Lets talk about Birth Certificates

When we adopted our two children, the first issue that we knew we wanted to handle was that of the legal documents surrounding our kids. I'm nothing if not completely anal when it comes to documentation and legal paperwork being correct and in line. This being so, when the judge gave us the option to change the birth certificates of my two kids I immediately said YES!

In effect, what happens in this situation is that the section that denotes the birth parents names and ages is filled with the new adoptive parents names and ages. The document now reads that both my wife and I were the birth parents to both children. The children's information ie, place of birth, times of birth, birth weight and gender are still intact.

Goodbye "bio-mom"

There is a small (and in my opinion) justified group of adoptees who want to change the laws that allowed my wife and I to change Birth Certificates the way I did with my two kids.  You see we don't hide our adoption or any of the information about the adoption from our children. We have copious amounts of paperwork that lineates our beginning or the adoption process all the way through taking custody and becoming officially documented as the parents to our children. These are precious and important documents to my family. As soon as the entire process was over, we took all of the documents and placed them in our safe deposit box for safe keeping. These aren't just our legal documents, they are my children's past and thus belong to them. We however are an exception.

When I speak to adoptees at our adoption events, I find that many adoptive parents are so joyed to finally have their kids and they have been handling paperwork for so long that they forget to care for these precious documents correctly or store them for their children's uses later. This information is very coveted to the adult adoptee and I can completely understand why they may be angry that this original information is lost or destroyed.

The non-working solution

"Bio-moms" latched onto this problem with our birth certificates around five years ago and in fact use it as their defacto rallying cry. The calls of erasure of biological ties abound from the "bio-mom" camp and (as usual) attempt to confuse the situation in a desperate hope that one legal document will restore their parental right to receive money from the state and set precedent for a future legal battle. The "bio-mom" aren't really interested in what the adoptees may want or whats good for the adoptee so I have always tended to oppose the issue of reforming the way we handle adoption birth certificates.

Technology saves us.

Now however the issue has had some clarity placed upon it by adoptees themselves. The intention of the adoptees is not to rewrite history now that they are adults but rather to claim the information about their biological parents for their future use as adults. With many adoptees not having the same access that my wife and I have provided to my kids, this acquisition of information can be impossible. The government does not keep the old versions of the documents on file. Once the new document is created, the old one is no longer saved even as a digital back up in regards to privacy concerns. That was how it USED to be any way. Now happily, many states such as Mass, Illinois and Missouri are keeping a pdf image of the original document that will retain the original information for the adoptees future uses. This is no longer a legal document or valid for printing or reproduction as it is not a vector file BUT is is view able and takes no space or money to keep in the digital records many Vital Statistics Offices utilize today.

A WIN/WIN for everyone involved.

This new solution does two remarkable tasks that benefits all involved. The adoptive parents get to legally claim their new children on any and all medical/legal documents just as my wife and I did. For all intents and purposes they were born to us in the eyes of the law. If and ONLY if, the adult adoptee requests to view the original document, can the original document in PDF format be seen. This protects the interests of both the adoptive parents and the adoptees. If the adoptee then wishes to amend their own document after turning 18, they could very easily change it back to the original information at a low cost of $30. The adoptees are leading this charge and I have to support them. The adoptee is in the driver seat in this situation and I like that. No one is being harassed by belligerent "bio-Moms" demanding their fair share of the adoptees benefits and that simmers my opposition right there. I can rest assured that my children will have the option to change anything about their life, however they see fit and that is my intended and grace given goal as their father.