Roberta MacDonald, North Carolina State Representative American Adoption Congress, Chairwoman NC Coalition for Adoption ReformDurham, NC House Bill 445 (HB445) a bill granting adult adoptees (18 years or older) and the adult lineal descendants of a deceased adoptee access to their original birth certificates (OBC) will have a House Judiciary I committee hearing on May 1 at 10:00 a.m. in Room 1228 at the Legislative Building Raleigh. North Carolina started closing adoptee access to their original birth certificates in 1949.
This bill is based on Oregon legislation (Ballot Measure 58) that has been in effect since 2001. Oregon law allows an adult adoptee access to their OBC. It also provides a mechanism whereby birth parents may indicate their preference for contact by filling out a contact preference form. This form gives a birth parent the option of being contacted directly, contacted through an intermediary, or not contacted at all by an adoptee. According to the Oregon Department of Human Services, as of May 31, 2005, 8,486 adoptees had ordered a copy of their OBC.
The Oregon system appears to be quite successful in balancing the rights of adoptees and birthparents regarding their desire for contact. One of the most interesting things to come out of Oregon's new adoption law is the number of contact preference forms filed by birth parents requesting no contact. On the fifth anniversary of the law's implementation, only 83 birth parents had asked for no contact. It is clear that after the initial influx of no contact requests, the numbers have dropped dramatically. This number also indicates that a significantly low percentage of birth parents requested no contact out estimated tens of thousands of adoptees eligible to request a copy of their OBC.
The bill being proposed in NC would become law in January 2008 after passage. If you are interested in attending please contact the individuals listed below. All are encouraged to contact NC legislators or submit letters to the editor to express their support for this adoptee access bill.
Representatives Margaret Highsmith Dickson, W.A. Wilkins an adoptive father, James Crawford and Jean Farmer-Butterfield are the four primary sponsors of the bill. The text of House Bill 445 can be found at the following website: http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/Sessions/2007/Bills/House/HTML/H445v1.html. For further information contact Roberta Macdonald at nccar@mindspring.com.
