Emergency Action Alert!
Apr 24, 2008 Adoption
Ohio Legislative Alert
Action Needed! Please forward this post widely!!
Bill Hearing Wednesday April 30, 2008 - Columbus Ohio
Up until last week, Ohio House Bill 7 contained language that would allow Ohio adult adoptees access to their original birth certificate upon their request. This is something that Adoption Network Cleveland and others across the state have been working on diligently over the last 20 years. Last week, that language was stripped from the bill.
The legislators are very concerned about birthparent privacy. They are assuming that if a birthparent placed a child in a closed record adoption (the only option available at that time) between 1964 and 1996, that allowing the adult adoptee access to their original birth certificate is an affront to the birthparent’s privacy.
They need to hear directly from birthparents whose children were adopted in Ohio between January of 1964 and September of 1996 to gain an accurate view of what birthparents want. Adult adoptees or adoptive parents in reunion with, or professionals who have worked with, birthparents from that era are also needed.
Please attend the next hearing on House Bill 7 and testify - have your voice heard! The hearing will be at the Ohio Statehouse at 4 pm Wednesday April 30, 2008 - room 017. Advocates will meet outside of the hearing room starting at 3 pm. If you can come to the hearing and would like to testify (or discuss testifying), please contact Betsie Norris at Adoption Network Cleveland betsie.norris@adoptionnetwork.org and H.B. 7 sponsor Tom Brinkman’s legislative aide Kara Joseph at Kara.Joseph@ohr.state.oh.us.
To sign up for email legislative alerts, go to http://www.adoptionnetwork.org/content.asp?pageid=274 and fill out the form on the right hand side of the page.
April 24th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
I shall call my (former) Rep…she can’t know I moved, AFAIK, and it’s good for her to hear from adoptive parents who unconditionally favor open records, right?
I’ll ask Betsey for input on message.