Since the start of adoption, there has always been the question whether people who were adopted should have their birth records available to them as an adult. Currently most states' policy is that mutual consent is required by both parties before an adopted adult and birthparent can reconnect. Only eight states allow all adult adoptees to have access to their birth records, despite numerous positive experiences in many states of connected birth parents and adult adopted persons.
Those opposed to adoptees' access protest that birthmothers' privacy is violated when birth records are opened. Some feel that the connection may cause unwanted relationships between birth parents and grown children. Others feel that if records are allowed to be opened, some women who want privacy in adoption may turn to abortion instead.
According to the Donaldson Institute, there is evidence from the states with open records that open communication is not feared, but is handled with maturity, respect, is and welcomed. There is no proof for the protest that more abortions would rise if open record policy was instated.
In fact, many birthmothers who have been contacted are grateful that secrecy is no longer the way of adoptions, as it was in the earlier days of the '60s.
By ethical standards open access is a matter of equality as adopted adults are the only class of Americans which are not allowed access to their birth certificates. It is also a way to connect all parties involved in the adopted process, and to rid society of the shame and stigma associated with adoption.
Currently the states that allow open access are Kansas, Alaska, Alabama, Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon, and Tennessee. Legislation in other states has been slow because of a determined opposition, including religious groups and the National Council for Adoption who believe that mutual consent should remain the policy.
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