Open Adoption
Our class was fortunate enough to have a birthmother from CUB come to class and have her share her story then the following class period have an adoptee faculty member come to share her story as well. It was important to hear from an adoptive parent and adoptee and it was after hearing both sides which allowed me to see the controversy with the open records policy. It is important to meet both the birthparents and adoptee’s legal rights, but what happens when it is impossible to fulfill someone’s right when it imposes on another person’s rights? The adult adoptee made a powerful point for having the right to able to gain access to her records stating “why do I need their (birthparents) permission to do something when I am 48. I do not even ask my parents’ permission anymore.” Adoptees are one of the only populations who are denied access to their original birth records. Not only are these records are important for medical histories, but on the adoptee developing their own identity as well. Many adoptees go on a quest for their identity and many people simply just want to meet someone who looks like them. They are curious on whom their birth parents are and many times they fantasize about who their birthparents are and why the birthparents decided to give their child up for adoption during their childhood. The “adoptees don’t’ seek to embarrass or expose anyone. They only want to fill the void in their own soul” (Pertman 131). Having the open records would allow adoptees to have information that many nonadoptees take for granted.
However giving full open adoption in all states imposes on the birthparents rights as well. Today many birthparents would like to be “found” and be reunited with their child. This is very much like the birthmother from CUB who looked for her daughter and was the first to make contact. But what happens when one side of the party does not want to be found? Some adoptees do not want to know any information regarding their birthparents, and some birthparents do not want to have any contact with the children they gave up for adoption. What happens when one side wants to meet while the other side does not? This situation would most likely result in heartbreak and a feeling of rejection.
Open records would impose on the rights of this group of people. Throughout the speakers and readings it showed me everyone case is unique and it would be nearly impossible to impose a law that would not infringe on someone’s right, like the right to know about family history or right of confidentiality. I can understand on why states are having issues with passing Open Adoption Laws for past records because it really is a sensitive topic for all the parties involved.
Sarah
Pertman, Adam. Adoption Nation: How the Adoption Revolution Is Transforming Our Families- - and America. Boston, MA: Harvard Common, 2011. Print.
Sarah, nice job laying out the concerns on both sides of this issue. Part of what is difficult here is that it's hard to know who is the more vulnerable party. If rights are equally important on both sides, I tend to think we need to be more concerned with the more vulnerable party. But as we've seen, the birthmothers really had little or no choice in relinquishing their children and the children of course had no choice at all. And now, of course, it's years later and everyone is a grown up--is one party more vulnerable than the other? Is ongoing privacy or increased knowledge of identity more important to one party than the other?? Bastard Nation wants to reject any kind of compromise on this issue, but in this case, is compromise the best way to balance/respect everyone's rights?
ReplyDeleteJean
Graded Reply
ReplyDeleteSarah, I enjoyed reading your post and it really got me thinking about the issues on both sides. I think that, unfortunately, the issue really gets muddied when trying to figure out a solution because of the rights on both sides. Adoptees should have the right to know, at the very least, their medical history and birthparents have the right to anonymity if that is what they desire. How do you find a balance between the two? Which side, if any, should have "more" rights? It is such a tough line to walk and a very delicate balancing act. I wonder if there is some way that updated medical records could be given to adoptees without them necessarily finding out who their birthparents are and a way for birthparents to continue to update their health records for their adopted children. It would be a complicated process and may not work at all but I just feel that adoptees should have access to their medical records and family disease history, especially when they start having children of their own.
Another thing that really stuck out to me in your post was the quote from Pertman, "The “adoptees don’t seek to embarrass or expose anyone. They only want to fill the void in their own soul” (Pertman 131)." I would completely agree with this statement, although I am not an adoptee, but I would imagine that the very large majority of them are just looking to find out more about themselves and not looking at all to "out" their birthparents or embarrass them. However, I did think the speaker from Friday made a very valid point when she said that when adoptees go looking for their birthparents they need to be absolutely prepared to find anything. Although some children are placed for adoption because their parents thought it was what was best for them (like the speaker on Friday) or because it was the socially acceptable thing to do and they were coerced (like the birthmother from CUB) but for some people there is a very good reason why they were removed from the home and placed for adoption. Perhaps they came from a less than ideal family with drug/alcohol or violence issues; that can be a really tough thing to find out. It does not necessarily mean that the adoptee was unloved in their birth home or that the actions of their birthparents somehow reflects on them as an individual but it could still be very difficult to find that out, especially if they were very excited about finding/meeting their birth family.
Merideth E.