Louisiana House Committee advances bill opening adoption birth certificates UPDATED

“The House Committee on Civil Law and Procedure voted 9-1 to advance House Bill 1028 over the opposition of church groups and others.

HB1028 sponsor state Rep. Clay Schexnayder, R-Gonzales, immediately huddled with representatives of the Catholic Church, Louisiana Right to Life Federation and others who have successfully kept private adoption birth certificates secret for more than 40 years.

He said he’s looking for a way to get past the opposition that has blocked similar bills over the years.

“What I’m hearing is some sort of a system in which a state entity would gather the medical information, would update it every few years, and would provide the medical files to adoptees,” said Robert M. Tasman, associate director of the Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops, who oversees the church-related programs that include adoption.

“I think we’re going to have some sort of compromise before the bill gets to the floor,” he said.

Tasman said the last time he had seen the faces of adoptees supporting HB1028 was a couple years ago when a similar bill was defeated by the full Senate. “This is a hard position for everyone,” he said.

The bishops understand the need for adoptees to attain medical history, Tasman said, but they also want to protect the identities of birth parents who were promised anonymity at the time of the adoption.

The language in HB1028 undoes those decades-old promises of privacy, except in limited cases. Supporters say it is imperative adoptees and the families who adopted them as babies know their medical histories.

Knowing, for instance, that the women in a patient’s biological family has a history of breast cancer can help doctors diagnose symptoms and treatments. It even helps the person take early steps that could avert a medical crisis, said Schexnayder, who was surrounded by adoptees after his meeting with opponents.

“It’s not really about the birth certificates. It’s about health information. It’s about immediate information for these adoptees,” Schexnayder said, adding access to medical records is of “key importance” to the groups.

“We should be able to work something out,” Schexnayder said.

“What this bill does is huge,” said Andrea Carroll, who teaches family law at the LSU Law School and took part in the Louisiana Law Institute review of the adoption statutes.

Unless the birth mother fills out a form that expressly states a “No Contact” preference — before Jan. 1, 2015 — then the state would have to turn over an uncertified copy of the adoptee’s birth certificate, Carroll said, adding it only would be the “hip” and “connected” who heard about the deadline in time to act.

The guarantee of confidentiality is a protection, giving mothers another option than abortion, said Benjamin Clapper, executive director of Louisiana Right to Life Federation.

“We are opening the birth certificate records, the original records, to the adoptee when they turn 25,” Clapper said. But at the time of the adoption, 30, 40, 50 years ago, the state promised to forever keep that information secret.

“The state is now going back on that promise,” Clapper said.

Kent Gonsoulin, of Baton Rouge, who was adopted and grew up in New Iberia, said while medical history was important, it’s not the only factor.

“Adoptees have a right to know who they are,” said Gonsoulin, who attended the hearing with his daughter. “When I talk to adoptees, I hear a human need to know: Where they come from. Who they look like. What city they were born in. You know, who they are. It’s a huge need.”

Beyond the human needs are the practical issues of the need for health care data, he said. Adoptions that are taking place now include detailed medical histories of the birth families, which are given to the adopting parents.

People adopted in the 1950s and 1960s, when more adoptions took place in private, are now in their 50s and 60s and their health is failing, Gonsoulin said. “That medical information is imperative,” he added.

State Rep. John Bel Edwards, D-Amite, participated in the negotiations and said he was uncomfortable with HB1028 because it undermines state promises of privacy by allowing adoptees to identify their birth parents. But voting against it would keep access to vital medical histories out of the hands of the adoptees.

“There’s a compromise position out there and you haven’t reached it,” Edwards told Schexnayder, Tasman and Clapper.”
Panel advances bill opening adoption birth certificates [The Advocate 4/9/14 by Mark Ballard]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update: “Adults who were adopted as children would get a glimpse into their birth family’s medical history under legislation that advanced Wednesday.

The Louisiana House tackled the thorny issue after delaying debate just a day earlier. State Rep. Clay Schexnayder, R-Gonzales, stepped up to the microphone on the House floor with four pages of amendments to his House Bill 1028.

The changes sought to soothe concerns that HB1028 would allow confidential information about birth parents to spill into their offsprings’ hands.

“This is an important bill to a lot of people,” Schexnayder said. “This allows for family medical history.”

With the changes, the House voted 98-0 in favor of the measure, sending it to the state Senate for debate.

“As a father of an adopted daughter, do you know how much I appreciate you doing this?” state Rep. Thomas Carmody, R-Shreveport, told Schexnayder.

Getting information from a sealed birth record in Louisiana requires a court order.

The Louisiana Adoption Support Alliance said it is rare to access updated family medical history, making it difficult to undertake preventive health care for problems such as breast cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes.

“A system that requires a person to be fatally ill in order to stand a chance of receiving a current and up-to-date family medical history does not promote health and life,” the alliance wrote in a letter of support for the bill.

Initially, HB1028 would have allowed adopted offspring age 25 or older to get a noncertified copy of their original birth certificate. A birth parent could opt against the release but would still be required to submit an updated family medical history form.

Officials with the Catholic Church, Louisiana Right to Life Federation and others immediately raised concerns.

Critics cited a problem with requiring birth parents to fill out a “No Contact” form by Jan. 1 in order for the original records to remain confidential. They said that would topple Louisiana’s pledge to keep adoptions private unless both parties agree to be open.

With the amendments, birth parents would be required to submit family history forms every five years.

The state Department of Children and Family Services would contact birth parents every five years to get updated forms. The bill sets out no penalties for parents who fail to file them.

Adopted children would get their original birth certificates only if their birth parents indicated they were OK with the release.

However, the children would be able to get redacted family history statements.

State Rep. John Bel Edwards, D-Amite, said Schexnayder compromised with the opponents.

If the bill becomes law, Schexnayder said, Louisiana would be the first state in the country to adopt such language.

“We (will) have family medical history readily available,” he said.”

Adoption records bill amendments target medical info[The Advocate 4/17/14 by MICHELLE MILLHOLLON]

Update 2:“The battle over opening up birth certificates for adults adopted as children ended in a stalemate Tuesday at the State Capitol.

The Senate Committee on Judiciary A rejected legislation to ease access to family medical histories for adoptees.

The Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Louisiana Family Forum praised an amended form of House Bill 1028 as continuing to protect birth parents’ confidentiality.

Critics said they liked the original version of the bill: Birth records would open up unless the birth parents contacted the state and objected.

“We just wanted to give adoptees what was rightfully theirs,” said Brenda Frisard with the Louisiana Adoption Support Alliance.

In the end, the committee decided to scrap the bill and keep the existing law intact. Family medical histories will remain a part of the sealed adoption record. Only courts can unlock the original birth certificates.

Adoption records are a huge topic this year, not just in Louisiana but across the nation. New Jersey is expected to give birth parents three years to purge their names from their offspring’s birth certificates before opening up previously sealed records. In Connecticut, Gov. Dannel Malloy is mulling whether to sign legislation giving adults adopted as children after Sept. 30, 1983, access to their birth certificates.

In Louisiana, state Rep. Clay Schexnayder, R-Gonzales, set off a firestorm by filing legislation that would give many adoptees a glimpse at their birth certificates. The birth mother would have to request “No Contact” by the start of 2015 to prevent the release of a relinquished child’s birth certificate.

Original birth certificates contain the birth parents’ names. Adopted children get a new birth certificate erasing that information.

After weathering opposition from the Catholic bishops and the Louisiana Family Forum, Schexnayder offered a sweeping amendment on the House floor. The bill now calls for the surrendering parent to give an updated family history every five years. The history is all an adoptee would get if the birth parent fails to register with a volunteer registry or opts against contact.

Andrea Carroll, who teaches family law at the LSU Law School and took part in a Louisiana Law Institute review of the adoption statutes, said Tuesday that the revised bill strikes a good balance. Adults adopted as children no longer would need to go to court in order to get their medical histories.

“It’s a true compromise. As with any compromise, no one’s really happy,” she said. “It’s a good compromise.”

Gene Mills, head of the Louisiana Family Forum, said the bill would honor a pledge of confidentiality that was made to many birth parents.

The family forum characterizes itself as a voice for the traditional family.

State Sen. Danny Martiny, R-Metairie, challenged the bill’s supporters to explain how adopted children don’t deserve a right to know their origins at some point. He said adoption groups promise confidentiality, not the state.

“I’m a Catholic. I have Christian values,” Martiny said. “I don’t believe these people don’t have any rights.”

Robert Tasman, associate director of the Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops, said supporters of the original bill indicated they just wanted access to a family medical history. He said they were being disingenuous or deceptive if they really wanted access to birth certificates.

Coming to the committee room table later in the debate, Frisard countered that adoptees have civil rights. She said they should be given access to noncertified copies of their birth certificates.

“This will set back Louisiana adoptees. It will give a lot of their rights away,” she said.”

Adoption battle ends in stalemate [The Advocate 5/14/14 by Michelle Millhollon]