Policy Statement: Open Records

Origins Canada endorses and supports all legislation that provides unrestricted access to original birth records to  adopted persons, natural families and extended family members. 

Origins Canada strongly advocates for legislation free of vetoes or any other restrictions.

ORIGINS STATEMENT ON OPEN RECORDS 

DISCRIMINATION

Personal documentation regarding one’s birth is available to the majority of  members of society, except, to our knowledge, people who were adopted and mothers who surrendered their babies for adoption based on their being ‘separated by adoption’.  This would constitute discrimination to a segment of the population.

The original birth certificate acknowledging and validating the birth of the person adopted and the natural process of giving birth for the mother has been denied to both adoptees and mothers.   Openness and transparency must be the foundation of all government practices, in particular when it impacts the lives of human beings; members of society.

ADULTS 

Adopted adults, natural parents and siblings should have direct access to identifying information on their family members.

Adopted adults are no longer children, but are competent adults capable of making decisions and connections for themselves, or to ask for assistance if necessary.   Sealed adoption records continue to treat adopted adults as perpetual children in society without choice.

FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION/RIGHT OF CONTACT 

Members of our society have the right of freedom of association with any person, including their natural families.  At Origins, we are not aware of natural families or persons adopted contacting each other for any nefarious purpose.  Usually contact is made to offer love, support, exchange information, or to initiate family contact with hopes of a relationship.

Citizens of Canada receive unsolicited calls to their homes from a variety of sources and have the choice as adults on whether or not to interact with those people. Further, all citizens are protected by law in cases of harassment or unwanted contact.

A “special law” enacted by the State for “those separated by adoption” sets them apart from all others in society, appearing to suggest they are a suspect group.

Adoption records are open in many jurisdictions in Canada and around the world without negative consequences.

Natural parents and persons adopted do not have the same right of freedom of association as other citizens in Canada under current legislation.

SEALING OF ADOPTION RECORDS 

Adoption records were originally closed for several reasons which do not apply today.

Single mothers were often told adoption would protect their children from the socially and legally constructed stigma of ‘illegitimacy’.  Adoption records were sealed to protect the interests of adoptive parents from any possible interference by natural families and to perpetuate the “as if born to” myth.

Contrary to popular belief, adoption records were not sealed to protect natural mothers.

In modern society, it is not socially or legally acceptable to stigmatize single parents and their children with ‘illegitimacy’, and with the trend today for openness in adoption practice and law, past reasoning to keep the records closed no longer exists.

Further, it must be noted that adoptive parents are not stakeholders in the case of adopted adults.

CONFIDENTIALITY 

In many jurisdictions the matter of mothers’ ‘confidentiality’ or ‘privacy’ from their daughters or sons is used not only to blame mothers for legislation they had no part in creating, but also as a condition of their surrender.

To this point in time, we have not seen a law or document signed by a mother that afforded her ‘confidentiality’ or ‘privacy’ from her son or daughter.  We also have not seen any evidence that anonymity was a ‘choice’ for young mothers through a law or document signed by a mother where she was allowed to refuse ‘confidentiality’ or ‘privacy’ from her daughter or son at the time of surrender.

In the absence of specific legislation regarding confidentiality for mothers, adoption facilitators did not have authority to suggest to some mothers there would be ‘confidentiality’ from their daughters or sons.

The focus appears to be on mothers not being allowed to know about their children at all, although around the mid to late 1970s when the availability of babies began to decrease, some mothers were ‘promised’  by adoption facilitators they would be able to make contact their sons or daughters when they reached the age of majority.   A ‘promise’ that most often did not materialize as ‘promised’ because closed adoption records existed or still exist.

The social secrets of some individuals in society are not, and should not be, governed by legislation or civil servants, and further, the social secrets of some individuals in society do not take precedence over the rights of others in society to have access to their own birth documentation and information about their identity.

There are studies, and our experience indicates that a high percentage of mothers want to know about and have contact with their now-adult children.  With the introduction of the internet and social media, there have been increasing numbers of people searching for each other, often resulting in positive healing reunions.

RIGHTS OF PERSONS ADOPTED 

Those who have been adopted have every right to unfettered access to their original birth certificates, just as it is a right for all other members of society.  It is a fact and not a secret they were born to mothers.

Not every province in Canada denies persons adopted their original birth certificates.

Not every province in Canada denies them unfettered access to identifying information on their natural families so they may discover their medical history; genealogical background; their ancestral heritage; immediate and extended family members; grandparents; siblings; nieces; nephews; aunts; uncles; brothers; sisters; mothers; and fathers.

Not every province in Canada denies people adopted direct access to their own personal information and their right to keep it private and to themselves, or if they choose, to search for and find out more of what is part of their lives, their history, their experiences, and theirs to experience.

MOTHERS RIGHTS

Mothers who gave birth to babies who were lost to adoption in the past have also been denied the right to have the original birth certificate even though it was most often the mother who gave the information for the registration of birth.  The birth of her baby has not been acknowledged and validated as is the right of all other mothers who give birth in our society.  It is not a secret from her. The mothers gave birth, it cannot be denied.

Although mothers (many single and unsupported) lost their right to raise their children when they surrendered to adoption, this does not preclude them from having a relationship with their adult children once they reach the age of majority; adulthood.

There is no logical reason today, where openness in adoption is the norm, to preserve the archaic consequences of the closed adoption system of past decades, in present day legislation.

OTHER JURISDICTIONS

Not all countries have closed or mediated adoption records.  Nations such as France, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Norway and Israel have never closed their adoption records.

Adoption records have been open in Scotland since 1930, in Great Britain since 1975, in Australia since 1991, and in New Zealand since 1985 with no negative consequences.

In fact, Canada is the last remaining Commonwealth nation that continues to have some closed records in some provinces. Currently in Canada, four provinces and one territory have Open Adoption Records including Newfoundland, Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia and The Yukon.

VETOES 

Origins Canada does not support vetoes for the following reasons, but instead supports
“Contact Preferences”

1)       No citizen in Canada should have the right in law to prevent another citizen in Canada from receiving their personal government documents, such as a birth registration, or birth certificate.

2)      A new group of marginalized citizens is created when records open, except to those individuals where vetoes are filed.

3)      Vetoes are extremely hurtful.  Many mothers and adopted persons who search and find a veto at the end of their journey, are devastated with no recourse.

4)     In provinces where records are open, eg. Ontario, less than 1% of those who had the opportunity to file vetoes actually did so.

5)      Origins have had reports of fraud in the filing of vetoes. eg. vetoes filed by adoptive parents instead of adopted person.

6)     The administration of vetoes is costly and ineffective, as people change and their life situation changes.

Copyright Origins Canada 2010