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: 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

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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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