The Simplicity of Language: Don't let your rights be hidden behind legalized special interest gobbledygook.

 In the United States, nearly every bill  that is introduced to restore the right of adoptees to access their original birth certificates is full of convoluted, confusing language that lets some adoptees receive their OBCs as a state-granted favor--not a right--and excludes access to others 

Some of these convoluted bills have been over 60 pages long!  They  serve no purpose other than to divide the adoptee rights movement and to further the agendas of certain elements of the multi-billion dollar a year adoption industry, as well as  special interests, across the political spectrum  usually not directly involved in adoption,  Depending on who you talk to, these interests view adoptees and their birth families as expendable,  ungrateful, vaguely disturbed, and even dangerous. (Lock up your axes!) Politicians  may throw a sop to pretend they care and hopefully make the issue go away.  Remember though, once that sop becomes law, it will not be revisited.and repaired.  In Ohio, OBCs were sealed in 1964, and they are still sealed despite several attempts to rescind. Even Ohio's "new" access law, passed in 1996, extends OBC access favors for some, but makes that access dependent on third party consent Unlike the not-adopted our  birth records are dependent on the kindness of strangers.

But getting back to language... Alabama, New Hampshire, Maine, and Rhode Island passed short, readable, inclusive bills, only a few pages long, that restored the right to access for every adoptee born in their respective states.  (Kansas and Alaska never sealed). In other words, in those states, our birth records are not hidden behind legalized special interest gobbledygook.

Oregon passed Ballot Measure 58, which is as simple as it gets, U an posting  it below, but also in the sidebar.

Upon receipt of a written application to the state registrar, any adopted person 21 years of age and older born in the state of Oregon shall be issued a certified copy of his/her unaltered, original and unamended certificate of birth in the custody of the state registrar, with procedures, filing fees, and waiting periods identical to those imposed upon non-adopted citizens of the State of Oregon pursuant to ORS 432.120 and 432.146. Contains no exceptions


To illustrate the simplicity of language,  read  a piece I wrote  in 2008, The Simplicity of Language: Successful Records Bills  a response to an egregious bill promoted by so-called friendly legislators in Illinois and passed in a slightly different form two years later with virtually no support from state of national  adoptee rights and adoption reform organizations. I've read this bill at least a dozen times and still find it incomprehensible. At times, even the sponsor seems confused about what her bill does.

Simplicity of Language  includes the text of each successful bill except  Rhode Island's which was not introduced and passed until 2011.  Unfortunately  it is problematic in that the age of access is 25 not 18 or 21.  Otherwise, the language is  nearly identical to that of New Hampshire and Maine. We hope the age differentiation will be fixed soon.. 

Over the next couple weeks  I'll be posting pieces I have written about the last two attempts to unseal records in Ohio as well as as other documents of historical interest.