In the past few weeks, we have focused a lot on birthmothers
and their perspectives on things. While I found that incredibly interesting, it
was really great to hear things from the perspective of an adoptee in class on
Tuesday. One of the things that struck me most about our speakers’s story was
the story about the woman who came to see her on her college campus. I can’t
even begin to imagine what she was feeling as she wondered if that woman was
her birthmother! I think that if I were an adoptee, a part of my mind would
always be wondering about my birth family, and whether I had seen them before
and not realized it. Would I see people who have similar features to me and
wonder if we’re related? I think I would always have some curiosity about where
I came from. When our speaker told us about her experience trying to get her
records from the hospital, I started to really think about how hard and
emotionally straining it would be, searching for your identity. All of us go
through a stage where we are trying to find ourselves – who are we going to be,
and what do we want to do with our lives? But many adoptees seem to go through
another search for identity – literally who they are, and where they came from.
I can’t imagine the feelings of frustration when being denied access to your
own records. Having the answers so close, and yet so far from reach, would be a
lot to deal with.
As far as gaining access to
adoption records goes, my first instinct tells me, “Of course they should have the right – it’s information about their
own history!” But then I think about the other side – the birth mother. If she
didn’t want to be found, then that right should be respected. I think you
really have to consider both sides of it. Thankfully, it appears that more and
more birthmothers want to be found and want some sort of open adoption, so the
issues with adoption records seem to be declining. However, there are still
many middle aged adoptees, such as Tuesday's speaker, who are struggling with the
fact that they don’t have their records. Personally, I think there are some
issues with the laws, as Pertman talks about in Adoption Nation. Some states require mutual consent
before the adoptee and birthparents can be reunited. At first that seems fairly
logical, but as Pertman points out, no one else is treated like this; by adding
in this extra step, adoptees are singled out and denied rights. Additionally, Pertman writes that, “Requiring mutual consent
means that once a birth mother dies, even if she wanted a relationship with the
child she relinquished, no legal mechanism remains by which the adoptee can
learn about her past or trace other biological family members” (104). Cases
like this show how absurd the adoption laws can be.
Even if
a birthmother wants to remain anonymous, I still think that an adoptee should
have access to a fair amount of medical history, if nothing else. If I were an
adoptee and had no idea what kind of health issues ran in my birth family, and
I knew that information was being kept from me, I imagine it would be very
frustrating. My uncle, who is in his forties, was adopted as a baby and has no idea
who his birthparents are. It didn’t bother him much until he had children and
one of them ended up in the hospital. The doctors wanted to know about the
family medical history, and my uncle had no information to give. Since then, my
uncle has tried to get some information about his adoption, but has not had any
luck yet. I definitely think that adoptees have the right to know at least
certain aspects of their history, but it is a complicated balance between the
rights of the adoptee and the rights of the birthparents.
-Rachel
Pertman, A. (2011). Adoption nation. Boston: Harvard Common Press.
Rachel, really nice point--for many adoptees, their history, their identity becomes important to them when THEY become parents. Perhaps it's the experience of FINALLY having someone who looks like them/is biologically related to them. Or, as you point out, it can be that the missing medical information takes on added importance. Thanks for your post!
ReplyDeleteJean
Graded Reply #4
ReplyDeleteWonderful post!
I agree with you that adoptees should have access to medical information, even if the birthmother wants to remain anonymous. However, complications could quickly ensue if every adoptee was guaranteed a medical history. This is mainly an issue for adult adoptees, as great medical advances have been made in the past few decades which have made information which once seemed irrelevant very important. Because many of the birthmothers of the adult adoptees who are seeking their medical histories are in their 60s, 70s, or even 80s now, many of them may already be deceased. Therefore, the children they gave up for adoption would never be able to access their medical history, as requesting it would expose the existence of the adopted child to the birthmother’s family.
Although being a birthmother is certainly not something to be ashamed of, many birthmothers still undoubtedly would be mortified if their husbands, children, and grandchildren discovered that they gave up a child for adoption, simply due to the social stigma of the era they grew up in. Such birthmothers would certainly wish that the existence of the child remain a secret after their deaths, so as to not upset their families. Even though adopted children should have access to medical information, such information is confidential. As an adult, I, and everyone else over the age of 18, have the right to withhold medical information. Technically, I believe, even I, who was not adopted, could be denied my family medical history if my parents didn’t want to give me their personal information.
Therefore, adopted children can only truly hope for what information is volunteered to them because medical history is confidential. Adoptees are only at a far greater disadvantage than the rest of the population because they probably have very little or no personal relationships or experiences with their birthparents. Any compulsory revealing of medical records, however, would violate the patient’s right to privacy. Even if the medical history was given to the adoptee without the birthparents’ names, the information itself would have to be volunteered. The only way such information can be volunteered is if the birthparents are still alive to give it. The best way to collect such confidential information is to give birthparents the option to volunteer information. Collecting private medical information after the death of a birthparent would be an invasion of privacy and could quite feasibly alert the birthparent’s family of the existence of the adopted child. Therefore, even though adoptees should have access to their medical history, they cannot be guaranteed this right without infringing upon the rights of their birthparents. As a result, adult adoptees should seek for their medical history through the, admittedly complicated, correct channels very soon, so that they ensure that they can access such information before their birthparents pass away or become unable to relate the information.
Thanks for a great post. You really got me thinking about how adoptees can legally and ethically gain access to their medical records.
Julianna