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United States Page

According to the psychological literature, it's perfectly natural that 90 percent of the adoptees want identifying information about their biological parents. (ACC, 1996) The Maine Department of Human Resources Task Force on Adoption found in 1989 that every birth parent surveyed wanted to be found by the child/adult they had placed for adoption and that 98 percent of the adoptive parents surveyed suported reunions between their adopted child and members of the adoptee's birth family. (CWLZ, 1998)

With adoptees, birth parents and adoptive parents all in such overwhelming accord, what's the problem? Why are records sealed? who can possibly benefit from a system that completely ignores the preferences of those most intimately involved in adoption.

Good question. We don't have the answers.

More than half of the adoptions of the American-born children are intra-family adoptions, meaning that the adoptive parents are already blood relatives of the adopted child. In such cases, information about prenatal identity, medical histories, etc is readily accessible. Even with the addition of the children who are adopted from abroad, only slightly more than half of the U. S. adoptions involve unrelated individuals. These children will never be fully recognized as adults by their respective governments, never allowed to see their original birth certificates or any other records pertaining to their adoption unless we change the laws.

The purpose of the Green Ribbon Campaign for Open Records is to increase public awareness of the inequities inherent in the present situation in all states. The Green Ribbon Campaign for Open Records grew out of two events:

* Mickey Sharon Walker's call to remember adoptees who died without full knowledge of their biological heritage or died because they lacked this information, and
* class discussions with Ann Wilmer's public relation students about how to use public relations techniques to create public support for open records.

Won't you join us in this effort?

National Coordinator: Ann Wilmer

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were made by Natalie Rasmussen

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