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Birth Records: Coming Full Circle
Birth records
have been subject to constant changes in terms of their accuracy and
confidentiality throughout history. Birth records evolved as the different
American states sought to make birth registration for their citizens more
uniform.
Many early records had these
three elements in
common: they were incomplete, inconsistent, and often vague. The so-called
traits also applied to adoption records.
Birth Records:
When Did Confidentiality Begin?
Minnesota was the first state
to change its adoption laws to restrict birth records in 1917. After WWI and
WWII, most of the states followed Minnesota's example.
All of a sudden original birth
records were no longer accessible to just anyone, although triad parties
(persons involved directly in the adoption) were still allowed access.
Things changed when
policymakers decided to set up minimum standards for the adoption process.
Confidentiality was their way of:
- Lessening the
stigma of illegitimacy on the part of the child
- Protecting the
reputations of women who conceived out of wedlock
- Concealing a
couple's infertility or inability to conceive
- Making it
possible for an adopted child to never know he or she had been adopted
Child welfare was the main
concern of these early policymakers. Actually in practice, however, the chief
concern was anonymity. The idea was to have no contact at all between the adoptive
and birth parents.
The government and the courts
supported this policy in three ways:
- Courts handed
down adoption decrees
- States gave
out new birth certificates with the adoptive parents' names as birth parents
- States sealed
original birth certificates, which showed birth parents' or birth mothers' names
After WWII, confidentiality
turned into secrecy. Adult adopted persons could no longer access their
background information. The intentions of policymakers may have been good, but
much of the public grew to regard adoption policy as oppressive.
Birth Records: How We're
Closing In on Early Policies Today
Adoption records weren't
historically sealed documents. But it's this sealing of records that caused the
clamor for adoption reform to grow starting in the 70s.
People on both sides of the
adoption process, adopted persons AND birth parents, especially birth mothers,
fought against secrecy. When they couldn't push state laws fast enough, they
resorted to reunion registries that have already been set up by many states.
The presence of state-run
reunion registries basically reflects public policy today: adoption records can
be opened as long as both parties in an adoption consent to open them.
A handful of states have even
unsealed adoption records, showing that public policy is slowly but surely
approaching the transparency it once had at the beginning.
In the face of the heated
battles over secrecy, many have forgotten that as late as 1945 families involved
in the adoption process in many parts of America could access adoption records.
As late as the 40s, adoption
agencies generally acted as passive registries (similar to the online ones
proliferating today), and separated family members could quite easily locate one
another if they all wanted to.
This only shows that adoption
has, historically, been more about transparency rather than secrecy — and
America is slowly reflecting this fact once again.
Indeed, the accessibility of
birth and adoption records has evolved through the years, with some states even
stricter than others. However, you can’t put a price tag on your identity, and
the fact that you are assured that you get accurate results once you have these
documents in your hand is enough to accept the changes. Visit
RecordsSiteReview’s
Birth Records page for more information and articles about this subject.
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