State law allows birth parents, adult adoptees and adoptive parents of minor adoptees to apply to the Illinois Adoption Registry, according to the US Dept. of Health and Human Services. Otherwise, birth records of adoptees and related information is held in strict confidentiality.
The registry allows those who wish to find their birth parents or (or vice-versa) to register, meaning at least one of the adoptee's birth parents must also register. Information may include the name and last known address of the consenting individual, a copy of the consenting person's registry application and/or a copy of the adoptee's original birth certificate.
But an advancing piece of legislation would allow adults adopted as children easier access to their birth certificates, as reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The bill essentially would change the registry from opt-in to opt-out, requiring birth parents who wish to maintain their privacy to indicate as such with the state. Rep. Sara Feigenholtz is sponsoring the bill and is herself an adoptee.
She said data from Illinois shows that birth parents contacted by adopted children almost always consent to provide personal information:
"No matter what the circumstances [of the birth] are, we see that they never wanted protection from their offspring."
If the bill ultimately is signed into law, birth mothers would have until Jan. 1, 2011 to opt-out of the registry and thereby maintain their anonymity. Some lawmakers questioned whether the opt-out rule would be fair to birth mothers who don't hear about the change, which Rep. Feigenholtz addressed in the context of similar bill that did not pass:
"What it [did] was generate just boxes and boxes of mail, people begging me to help them find their family."
Related Resources:
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Adoption: Resources (FindLaw)
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Search Chicago Family Law Attorneys (FindLaw)
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