Some Rhode Island Adoptees Gaining Access to their Birth Certificates

We talked about the Rhode Island Bill and its subsequent modifications last year here and how one adoptee who worked for this bill was reunified with her original family here.

Here is a new story. ”

More than 50 years after being adopted, Putnam resident Gary Osbrey was given something most people take for granted: his mother’s name.

A decades-long journey to discover his past culminated in Rhode Island on Monday for Osbrey, one of several individuals provided with a copy of his birth certificate as part of a ceremony celebrating a new law that gives adoptees access to previously undisclosed information.

“It was very emotional,” Osbrey said. “It’s a crucial piece of information, a game-changer that will allow me to find out if my birth mother is alive.”

Osbrey, who was adopted days after his birth in 1961, began searching for his birth parents 14 years ago, with little success.

The 50-year-old Osbrey, along with three other hopeful adoptees, attended an afternoon ceremony at the Rhode Island Vital Records Office, where he was handed a noncertified copy of his birth certificate by Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee. Osbrey attended the ceremony with his adoptive siblings, Raymond and Jonna.

“I always knew I was adopted. My parents told me everything,” he said. “But I had to work through some guilt before I started looking for my birth parents. I didn’t want to disrespect my family.”

Osbrey’s adoptive mother died in 1991, and his father died more recently.

“My father gave me his blessing to look for my parents,” Osbrey said. “And my adoptive brother and sister both wanted to be at the ceremony on Monday, which touched me deeply.”

Osbrey said he began searching for his birth parents in 1998 but was stymied by a lack of available information. Even registering with the Passive Voluntary Adoption Mutual Consent Registry Act, where the state of Rhode Island acts as an intermediary should both parties register, produced no results.”

Read the rest at Putnam man adopted as child finds clue to his roots [Norwich Bulletin 7/2/12 by John Penney]

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