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Committee backs measure to expand adult adoptees’ access to original birth records with court options to seal
Summary
A substitute to HB 129 would make original birth certificates available to adult adoptees by default while preserving a court process by which a birth parent can request records remain sealed; the committee approved the substitute after extended public testimony from adoptees and birth parents.
The Senate Health and Human Services Standing Committee recommended favorably on the second substitute to HB 129, the adoption records access amendments.
Sponsor remarks explained the bill would change the default for closed-adoption records so an adult adoptee is able to request their original birth certificate without first seeking a judicial finding of ‘‘good cause.’’ The substitute narrower scope limits the documents made available to the adoptee to records that directly pertain to the adoptee rather than broader parental files; the substitute also includes a delayed implementation window requested by the department to give staff time to prepare.
The sponsor argued three reasons the change is appropriate: the birth certificate is the adoptee’s record of birth; knowledge of origins assists identity and wellbeing; and medical information in the original record can be important to health care decisions. The substitute retains a judicial process for a birth parent to show cause that records should remain sealed in narrow circumstances.
Public testimony included multiple adult adoptees and birth parents describing personal experiences. Elena Cooper, an 11-year-old adoptee who addressed the committee, said she wants her birth parents’ names on her birth certificate and called the current arrangement “unfair.” Other adoptees told the committee that access to original birth certificates had provided medical history crucial to diagnosis and care. Donna Pope of Heart to Heart Adoptions said the second substitute addressed many adoption-community concerns and expressed support.
Senators moved and approved the second substitute; the committee gave HB 129 a unanimous favorable recommendation. The bill now goes to the full body for consideration.
