AEO-NorrisTestimony

Brad Norris, an adoptive father, was instrumental in changing the law to seal adoptee records in Ohio in the 1960s. His goal was to protect his adopted children's records from public eyes. In 1994, Mr. Norris testified before the Ohio Legislature that the law had the unintended consequence of blocking adult adoptees, including his own children, from accessing their own records. Brad Norris fought to correct this injustice but the Ohio Legislature never allowed him to succeed.

Adoption Equity Ohio's mission is to see that all of Ohio's adult adoptees have unrestricted access to their original birth certificates. Learn the facts, change the law, restore adoptee rights!

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• adoptee
• rights
• adoption
• ohio
• original
• birth
• certificates
• adult
• adoptees
• certificate
• brad
• norris
• heritage

[AdoptionEquityOhio]

Thanks for the comments, Happyjack102 & AnOhioAdoptee - couldn't agree more, it's time for the law to change and for adult adoptee rights to be restored. Thanks for helping spread the word!

[AnOhioAdoptee]

Alabama, Alaska, Delaware, Kansas, Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon, Tennessee and Rhode Island have all opened birth certificates to adult adoptees, why can't Ohio? I wish more people could appreciate how infuriating it is to be denied access to your own birth certificate.

[happyjack102]

These laws were never intended to benefit anyone but the adoptive parents. The State of Oregon gives us a decade, Alaska and Kansas a lifetime of experience showing that giving an adoptee a copy of their original birth certificate harms no one and benefits many.