N.J. may be the 9th state to allow access to the original birth certificate
http://www.northjersey.com/news/state/96236784_N_J__may_be_9th_state_to_allow_open_adoptions.html
Last updated: Sunday June 13, 2010, 10:06 AM
Every time, their emotional efforts have failed to overcome lawmakers’ contention that their birth mothers expected privacy. Then the legislation that would have allowed them to obtain their original birth certificates dies.
Supporters are hoping their losing streak ends Monday when the Assembly Human Services Committee convenes to debate and presumably approve the bill.
Unlike her predecessors over the last decade, Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver, D-Essex, said she supports the legislation and will allow the 80-member body to vote on it.
The bill already passed the Senate in March. Next stop if it clears the Assembly: Governor Christie’s desk. His spokesman said the administration will review the legislation if the Assembly passes it.
If Christie signs the bill, New Jersey would be the ninth state to allow adopted adults, or children represented by their adoptive parents, to obtain their original birth certificates.
“I wholeheartedly support it. Adoptees and advocates are entitled to have their interests addressed by the Legislature,’’ Oliver said last week.
Committee Chairwoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle, D-Bergen, said she thinks the time is right as acceptance grows for open adoptions. She’s also examined documents private adoption agencies required birth mothers to sign in the 1960s saying the conditions of the surrender end at “the term of the child’s minority.” Seeing that language “was the turning point for me,’’ Huttle said.
“It’s been too long. Thirty years later, it’s a different society,’’ she said.
But opponents argue the bill is different from its predecessors because it outs future biological moms who choose adoption over abortion.
“For prospective adoptions, the bill takes away the option of privacy,’’ New Jersey Right to Life executive director Marie Tasy said. “The language of the bill says the birth parent can fill out a preference form, but it’s just that — a preference, not an absolute veto.’’
“That section of the bill has caused a lot of confusion among legislators,’’ Tasy added.
Upon the adopted person’s request, the state Bureau of Vital Statistics and Registration would produce both the birth certificate and the contact preference form, leaving it up to the adopted person to decide whether to honor a request for no contact, according to the bill.
Biological mothers who have surrendered children up to now would continue to have far more protections. If they want their name and address removed, they have 12 months after the law is finalized to submit a notarized letter requesting no contact.
In three states that enacted a law similar to the one pending in New Jersey, requests for birth records far outweigh the number of biological parents requesting no contact.
Susan K. Livio is a reporter for the Star-Ledger. E-mail: slivio@starledger.com
Every time, their emotional efforts have failed to overcome lawmakers’ contention that their birth mothers expected privacy. Then the legislation that would have allowed them to obtain their original birth certificates dies.
Supporters are hoping their losing streak ends Monday when the Assembly Human Services Committee convenes to debate and presumably approve the bill.
Unlike her predecessors over the last decade, Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver, D-Essex, said she supports the legislation and will allow the 80-member body to vote on it.
The bill already passed the Senate in March. Next stop if it clears the Assembly: Governor Christie’s desk. His spokesman said the administration will review the legislation if the Assembly passes it.
If Christie signs the bill, New Jersey would be the ninth state to allow adopted adults, or children represented by their adoptive parents, to obtain their original birth certificates.
“I wholeheartedly support it. Adoptees and advocates are entitled to have their interests addressed by the Legislature,’’ Oliver said last week.
Committee Chairwoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle, D-Bergen, said she thinks the time is right as acceptance grows for open adoptions. She’s also examined documents private adoption agencies required birth mothers to sign in the 1960s saying the conditions of the surrender end at “the term of the child’s minority.” Seeing that language “was the turning point for me,’’ Huttle said.
“It’s been too long. Thirty years later, it’s a different society,’’ she said.
But opponents argue the bill is different from its predecessors because it outs future biological moms who choose adoption over abortion.
“For prospective adoptions, the bill takes away the option of privacy,’’ New Jersey Right to Life executive director Marie Tasy said. “The language of the bill says the birth parent can fill out a preference form, but it’s just that — a preference, not an absolute veto.’’
“That section of the bill has caused a lot of confusion among legislators,’’ Tasy added.
Upon the adopted person’s request, the state Bureau of Vital Statistics and Registration would produce both the birth certificate and the contact preference form, leaving it up to the adopted person to decide whether to honor a request for no contact, according to the bill.
Biological mothers who have surrendered children up to now would continue to have far more protections. If they want their name and address removed, they have 12 months after the law is finalized to submit a notarized letter requesting no contact.
In three states that enacted a law similar to the one pending in New Jersey, requests for birth records far outweigh the number of biological parents requesting no contact.
Susan K. Livio is a reporter for the Star-Ledger. E-mail: slivio@starledger.com