Letter to the Editor: Adoptees deserve greater access to records
I am disheartened, as I imagine many New Yorkers are, over the Senate and Assembly’s inaction on critical legislation that would give adult adoptees much easier access to their birth certificate and medical history. Currently, New York adoption laws prevent adoptees from obtaining this information unless they go through the judicial system.
Under the Bill of Adoptee Rights (S.2490/A.909) that I am proud to sponsor with Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Queens), adult adoptees in New York State age 18 and older would be able to obtain a copy of their original birth certificates and a medical history form from the NYS Department of Health. The legislation would also provide a birth parent with a form letting the child know if they wanted to be contacted by the child or through an intermediary.