What Senate Bill
#63 is all about:
Senate Bill #63 is about stopping the clock now.
Every year that goes by, we add thousands of newly adopted persons to the
list of people who are excluded from access to their original uncertified birth
certificates.
Senate
Bill #63 is about allowing access to adopted persons over age 18 or their
adoptive parent(s), if the adopted person is a minor, born on or before July 17,
1974.
Before July 17, 1974 adult adopted persons
over the age of 18 or adoptive parents of minor adopted persons were able to
access an uncertified copy of the adopted person’s original birth certificate.
Therefore, all birth mothers who relinquished before July 17, 1974 relinquished
during the years when access was the law of the
Commonwealth
of
Massachusetts
.
Senate Bill #63 is about allowing access to adopted persons over
age 18 or their adoptive parent(s), if the adopted person is a minor, born after
January 1, 2008.
This means that all adopted persons born after January 1, 2008 will
have the same access as those born before July 17, 1974.
Senate
Bill #63 will still require adopted persons born between July 17, 1974 and
January 1, 2008 to obtain a court order. The
bill also stipulates that evidence of a birth parents willingness to provide
information about their identity to the adopted person shall serve as sufficient
evidence to grant access to the birth certificate.
In 1986 the
Commonwealth
of
Massachusetts
passed a law that allowed Birth Parents to give written permission to release
their identity to the child or children they relinquished. Every effort will be
made to have all Adoption Agencies submit the names of all those in their files
who meet this standard. This would include those involved in “Open
Adoptions”, as well as, those who have received letters with permission to
release information.
Senate
Bill #63 will establish an Adoption Contact Information Registry at Vital
Statistics for the purpose of housing information indicating whether or not a
birth parent(s) wishes to grant access to the original birth certificate.
In
an effort to see that as many people as possible, are successful in obtaining
their original birth certificates the Adoption Contact Information Registry will
be housed at the same agency that holds the Birth Certificates.
Senate Bill #63 is about respecting the judgment of adoptive
parents to hold their infant, child, and teen's information and to make
decisions in the best interest of their minor child.
Senate
Bill #63 is about trusting Adult Adopted Persons, Birth Parents and Adoptive
Parents--as we trust other citizens--to respect boundaries.
Senate
Bill #63 is about reinstating the same access that existed until 1974 in the
Commonwealth
of
Massachusetts
.
Senate
Bill #63 is about granting Adopted Persons their first formal certificate of
membership in the human race and as citizens of the
Commonwealth
of
Massachusetts
.
Senate
Bill #63
is about Truth and Honesty.
For more information:
Link to the Text of S. 63:
http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/senate/185/st00/st00063.htm
Link to Legislature web page for locating and contacting
legislators:
http://www.mass.gov/legis/
| Access to Uncertified Original Birth Certificates
