As an adoptee, my birth certificate lists my adoptive mom and dad as the parents I was born to. The document does not say anywhere on it that it was amended. It looks the same as an original birth certificate (OBC). I have always known my adoptive parents were on it, and I thought it seemed necessary for it to be that way. It made sense that it was needed to enroll me into school and to seek medical treatment. I wrongly assumed that it was the only birth certificate I had ever had.
Just last year I learned that when a child is born, the birth certificate always lists the biological mother and, if known, the biological father. That OBC is filed with the clerk of court where the document remains public record until the child is adopted. When the adoption is finalized, the OBC is sealed and replaced with an amended birth certificate. The newly created record is given to the adoptive family.
The intention of the law supporting amended birth certificates originated to protect adoptees from the stigma of illegitimacy and to protect adoptive parents from disruptions by birth families. We don’t live in the same society anymore. It should be illegal for the government to take a document that legally belongs to me and make it unattainable. This disgraceful practice is wrong. Having your birth parents’ names is the key to your identity. You can use that information for many things, including finding out if you are related to the person you are going to marry.
Some biological families are using confidentiality as a platform to keep us from passing laws to correct this. The truth of the matter is that they may have hoped to keep the adoption of their child a secret, but such legal guarantee of privacy was never given. In some instances the birth families want to be located. In others, the adoptees are not interested in a reunion at all. The government has no place refereeing relationships between consenting adults.

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