New Washington Law-Conditional Access to Original Birth Certificate UPDATED

As we stated in one of our first posts, we are for adoptees to have UNconditional access to their original birth certificates. Though we are happy for those that will be able to access their birth certificates, we are not confident that future laws will be enacted to allow those still blocked under this law to gain access. Birthparents are allowed to block the adoptees’ access to their own records.

This new law becomes effective on July 27, 2013.

Read the text in this pdf.

Washington State Adoptee Rightsexplains “Representative Tina Orwall and Senator Jeannie Darneille were successful at herding a handful of adoptee rights advocates to the WA State Capital in Olympia, WA to further their cause of passing conditional legislation.

Mothers, adoptive parents, siblings, adoptees, advocates and whoever else poured their hearts and frustrations out at the small conference table located at the feet of various state legislators (those who even bothered to sit through the hearings). Yet the entire time, those of us who testified held on to the delusion that we may have just found the legislative champions we deserved. Well we didn’t and they both proved adult citizens who were adopted in Washington State do not have a champion among legislators. Instead, we were used as pawns in a game of bastard chess.

Rep Orwall and Sen Darneille knew good and well, a true equal rights bill was never obtainable from the majority of House members, but choose to pass any type of legislation rather than killing the House bill and going at it again next year.

Now that Washington State Legislators have successfully pigeon-hold adult citizens with HB 1525 into specific social classes of those who are “allowed” access to their own original birth certificate and those who are not “allowed” access to their own original birth certificate, news articles will be abundantly filled with politicians and their self-promoting media articles. Here’s one of the first articles…

WA State Senator Carrell Carrell-backed bill to address adoptee-parent searches becomes law

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Mike Carrell

Calling it a decisive step toward ending an often difficult and emotional struggle that for some can become a lifelong obsession, Sen. Mike Carrell, chairman of the Senate Human Services and Corrections Committee, said he was pleased Gov. Jay Inslee had signed House Bill 1525 into law. Carrell, a Republican from Lakewood, sponsored the Senate version of the bill, Senate Bill 5118, which authorizes a birth parent to complete a contact form stating his or her preference about personal contact with an adoptee.

“Giving a child up for adoption is one of the most difficult decisions a person can face in a lifetime, and as time goes on, some come to regret severing that parent-child relationship,” Carrell said. “Additionally, adopted children often grown up with a need to search for their birth parents; my bill will help facilitate that should both parties desire a meeting.”

HB 1525 allows an adult adoptee to obtain a noncertified copy of his or her original birth certificate unless the birth parent has filed an affidavit of nondisclosure. It requires the contact-preference form to include options for the birth parent to indicate his or her wishes regarding contact with the adoptee and release of the original birth certificate, and requires a birth parent to file an updated medical-history form which must be provided to an adult adoptee upon request.

“I’m very close to someone who has faced personal difficulty searching for birth parents, so I’ve seen the struggle a person can undergo just to find out where he or she came from,” Carrell added. “It’s time for the state to stop discriminating against adoptees by preventing them from obtaining access to vital documentation like family medical history, lineage and potentially life-affirming relationships, and I’m very glad to see this measure finally become law.”

The law created by the Carrell-backed measure will take effect on July 27.”

Bastard Nation opposed this. See their position here.

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update:“Washington’s state Department of Health is expecting a rush when an adoption-law change takes effect on July 1.

Adults who were adopted in Washington will be allowed to request their original birth certificate showing the names of their birth parents. The long-standing practice in most U.S. states has been to seal adoption records.

Increasingly though, those restrictions are loosening as adoptees such as Colleen Florio-Montgomery argue they deserve to know their family and medical backgrounds.

“Peace has come from being able to know who I am. I know who I look like. I know what my nationality is. As an Italian girl raised in a Norwegian household, I stood out,” she said with a chuckle.

Florio-Montgomery was among the adoptees and family members who convinced Washington’s legislature to allow everyone to see their original birth certificate. In Oregon, this change toward openness happened more than a decade ago by citizen initiative. Oregon Measure 58 passed in 1998, but was then held up for more than a year by unsuccessful legal challenges from birth mothers who wanted to preserve their privacy.

In both states, lawmakers created an optional form for birth parents to indicate they prefer not to be contacted. Florio-Montgomery said her birth mother was glad to reunite when she finally found her.

“I didn’t take any love away from my adoptive family to be able to love my birth family,” she said. “There’s just more love.”

Washington’s Department of Health is encouraging interested adoptees to pre-order their original birth certificate in anticipation of high demand after July 1 when the access law changes.

Idaho remains a closed-records state when it comes to adoptions. Adult adoptees can petition a court to seek access to adoption records. The state Health and Welfare Department also maintains a confidential voluntary registry where adoptees, birth parents and siblings can leave contact information to connect with one another by mutual consent.”

Washington State Expects Rush When Adoption Records Open[OPB 5/23/14 by Tom Banse]