STATEMENT REGARDING THE UNIFORM ADOPTION ACT by David Winge and the Adoptee's Internet Mailing List
If you support this statement and would like to add your name and email address to the list of UAA opponents send your name and state of residence (and birth, if an adoptee) to uaa@bastards.org
We, the undersigned, are adopted adults, their spouses or significant others, siblings, and children. We are adoptive parents and birth parents. We oppose the Uniform Adoption Act (UAA) because the Act abridges the rights of adult and minor adoptees and because the Act is clearly not in the best interest of children who are adoptees or potential adoptees. The statements below are our responses to the specific provisions of the UAA. Article 2 (Adoption Of Minors), Part 2 (Preplacement evaluation), Section 2-204(b) (Determining Suitability To Be Adoptive Parent), Which states: "If an evaluator determines that the information assessed does not raise a specific concern, the evaluator shall find that the individual is suited to be an adoptive parent." Statement: We believe that the preplacement evaluation process for prospective adoptive parents should focus on finding the home best suited for the adoptee. Declaring adoptive parents to be suitable by virtue of no overt or specific concerns does not adequately protect the interests of the adoptee. We feel that adoption should not be a process focused on finding children for adults who want them; it should be focused instead on finding the best possible home for each individual child. In the preplacement process, the interests of the adoptee should outweigh the interests of the prospective adoptive parents. Proper safeguards should be implemented to ensure that prospective adoptive parents meet more suitability criteria than: 1) simply having the money necessary to pay the associated legal costs, and 2) having no overt signs of potential neglect or abuse. AND
Article 2, Part 4 (Consent To Relinquishment For Adoption), Section 2-406(d)(1) (Content Of Consent Or Relinquishment), Which states: "An understanding that after the consent or relinquishment is signed or confirmed in substantial compliance with Section 2-405, it is final and, except under a circumstance stated in Section 2-408 or 2-409, [Stepparent adoption] may not be revoked or set aside for any reason, including the failure of an adoptive parent to permit the individual executing the consent or relinquishment to visit or communicate with the minor adoptee;" We believe that it is not in the best interests of adoptees, birth parents, nor society as a whole to allow adoptive parents to dishonor specific agreements entered into with a birth parent regarding visitation. Should the birth parent(s) and the prospective adoptive parents enter into a visitation agreement, the agreement should be as binding as any other type of agreement or contract. Permitting adoptive parents to revoke previously agreed-upon visitation rights without proper legal process allows adoptive parents to mislead birth parents into relinquishing their children under false pretenses. Any properly crafted agreement between the birth parent(s) and prospective adoptive parents regarding visitation should be honored as would any other type of visitation agreement. AND
Article 2, Part 4, Section 2-408(a)(1), Which states: "Within 192 hours after the birth of the minor, a parent who executed the consent notifies in writing the prospective adoptive parent, or the adoptive parent's lawyer, that the parent revokes the consent, or the parent complies with any other instructions for revocation specified in the consent;" More safeguards should be in place to help prevent the coercion of birth parents into relinquishment of their children. We believe that the 192 hour period in which relinquishment can be revoked by the birth parent is, in itself, insufficient to safeguard the birth parent against duress or coercion. We recommend that adequate counseling of the birth parent be an integral part of the adoption process. The the counseling should attempt to determine if the birth parent has been coerced into believing that he or she is unable or unfit to parent the child when, in fact, that is not the case. Our societal bias against single (or poor) parents, for example, should not be used as a sole justification for applying duress, coercion, or inappropriate persuasion, however "well-meant," to the birth parent to facilitate relinquishment. Counseling of both birth parents and prospective adoptive parents should take place to emphasize the importance of accurate and adequately updated adoption records, even in cases where the adoption is to be closed. AND
Article 3, (General Procedure For Adoption) Part 8, (Birth Certificate) Section 3-802(f). Which states: "Upon request by an individual who was listed as a parent on a child's original birth certificate and who furnishes appropriate proof of the individual's identity, the [Registrar] shall give the individual a noncertified copy of the original birth certificate." This should be expanded to include the right of adult adoptees to receive and/or review a certified copy of their own original birth certificate, and should not, under any circumstances, be abridged. All other American citizens have the right to receive and/or review a copy of their own original and unaltered birth certificate; this right should not be abridged for any adult based solely on adoptive status. AND
Article 6 (Records Of Adoption Proceeding: Retention, Confidentiality, And Access), Section 6-102(d). Which states: "All records on file with the court must be retained permanently and sealed for 99 years after the date of the adoptee's birth. Sealed records and indexes of the records are not open to inspection by any person except as provided in this [Act]". We believe that all adult adoptees have the right to review all information regarding their birth and adoption, to be aware of their adoptive status, and to have any other rights necessary to ensure full and complete access to such information and/or records regardless of the source. The interests of society as a whole are not served, nor are the rights of individuals honored, when personal information that is basic and fundamental to human experience is legally withheld from the adult to which it applies. The right of the adult adoptee to know the truth of his or her birth circumstances, genetic and medical history, and heritage outweighs the desire of adoptive parents or birth parents to keep this information unavailable. Such concealment is inappropriate, and should be unenforceable, when the adoptee reaches the age of majority. [Article 7, Sec. 7-101, 102, and 105] The civil penalties and fines specified in the UAA are inadequate to protect the rights of birth parents and adoptees. The Act does not prevent an adoption from proceeding if actions specifically prohibited in the UAA occur. This will encourage violation of the provisions of the UAA; persons who can afford to do so may simply regard the fine as an additional cost associated with the adoption. [Article 7, 7-106] We believe that an adoptee has committed no crime if he or she deduces, on his or her own initiative, any of the information contained in the sealed adoption records if the adoptee has not gained illegal access to the record. Any adult citizen should have the right to know who his or her birth parents are if he or she so desires. To declare acting upon such a natural and inalienable right to know to be a felony is unconscionable. GENERAL CONCLUSION:
The UAA is clearly written in the interests of adoptive parents and their attorneys. It does not adequately address nor protect the interests of the child and puts considerable hardship on the birth parents, particularly the birth mother. The Act abridges the natural rights of adult adoptees. The UAA also fails to address any of the historical problems associated with closed adoptions and fails to acknowledge or accommodate the concerns of the growing number of individuals who choose open adoptions. Specifically, it nullifies the legal visitation rights that may have been part of an open adoption, permitting adoptive parents to encourage relinquishment of children under false pretenses. Contact between the child and the birth parent, when agreed to by all parties in the adoption, should not be legally thwarted. There is no valid reason to believe that such contact between an adopted child and his or her birth parent(s) is, in and of itself, harmful to any of the parties. Open adoption choices and agreements, when properly entered into, should be honored by law. Birthparents and adoptive parents who choose this type of agreement have the right to be allowed to do so, and their adoption agreements should be honored. The UAA encourages and gives weight of law to the treatment of adult adoptees as second-class citizens, denying them the fundamental human right to know their birth origins and circumstances. There is no more basic a question to members of the human species than "Who am I," or "Where did I come from?" The Uniform Adoption Act is an attempt to seal the answers to these questions beyond the lifetime of the individual. To some, the answers are not important, but to all persons these answers should be legally obtainable.
If you support this statement and would like to add your name and email address to the list of UAA opponents send them along with your state of residence (and birth, if an adoptee) to uaa@bastards.org
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