NJCARE responds with facts

NJCARE responds with facts
to the claims of NCFA (National Council for Adoption)

National Council for Adoption makes several claims against access to original birth certificates.


NJCARE provides the facts and data…You decide.


1. NCFA says, “Access legislation violates birth parents’ basic human right to privacy.”
NJCARE asserts that allowing adopted adults access to their own birth and adoption records does not violate the alleged promise of privacy made to birth parents in the past. The laws of New Jersey have never guaranteed a right of lifelong anonymity to birth parents.
In 1997, the U.S. Court of Appeals (6th Circuit) reiterated their opinion, “…the Constitution does not encompass a general right to nondisclosure of private information.” (Doe, et al v. Sundquist, et al No. 96-6197)
Access to original birth certificates will not be available to the public.

2. NCFA says, “Access legislation would increase the number of unwanted, unilaterally imposed contacts and wreak havoc in people’s lives.”
In 1996, Gerald Gioglio, Division of Youth and Family Services, Adoption Registry stated, “95% of birth families contacted on behalf of adopted adults welcomed direct contact by the adoptee.”
NJCARE asserts that access legislation gives birth parents an opportunity to make their wishes known by filing a contact preference form. We further believe that adult adoptees would honor a request for “no contact” to avoid further rejection by their birth parents.

3. NCFA says, “Access legislation would undermine the strength of the adoptive family.”
Knowing that records are accessible does not force either search or reunion; it simply makes it possible for the adopted person to obtain their own birth records. The family created by adoption is the individual’s forever family. Access to the truth of the adopted person’s origins puts them on an equal basis with other family members and all other non-adopted citizens. Access to the truth does not diminish or sever relationships cemented by love and a shared history. When openness replaces secrecy, the blessings of adoption are multiplied for all family members.
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4. NCFA says, “Access legislation would reduce the number of adoptions and increase the number of abortions and the number of children in foster care.”
Their arguments about women choosing abortion or single parenting are inconsistent. In Alaska and Kansas, which always allowed access to adult adoptees, adoption rates are higher than the national average while abortion rates are lower than the national average.
The “U.S. Teenage Pregnancy Statistics” published in 2004 by the Alan Guttmacher Institute indicates that New Jersey, a “sealed records” state since 1940, has the highest rate of teenage abortions in the country.
If Oregon and Alabama trends following access legislation correlate with New Jersey, adoptions here will increase and abortions will decrease following passage of such legislation.

5. NCFA says, “Access legislation would perpetuate the myth that adopted persons face debilitating identity problems.” And, “A vast majority of adoptees do not search.”
NJCARE agrees with NCFA: “The vast majority of persons adopted at a young age accept their adoption readily and grow up to be successful, happy, stable adults at the same rate as people raised in their biological families.” If it is true that very few adopted persons care about their identifying information or actually search for birth family members, then what is all the fuss about? When the adopted adult’s personal history is not shrouded in secrecy, the ties of trust within the family are strengthened.

6. NCFA says, “Access legislation would add nothing to the adopted person’s ability to obtain medical information.”
NJCARE asserts that access to original birth certificates will restore the adoptees’ right to know the truth of their heritage, and it will provide them with the opportunity to learn their own social, ethnic and family medical histories. To be helpful, medical histories should be current. Accurate medical history cannot be obtained from decades-old records; someone must contact birth family members to gain access to that history.
The proposed law gives birth parents the opportunity to choose whether or not, and if so, how, they would prefer to be contacted, if their adult daughter or son wishes to be in touch with them. If this isn’t leveling the playing field, we don’t know what is.
Note: The documentation that NCFA provides is largely anecdotal and uses statistics from its own “Fact Book”. In addition, NCFA has never produced documentation to substantiate their claim that confidentiality was promised to birth parents.

NJ Coalition for Adoption Reform and Education (NJCARE) http://www.nj-care.org
Contact: Judy Foster, birth parent, 973-455-1268, jfoster7@optonline.net; Pam Hasegawa, adoptee, 973-292-2440, pamgawa@optonline.net; or
Jane Nast, adoptive parent, 973-267-8698, janenast@compuserve.com.2 September 2004