could read my adoption file, but I couldn't," said Miceli, 66, now living in Tabernacle, Burlington County.

But, determined, Miceli tried the adoption agency anyway.

At the Children's Home Society in Trenton, she found out very little. But the smidgen of information they provided would give her access to birth records like nearly no other adoptee in the state.

"Supposedly, I'm Native American," she said.

Miceli petitioned the court to open her records using a federal law the Indian Child Welfare Act which gives Native Americans the right to learn which tribe they were associated with.

But it took 20 years of court battles until her adoption records were finally unsealed to her at the Gloucester County Courthouse in 2000.

Miceli was unable to immediately locate her mother, but through research, she found her family members.

She obtained found birth certificates and death certificates of her grandmother and others.

By 2000, however, most of her mother's family wasn't around to answer her questions.

"If the records were open sooner to me, I may have been able to find her," she said.

Miceli never found her mother, and still doesn't know whether she is partially Native American.

But she hasn't given up.

And she's now advocating for other adoptees, lobbying for a law that would unseal state adoption records which is making its way through the state Legislature.

The bill would provide adoptees access to their original birth certificates at the age of 18. It would also allow the adoptive parents of a minor or descendants of an adoptee to obtain the information.

Advocates who have pushed for the measure say adoptees have the right to know their cultural background as well as their medical history.

"We've done nothing to get born at a time when our parents either believe or were persuaded that they couldn't care for us, and we get punished," said Pam Hasegawa, spokeswoman for the New Jersey Coalition for Adoption Reform and Education (NJCARE).

According to Hasegawa, about 150,000 adoption records remain sealed in New Jersey.

Only seven states allow those from closed adoptions access to their original birth certificates, according to NJCARE. They are Alabama, Alaska, Delaware, Kansas, New Hampshire, Oregon and Tennessee.

Typically, amended birth certificates are issued to adopted children, naming their adoptive parents and often times giving the child a new name.

"It's a lie," said Miceli, who learned her birth name was actually Marie Loy.

But opponents of the measure believe that a birth mother was guaranteed the right to privacy when she gave up her child.

"Some of these cases are sad, they involve people being raped by family members," said Patrick Brannigan, director of the New Jersey Catholic Conference. "And they were told that they can go on and live their lives and the child will be nurtured and comfortable."

Brannigan noted that women who give up their children at police stations or hospitals through the state's Safe Haven program are allowed to remain anonymous. Names of those who decide to terminate their pregnancy through abortion are also kept private.

Brannigan has advocated for amending the measure to allow the information to be distributed only when both the birth parents and adoptive parents agree.

But advocates for opening the records to adoptees have shown no signs of making such a concession.

"We adoptees need to know who we are," said Miceli.

The state proposal was approved by a 31-7 vote in the Senate last week; it must still be considered by the Assembly.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, would unearth original birth certificates to adoptees.

However, it would allow a one-time, one year window from the time the law is enacted for birth parents to contact the state to specify that they want their identities kept private.

If their identities are withheld, birth parents would have to disclose their medical, cultural and social history which would be provided to the adoptee upon request.

Birth parents could also stipulate if and how they would like to be contacted.

Recognizing that the bill has been debated for more than 20 years, Vitale said he believes his measure finally gives birth parents who desire it protection.

"However, adoption in New Jersey, as it was first implemented, never provided a guarantee of anonymity to birth parents," Vitale said. "And ultimately, our goal with this legislation is to give adoptees access to basic identifying information."

Miceli has access to that basic information. And over 31 years, she learned that her mother lived in California, was abused by her father and sent away to a girls' home at the age of 14.

She's found cousins and obtained photographs of her grandmother, Lolita Woods, her great, great grandmother and others.

Her brown leather photo album is filled with black and white pictures of her extended family.

But the first two pages are blank spots she hopes will one day be filled with photos of her mother, Lillian.

"You hit brick walls and then you sort of give up," Miceli said. "And all of a sudden the spark starts again."

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NEW JERSEY: NJ Considers Unsealing Adoption Records, March 7, 2008

PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
March 7, 2008

N.J. considers unsealing adoption records
By Adrienne Lu
Inquirer Trenton Bureau

Robert Hafetz spent most of his life wanting to know who his birth parents were.

Hafetz, who was adopted as an infant in New Jersey and now lives in Warrington, Bucks County, started searching four years ago and discovered his birth mother had died in 1977. In the process, the 57-year-old met two half-brothers, who have welcomed him into their family.

He says that having access to original birth certificates would help other adoptees answer the nagging questions of identity that haunt some from the time they are children.

But some parents don't want to be found. Philip Foley of South Jersey and his wife, who asked not to be named, are among those fighting to keep birth records sealed by New Jersey.

Foley testified on his wife's behalf against opening up records before a Senate committee in January, telling lawmakers how she gave up her daughter for adoption after being raped as a teenager.

"I was free from him, free from what was growing on me," she says of the act of giving up the infant.

About 11 years ago, the daughter initiated contact with Foley's wife, they said. Foley's wife says she made it clear she wanted no part of the woman's life. But after that, they said, the woman contacted various members of Foley's family, revealing a secret Foley's wife feared could destroy her family. The woman has continued to contact the family periodically since, Foley said.

"It's like enduring what I endured back then and it's just horrible," she said.

Nationwide, the number of states opening up access to records for adoptees is small, but growing. In New Jersey, a bill to open records sponsored by Sens. Joseph Vitale (D., Middlesex) and Diane Allen (R., Burlington), has cleared the Senate and is moving to the Assembly.

Until now, those on Foley's side of the debate - which includes an unusual combination of advocates, including the New Jersey Catholic Conference and the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union - have succeeded in keeping the records sealed. Some argue the confidentiality promised to mothers giving up children for adoption should be protected, regardless of what the law says on the issue. Others believe adoption rates could drop and abortion rates rise as a result.

Various bills to open birth records to adoptees have passed either the Senate or the Assembly over the years, but never both.

Vitale acknowledged the delicate balancing act between the rights of the mothers and the adoptees. "Adoptees will tell you it's about knowing who they are," Vitale said. "It's a huge void in their lives, and we're trying to help them fill it in a way that makes sense and respects as best we can everyone's point of view."

Vitale's bill would allow birth mothers who gave up their children for adoption before the law takes effect one year to notify the state that they do not wish to have their names released, if their adult children should request it.

Those mothers would be required to periodically update forms to the state with medical, social and cultural information.

After the law's effective date, all children adopted in New Jersey would have access to their original birth certificates, including their mother's names, once they turned 18. Mothers could indicate whether they wished to be contacted, and if so, how.

Senator Bill Baroni (R., Mercer), who was adopted, struggled for months with the issue. Baroni and his sister were both adopted and while he has never felt a desire to learn his birth parents' identities, his sister, who is unrelated to him by birth and is now deceased, longed to know who her birth parents were since she was young.

Baroni ultimately decided to vote in favor of opening up the birth certificates. "There are wonderful stories to adoption," Baroni said. "I'm hoping this legislation will continue to promote an amazing gift."

Adam Pertman, executive director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, a national nonprofit organization based in Boston, testified before the Senate committee that there are many benefits and few drawbacks to opening adoption records.

Studies have found that between 80 percent and 95 percent of birth mothers want some information on or contact with the children they gave birth to, Pertman said. In the handful of states that have unsealed birth records to adoptees, only a small percentage of birth mothers have objected, he said.

According to the Adoption Institute, in Kansas and Alaska adoptees 18 and older have always had access to their original birth certificates. Since 1996, Alabama, Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon and Tennessee have granted adoptees some access to records.

Pennsylvania allowed adult adoptees access to their original birth certificates until 1985, said Pam Hasegawa, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey Coalition for Adoption Reform and Education. Since then, none of the efforts to reopen the records has succeeded.

New Jersey has about 150,000 sealed adoption records, said Hasegawa, who is an adoptee herself.

"We need access to updated and accurate medical history, which none of us has," she said.

Few dispute that adoptees should have access to their family's medical histories. But advocates on the other side of the issue argue that information can be shared without violating the privacy of the birth mother.

John Tomicki, of the League of American Families, who is against opening up records, is pushing for a compromise that would place the burden on the state to obtain birth mothers' permission before releasing their names. The New Jersey Bar Association favors a mutual consent registry, in which birth mothers and adoptees who are open to being contacted can register. Only in cases where both parties register would names and contact information be made available.

Hafetz managed to find his birth mother's name without the state's help. His experience was so profound that he quit his job as a therapist to write a book about it and devote his time to helping other adoptees.

"You reach a point where you just can't go on any more without knowing," said Hafetz. "The experience of searching and going back is like opening a door to a room in your mind that you've had locked shut all your life."

But Foley and his wife say if both parties in an adoption are not interested in exchanging information, the government should not intervene.

"I just ask for compassion," she said. "If it's consensual, go for it, but if it's not, I'm sorry, you just have to deal with what life gives you."

For a statement explaining New Jersey's S611, the adoption bill, go to http://go.philly.com/

NJAdoptStatement

Read the actual N.J. Senate bill at http://go.philly.com/NJAdopt

Contact staff writer Adrienne Lu at or alu@phillynews.com.


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NEW JERSEY: Editorial--Reject Adoptee Rights Bill, March 6, 2008

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NEWARK STAR-LEDGER
March 6, 2008

Editorial: Reject Adoptee Rights Bill

The adoptee rights bill -- a measure that would open records sealed decades ago -- was a bad idea when it was considered in prior legislative sessions and it's a bad idea now. Nothing has changed.

The bill, which passed the Senate earlier this week and now goes to the Assembly for consideration, should get no further.

Proponents of the measure have spent nearly 30 years pushing legislation that is fundamentally unfair to women who, in good faith at a very vulnerable time in their lives, surrendered babies for adoption with the clear understanding that their decision would be kept confidential. The bill (S611) would open those records to adoptees who are 18 years or older, clearing the way for them to search for their birth parents.

Supporters of the bill argue that adoptees need this information to gain access to their biological parents' medical records. They insist that their right to birth records trumps the privacy rights of birth parents. Nonsense.

First, there is no guarantee that once a parent is found she will supply detailed information about her medical history. Even in an intact family, adult children do not have a right to a parent's medical records.

While it's understandable that adoptees want to be reunited with their biological parents, that can be accomplished through a registry that would bring birth parents and adoptees together through mutual agreement. For reasons that are absolutely confounding, adoption rights advocates have refused to compromise and accept a law that creates a registry or some other go-between. They want the records open. Period.

The bill voted out of the Senate reflects that unbending attitude. It says information would automatically be turned over to adoptees unless birth parents file notarized "no contact" letters saying they wish to remain anonymous, no matter how long ago the adoption took place. Imagine that a woman in her 80s now forfeits her right to privacy because she didn't realize she had to file a form in Trenton.

Even then, the bill would require both birth parents to fill out a medical and cultural history form every 10 years until a parent is 40 and every five years thereafter or forfeit their anonymity. Will it be up to the mother to announce who the father is so that he, too, can be hunted down? And if he doesn't comply, are all bets off and the request for no contact void?

Why not take the more reasonable approach of changing the law going forward? At least birth mothers would understand the ground rules when they relinquish a child. Changing the law retroactively is just plain wrong.


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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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NEW JERSEY: Open Records Bill for NJ Adoptees Advances in Legislature, March 3, 2008

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NEWARK STAR-LEDGER
March 3, 2008

Open records bill for NJ adoptees advances in Legislature
by Susan K. Livio

The state Senate today approved a bill that would allow adults adopted as children to obtain their original birth records, now sealed under New Jersey law.

For nearly three decades, adoption rights advocates have tried to get this bill passed, arguing they have a right to know their biological and cultural identities. Yet religious leaders, anti-abortion activists and, more recently, the New Jersey chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union have persuaded lawmakers to reject the bill to protect the identity of birth mothers, who believed they had anonymity when they gave up their children.

Despite the bill's long and tortured history, the Senate voted 30-7 to approve S611, without any discussion. The measure moves to the Assembly.

The bill would allow adult adoptees or the adoptive parent of a child to petition the state registrar for an original birth certificate with the names of the biological parents.

The measure gives parents a year from the bill's enactment to file a notarized "no contact" letter with the state if they wish to remain anonymous. They would have to complete a medical and cultural history form every 10 years until the parent is 40, and every five years thereafter, or forfeit their anonymity.

"Through this legislation, we've taken pains to balance the needs of adopted individuals to know with the needs of certain birth parents to maintain anonymity,'' Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex), the bill's sponsor, said in a statement after the vote. "For New Jersey's adopted residents, this bill is about fairness, giving them the same opportunity to know where they come from as non-adopted people.''

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NEW JERSEY: Letter t the Editor by John Case--Bill Allows Spector of "Biological Parent" to Cloud Adoptions

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BRIDGEWATER COURIER NEWS
March 2, 2008

Letter to the editor: Bill allows 'specter of biological parent' to cloud adoptions
by John Case

The New Jersey Senate Committee that voted 10-0 to support bill S611, which would allow adopted persons access to their original birth certificate and thus the identity of the biological parents' names, are obviously oblivious to the unintended consequences of this bill.

Recent trends in adoptions indicate a trend towards fewer domestic adoptions and more international adoptions, in large part due to laws such as this. This law does not consider a situation where the biological parent may understandably want to disassociate themselves from that chapter of their life nor the extremely problematic situation to the adoptive parents who desire and, I believe, have the right to raise the child completely as their own.

Speaking as prospective adoptive parents, my wife and I are not willing to take on any adoption where the specter of the biological parent hovers over the adoptive parent-child relationship. We know that we are not alone in this mindset.

Take this as a warning. If S611 is passed, prepare to see an increase in overseas adoptions at the expense of domestic adoptions.

JOHN CASE

Bridgewater

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NEW JERSEY: Opinion--State Shouldn't Open All Adoption Records

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EAST BRUNSWICK HOME NEWS TRIBUNE
March 1, 2008

Opinion: State Shouldn't Open All Adoption Records

The New Jersey Senate is set to vote Monday on a controversial measure that has bounced around the Statehouse in various forms for nearly 30 years: legislation to make all adoption records public information. The proposal is so wrenching for so many people because it straddles two equally compelling but competing sets of personal values and needs.

On the one hand are birth parents who have given up their children with the promise by the state that their names would forever be kept under lock and key; on the other are those who believe the children of adoption have a legal and moral entitlement to know exactly who those birth parents are. There are enough emotional entreaties on both sides to muddle the debate. But in the pure abstract, the bill as crafted should not be advanced.

One flaw of the measure is that its requirements fall unreasonably hard on the backs of birth parents, some of whom gave up their children decades ago, fully believing the matter closed. Now they would have to file a notarized letter of "no contact" with the state if they wish to remain anonymous. And there is no telling how many of them would even learn about the rules, or have the wherewithal to meet the guidelines if they did find out, leaving some open to unwanted contacts from long-lost offspring. The state made a pact with them but would breach that commitment.

Beyond the natural curiosity of knowing who one's real parents are — and no one denies that it is strong, even overwhelming for some adoptees — advocates for open records have maintained for years that it is both culturally and medically beneficial for adoptees to know their real family histories. This is true. But it would be fairly easy for the state to supply most of this information simply by requiring that these histories be provided at the time of adoption and supplied to adoptees upon later request, while blacking out the names of birth parents, should they not want their identities exposed.

Here again, regretably, the legislation goes too far, insisting that birth parents provide medical and cultural updates every 10 years, until age 40, or surrender their anonymity. Cumbersome and intrusive, the idea is highhanded and best forgotten.

Opponents of the legislation also fear the loss of anonymity could discourage prospective parents from considering adoption, opting instead for abortion. While there is no telling if and how often this might happen, the argument is certainly plausible.

Sponsors of the legislation, including state Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, have allowed themselves to be swayed by a long-established and very well-organized lobby for the bill backed by children of adoption. There is no similar organization for and of birth parents, perhaps because their secrecy is paramount. Still, those few who have ventured forth to speak out against the bill have been clear about their desire for the state to respect their privacy for all of these and other reasons.

Just as this is not a perfect world, there is no ideal solution to this problem, but the status quo in this case is the lesser of two evils. May lawmakers have the wisdom to do nothing at all.

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NEW JERSEY: Calling All Birth Mothers..., February 1, 2008

RESPECT LIFE TODAY
February 1, 2008

Calling all birth mothers…
2/1/2008 by Lois Rogers


LAWRENCEVILLE - Now that the ongoing effort to open up adoptee birth records has heated up again in the legislature, it's only natural to turn to the New Jersey Catholic Conference for insight and information.

Marlene Lao-Collins is the director of social concerns for the New Jersey Catholic Conference and Patrick R. Brannigan is executive director. They have a real gift for putting complex societal issues into a context everyone can understand.

Talk to them on this particular subject, and it's immediately clear why they are the go-to-guys. It's a highly charged, emotional issue but Lao-Collins and Brannigan see both sides, spell them out and ask people to get involved.

"There are two sides of this story," Lao-Collins said Jan. 28, four days after a Senate panel voted overwhelmingly to release a measure that would allow people access to their original birth certificates.

As it stands now, the measure in question - S611 - would miss the mark, said Brannigan and Lao-Collins. They are pressing for amendments that include an enhanced mutual consent registry system which would link birth parents and adult adopted persons when (both) parties have requested and consented to reunions.

The New Jersey Catholic Conference doesn't oppose adoptees having full access to their birth parents' medical histories or revealing the identities of natural parents who consent to the release of the information; but doing so without consent is "simply wrong and unfair." That's what Brannigan told the Senate panel when he testified on the subject Jan. 24.

"The assurance of secrecy regarding the identity of the natural parents enables them to place the child for adoption with a reputable agency, with the knowledge that their actions and motivations will not become public knowledge," Brannigan testified. "Assured of this privacy by the State, the natural parents are free to move on and attempt to rebuild their lives after what must be a traumatic and emotionally tormenting episode in their lives."

The adoptive parents, he noted, also have an interest in having the birth records under seal. "They have taken into their home a child whom they will regard as their own and whom they will love and raise as an integral part of their family unit."

As a close friend of couples who have adopted children in good faith and embraced them as their own, I understand those concerns. As the friend of several adult adoptees, I understand their desire to know their origins.

It's a situation that begs for a Solomon.

Now Solomon, as we all know, relied on the testimony of the mother to render a verdict. And that's precisely who Lao-Collins would like to hear from.

"I would love it if birth moms, birth parents would call me about this. We would keep their information confidential but we know that the stories they tell are compelling and would have an impact.

"We fully understand that adopted persons have compelling, passionate reasons for wanting the records open but we can work this out and we can do it in a way that respects the dignity of both.

"We need to give birth parents the choice of whether they wish to be contacted. We need to do all we can to truly lift up the dignity of both sides."

Reach her at 609-989-1120, ext. 15.

Lois Rogers is features editor at The Monitor. She is available at lroger@dioceseoftrenton.org

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NEW JERSEY: Adoptees Could Access Birth Info

NORTH BRUNSWICK/SOUTH BRUNSWICK SENTINEL
January 31, 2008


Adoptees could access birth info
BY CHRIS MURINO Staff Writer

SOUTH BRUNSWICK- The state Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee unanimously supported a bill last week that would grant adult adoptees the right to their birth certificates.

Under the bill (S611), an adoptee over 18 years of age or the adoptive parent of a child can request their birth certificate from the state registrar's office. The bill allows a one year leeway for parents who gave up their children before the bill was passed to request not to disclose their information.

Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Mercer) found it to be a difficult, emotional decision as both he and his sister were adopted. However, only his sister had a desire to find her birth parents.

"I am adopted and I see it from many perspectives," he said. "I do believe they have the right to have that information and I believe that passionately."

Sen. Diane Allen, who sponsored the bill, agrees.

"It's important that adults who were adopted have access to vitally important familymedical information," she said. "This kind of information could dramatically affect the quality of an adoptee's life if left undiscovered."

However, Marie Tasy, the executive director of New Jersey Right to Life, believes the bill is unfair because some mothers do not want to be known.

"Advocates [of the bill] don't believe the birth mother should have the right to have this decision," she said. "We are willing to strike up a compromise but the advocates are not."

Pam Hasegawa, an adoptee and member of the New Jersey Coalition forAdoption Reform & Education, believes, "We're compromising by allowing past birth parents to write a request to be honored for their name and address removal."

Mutual Consent Voluntary Registries are also a hot topic. Some states, including New Jersey, give adoptees and parents the ability to find each other if they both want to. They can register at places like the International Soundex Reunion Registry. Information is computerized for each resident, and people are notified of a matching relationship.

Tasy believes that since this is in effect in many states, it should be tried on a national level.

"It's a good idea, but it's a backup idea," Hasegawa disagreed. "It works for a few people. I think it's a 2 percent success rate.

"Dead people don't register," she added. "Amother could be dead before the adoptee is old enough to apply for it."

She also mentioned that New Jersey allows the adoptive parents to change the date of birth on the certificate to their hometown, making the registry even less useful.

Some opponents have even said that more parents will resort to abortion if their children will have the rights to their full birth certificate. However, Hasegawa says evidence is pointing in the other direction.

In Alabama, a lawwas passed in 2000 allowing access to birth certificates.According to a Guttmacher Institute poll, the abortion rates decreased by 16 percent from 2000 to 2005. Oregon passed a similar law in 2000, and their abortion rates decreased by 25 percent in the same time period. The national average during this time period was a 9 percent drop. Also, Alaska and Kansas have never sealed birth certificates and have abortion rates below the national average.

Baroni said he believes the bill will pass.


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NEW JERSEY: Editorial--Let NJ Adoptees Get First Birth Certificates, January 29, 2008

Cherry Hill Courier Post
January 29, 2008

Editorial: Let N.J. adoptees get first birth certificates

Legislators should approve a bill that effectively balances the rights of adoptees and birth mothers.

As the state's new legislative session gathers momentum, we urge Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts, D-Camden, not to overlook the adoptees' request to gain access to their original birth certificates.

A bill that would allow New Jersey adoptees to learn about their biological roots has passed the state Senate twice, only to be passed over by Assembly members. This proposal has been carefully put together from decades of feedback by all concerned. It deserves approval.

We recognize opening adoption records requires careful consideration of the needs of adoptees and their biological parents. While adoptees deserve to know their history, parents who gave up their children might have expected lifelong anonymity. No bill could be expected to perfectly balance the interests of adoptees and their birth parents. Yet, the newly proposed bill -- co-sponsored by state sens. Diane Allen, R-Burlington, and Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex -- comes very close.

Birth mothers, who often made the difficult decision to give up a child, can choose to remain anonymous or be contacted. They have a year from the passage of the bill to submit a request to keep their information private. The state Department of Health and Senior Services would be required to widely advertise the change in law to ensure birth parents learn about it.

Even if the birth mother declines contact, she still would be compelled to provide her adopted child with important health, cultural and social history. If the parent fails to provide this information, the original birth certificate can be released to the adoptee. This is not too much to ask from a birth mother. She can still remain anonymous, but doing so won't deprive her birth children of the information they need for their health and welfare. The adoptee's right to this information is as important as protecting the privacy of the birth mother. Under this bill, both objectives can be achieved.

Critics claim releasing birth certificate information could prompt more New Jersey women to choose abortion over adoption. Yet, if the issue is a lack of anonymity, that shouldn't change under this proposal. But, finally, adoptees would not be forced to be in the dark about their identities and biological history. That change is decades overdue.

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NEW JERSEY: Editorial--A Case of Equality--Adopted Adults Deserve to Know of Their Past, January 26, 2008

MORRIS COUNTY DAILY REGISTER
January 26, 2008

A Case of Equality: Adopted Adults Deserve to Know of Their Past


Many adopted adults have tracked down their birth mother. All human interactions don't always turn out well, but many times such reunions are joyous occasions. A child is delighted to discover his or her history, and an aging mother is able to have a relationship she never imagined she would have.

Legislation has kicked around Trenton for years to make it easier for adopted adults to find out more about themselves. A Senate panel this week endorsed a measure that would allow adopted adults access to their original birth certificates, which list the names of their birth parents. We hope the full Senate and Assembly follows suit.

It's a normal human desire for any person to wonder about his or her family and health history. Even if adoptees do not seek to find their birth parents, this law would allow them the satisfaction of at least knowing who they were.

Opponents say opening up birth records that have been sealed for years violates the privacy of birth parents. We understand that view. In any legislation, there has to be a balancing of rights. We come down on the side of adopted adults seeking to discover their history. As proponents say, this really is an important civil rights issue. This week's progress in this matter is encouraging.


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HIP HOP NEWS
January 25, 2008

DMC Pushes For Adoptee Rights In New Jersey
January 25th, 2008

Author: Jake Paine

Rap icon DMC of Run-DMC was speaking in a New Jersey statehouse yesterday (January 24) on behalf of adoptee's rights. Within the state, adoptees' birth records are kept restrictive to adoptive parents, which prevents many adoptees from knowing or seeking their blood relatives and parents.

DMC told New's Day, "This isn't about DMC the celebrity, this is really about identity and truth of a human being's existence." It was eight years ago that the emcee himself discovered he was adopted, and noticed the limiting resources he had in researching his lineage.

The efforts moved the process further. The audience of the senate committee unanimously passed the proposed bill, which will now go before New Jersey Senate. Although this bill has been reportedly passed in 2004 and 2006, it has never been put into law.

HipHopDX will keep you updated.


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GIGWISE
January 25, 2008

Run DMC Rapper Starts New Career Lobbying For Adoption Rights
NEWS

by Jason Gregory


Darryl McDaniels, who was one of the original members of the US rap group Run-DMC, has called on legislators in the US to give adoptees the right to access their birth records.

McDaniels, who is more widely known as DMC, became an adamant supporter of the adoption rights legislation after learning he was an adoptee at the age of 35.

He told senators in the New Jersey Statehouse yesterday: "This is really about identity and truth of a human being's existence."
Story continues below...

"We never start a book from Chapter 2, as adoptees we live our lives from Chapter 2."

If approved, the legislation would allow adoptees the access to the names, ages, birthplaces, birth dates and occupations of their biological parents, reports AP.

"This isn't about us going back to make the birth mother's life hectic," McDaniels, who won an Emmy in 2006 for a documentary about his adoption experience, said.

"I believe there should be a right. That is somebody's identity, you all, somebody's identity."


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