PENN Effort to Broaden Adoptees' Rights to Get Birth Information Gets
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_____________ Effort to broaden adoptees’ rights to get birth information gets Pennsylvania Senate comm... Page 1 of 3 PENN LIVE r Effort to broaden adoptees’ rights to get birth information gets Pennsylvania Senate committee’s approval plfile capitol dome A bill to expand adult adoptees’ ability to get access to their original birth records moved through a Senate committee Tuesday, as part of a push by advocates to put legislation on the governor’s desk this year. (The Patriot-News, file) Charles Thompson [email protected] By Charles Thompson [email protected] I I Email the author Follow on Twitter I on September 16, 2014 at 4:49 PM A compromise effort to give adopted persons dramatically expanded rights to seek the identity of their birth parents passed through state Senate’s Aging and Youth Committee Tuesday on a 9-2 vote. Supporters are making a concerted effort to get the bill to Gov. Tom Corbett’s desk before the end of the 2013- 14 legislative session - scheduled to end next month - but acknowledged that will take some further negotiation. The change would only affect those people involved in so-called “closed adoptions,” estimated at about S percent of the 30,000 adoptions processed each year in Pennsylvania. Under current law, birth records in those cases are generally not available without the natural parents’ consent. Prime sponsor Rep. Kerry Benninghoff’s bill, which passed the state House last year, would flip control of that dialogue around, by letting adoptees born in Pennsylvania request their birth records by right once they’ve reached the age of 19. Opponents have expressed concern Beninghoffs bill swings the law too far in favor of adoptees, to the possible harm of natural parents who made conscious decisions to give their children up years earlier. Sometimes these reunions are happy occasions, Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape legal counsel Diane Moyer noted after Tuesday’s vote. But in other cases, “it’s not what they (the adoptees) expect.” The Pennsylvania Catholic Conference has even raised the concern that a loss of guaranteed confidentiality could lead future expectant mothers who might otherwise consider adoption to have abortions, That’s where Tuesday’s compromise comes in. http://blog.pennlive.com/midstate impactjprint.html?entry=/201 4/09/effortjo_broaden_ad... 9/17/2014 Effort to broaden adoptees’ rights to get birth information gets Pennsylvania Senate comm... Page 2 of 3 Senators passed an amendment sponsored by Sen. Robert Mensch that would give birth parents a three- year period to either agree to open up the original birth certificate, or file a denial of release form with the state. If they do not file a denial within that time, the original birth certificate would be open to adult adoptees upon request. If the birth parents deny release, the birth records would only become available upon their death. Mensch, a Montgomery County Republican, said he felt his language helps strike a better balance between the rights of adoptees and the parents who, for whatever reason, gave them up at birth. Support for the amended bill was bipartisan, but not unanimous. Sen. Judy Schwank, D-Berks County, called the issue a matter of “dvii rights” for adult adoptees. “People need to have legitimacy... You need to feel that you are a human being, similar to everyone else,” Schwank said. But Sen. Sean Wiley, D-Erie County, argued Tuesday’s vote was premature given uncertainty about the state Department of Health’s ability to reach birth parents years after the completion of an adoption. “In these committees, this is where we’re supposed to get the work done,” said Wiley, the ranking Democrat on the committee. “I am not willing to vote for legislation that is not in the best form it can possibly be leaving thus room... This is too big of an issue for so many people to rush.” Sen. John Yudichak, D-Luzerne County, said he’d like to see counseling options made available to birth mothers who suddenly might be forced to relive the trauma of a rape or an otherwise abusive relationship. But other supporters pressed for a yes vote Tuesday, in the hope of continuing a dialogue that could lead to passage before the end of the current legislative session. Sen. Scott Wagner, R-York County, said he felt none of the issues raised by the bill’s critics are insurmountable, and accused some of his colleagues of contracting a “classic case of analysis paralysis.” The bill passed Tuesday’s vote with only Wiley and Yudichak voting no. Benninghoff, himself an adoptee who was present for the vote, said he was heartened by the committee’s action, and will keep working with Mensch and other get the bill in position for final votes this fall. “Any progress is some progress,” Benninghoff said afterward. “I’m not giving up trying to see if we can still get something over the goal line before the end of the year.” http://bIog.pennlive.com/midstate impact/print.html?entry=/20 14/09/effort_to_broaden_ad... 9/17/2014 Effort to broaden adoptees’ rights to get birth information gets Pennsylvania Senate comm... Page 3 of 3 Representatives of both PCAR and the Catholic Conference called the amended bill a step in the right direction for them, but said they needed to do a more detailed review of the new language. Corbett has not adopted a position on the bill, an administration spokesman said. © 2014 PennLive.com. All rights reserved. http://blog.pennlive.com/midstate_impact’print.html?entry=/201 4/09/effort_to_broaden_ad... 9/17/2014 National study backs open adoption records - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Page 1 ofc&L SUOSCRIBE LOGIN REGISTER Obituaries Events Jobs Real Estate Cars Classified PG Store itt6burgb September17 2014 1252 4)ost-Q5azcftr PM post-gazefte.coM 63° 1 l’day Forecast Post.Gazette (n 0 Business Diredory Home News Local Sports OpinIon A & E LIfe Business Video Photo ADVERT ZEME.N I Ce CHILD GUARD ONLINE r m. AccouNt Official Website. COPPA Compliance Verification Parental Consent. te i:,. AevEsnIs motto A—I National study backs open adoption records a IS November 12. 2007 1200AM By Mackenz;e Carpenter Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Share with others For ‘ears, its been one of the most hotly debated, emotional aIrqs of issues in adoption circles: Should a Enjoy 1030% adult adoptees have the “15cm you back tally right tot heir onginal birth records? Lb Tweet 3’i Share i,’,A-.’2. Share Inn A study released today by a Boston-based adoption research institute says open records for adoption do not result in Print Email Read l.atcr increased abortion rates, decreased adoptions or fmctLlred adoptive families. LATEST IN NATION ‘‘All of tlit- arguments put forth by people vIto titi oh adopt ion Fsesvn lawr.aker to ross seo,irity fc’tm records should be sealed simply aren’t born out by the facts,” about l200ers ago said Adan t i’enina n, execut i”e director of tile Eva n B - Donaldson Ad opt it in Institute. vh cli has lnng US poverly declines in 2013 advocated for refomis in adoption laws, policies and practices. including open records, about I2houn ago COO f.rs M,ercans betas epaid rig last ilie stody reiewed past and current state laws: legislative histories: and the existing body of we shoot 12 hoots ago research on how sealed and open records impact affected parties. Ntnicerct paoners I US grew o2013 about 12 hoots ago ‘I’hc reality is, in states with open records laws, there are fewer abortions, not snore, and the nosttber of adnptinns increase,” Mr. l’erttnan said, “ibis study gets at tile core of tile sirgitmetit for Fedecal a’,do regu’alort d’aw awräcers wratn On ‘gst.o’ swfld detect adopted people and equal access to birth information,” about l2hoe.’s ago For exatttple, in Oregon -- one of six states that has re-established access to birds records for NaT,oral Br,ets 2 frrs win pads to le’nj astronauts about 12 hoe’s ago adopted people since tggó — abortions have declined since the law vent into effect, at a rate sintilar to that in England and \Vales when adoption records were opetted, the study found. Adoption rates Fotir Quick Qttest ions also increased in Otrgon. How many online media services such as Nettlix, hub or Pandora do you subscribe to: In Kansas and Alaska, thich have always provided people with access to original birth certificates, the abort ion rate is lmcer than t lie national rate, and the adoption rate is also htgher than it is D 1-2 nationally, the study noted. o 3 o “Sealing records are a living ‘mbol of the had old days, when we hid unwed mothers, and o Mosethan 10 stereotypes about them ruled the day,” Mr. Pertman said, such access not only is a civil rights issue, o None lie added, bitt provides important information about an individual’s mental and physical health history. Submit Pswt’edby “Now we can reshape public polity in a way that gentunely helps the millions of people involved.” ue,’s, I CivicSoenre AOvERTISEMENT Thunvas Atwood, president of the National Council for Adoption, which advocates a “sntttual crHtsent” policy rather than mandated open records, said he was skeptical about the Donaldson Institute study’s findings, http://www.post-gazette.comlnews/nation/2007/l I / 12/National-study-backs-open-adoption,.. 9/17/2014 National study backs open adoption records - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Page 2 of). “Vet’ can’t dnnv that correlation from the data, silice there are so many factors involved in abortions,” he said.