Bill to unseal some adoption records advances in N.J. Assembly -
Link to story
I don't see that anyone made a post about this..
If you know someone that has placed a child for adoption; pass the story to them so that they can decide what to do when the time comes. I imagine there are people that do not know it will be their responsibility to contact the agency to say they do not want contact.
Those that do want contact.. there is a great free registry site
here.
~Snipped...
Foster, of Randolph, Morris County, is among those pushing for a bill that would allow adult adoptees access to their birth certificates, including the names of their biological mothers. She hopes the legislation will help give more birth parents and adult adoptees the sense of closure she now has.
On Monday, the Assembly Human Services Committee approved the bill by a 6-0 vote with four abstentions after five hours of sometimes emotional testimony. Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D., Essex) has said she supports the measure and will post it for a floor vote in the Assembly, the closest it has been to becoming law.
Advocates in New Jersey have worked more than 30 years to get adult adoptees access to information about their births. Bills have passed in one house of the Legislature or the other, but never both. Former Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr. (D., Camden), who retired in January, blocked the bill in the past, but Oliver's support has its proponents cautiously optimistic.
New Jersey could become the ninth state to guarantee adult adoptees access to birth information. Kansas and Alaska always have allowed such access and Alabama, Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon and Tennessee have granted adoptees some access to records in recent years. Pennsylvania allowed adoptees access to their original birth certificates until 1985.
Under the New Jersey bill, adult adoptees would be given access to their original birth certificates and family medical history. Birth parents of babies adopted in New Jersey would have one year from enactment of the law to notify the state if they did not wish the information to be given to their children.
During that time, adult adoptees could obtain nonidentifying medical information including family medical history from adoption agencies, which already is common, experts said.
Going forward, birth parents who put a child up for adoption would be asked if they would prefer to be contacted directly, through an intermediary, or not at all. Those who chose not to be contacted would be required to submit medical and cultural information. All adult adoptees whose birth parents did not opt out would have access to their birth certificates.
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