Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Adoption Records topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee advances bill to let adult adoptees access original birth certificates; authors accept amendments
Summary
SB 381 would allow adopted adults to obtain their original birth certificates and attach a nonbinding contact preference form for birth parents; committee voted to send the bill to the Senate Health Committee after extensive public testimony from adoptees and birth parents.
Senate Judiciary advanced SB 381 to the Senate Health Committee after proponents — including dozens of adopted adults and birth parents — described the bill as a narrow remedy to restore adoptees’ access to their own original birth certificates (OBCs).
Senator Wahab said SB 381 is narrowly tailored to allow an adopted person or descendant to request an OBC and to provide a nonbinding contact preference form for birth parents. Supporters told personal stories about medical and identity harms from lack of access. Testifier Susan Dushagat Alexander, a licensed therapist and birth mother, said sealed birth certificates "are based on lies" and urged lawmakers to pass the bill to promote dignity and access to vital records.
Committee members expressed sympathy for both adoptees and birth parents. Concerns focused on the nonbinding nature of the contact preference form, feasibility of outreach to earlier birth parents and whether the bill would disproportionately affect women (because birth mothers’ names appear on certificates). The author accepted amendments (to be taken in Health) to address some of these implementation questions, including delaying certain provisions to 2028 to allow administrative preparations.
After broad public support and no in‑chamber opposition speakers, the committee moved SB 381 to the Health Committee with a recorded aye vote in committee.
