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Ill. adoptees gain access to birth records
CHICAGO, (UPI) -- About 200,000 adoptees in Illinois will have easier access to their birth certificates under a new state law, officials say.
Many of them will learn of the identity of their biological parents for the first time, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The measure, signed into law by Gov. Pat Quinn, enables people adopted before 1946 to file a written request with the vital records division of the Illinois Department of Public health.
By late 2011 anyone 21 or older or who was born after Jan. 1, 1946, will be able to access the birth records through the state's adoption registry.
Adoptee Elizabeth Lively, 56, told the Tribune she would rely on the information only to learn details of her birth and her parents' identities, not to seek a reunion because of the fear of rejection.
"To have this piece of paper of where you come from is what is so important … even though I don't want or need to do a search," said Lively, of the Chicago suburb of Burr Ridge. "This fills the void, without going through that."
The law does not guarantee those adopted in 1946 or later would get information on biological parents' identities. A privacy provision gives parents the final say in revealing their identities.
If one parent opts out, the adoptee could find out the name of the other parent. But the adoptee may get a birth certificate with names redacted if both birth parents opt out.
State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, a Chicago Democrat, began the state's fight to open adoption records more than a decade ago after she began a search for her own birth mother. Feigenholtz found her birth mother but still had no access to her birth certificate.
"We're opening a new chapter in adoption history in Illinois," Feigenholtz said at a news conference. "In Illinois, we can finally say that no one will be forced to live and die always wondering about who may have been their birth mother, who may have been their birth father."
CHICAGO, (UPI) -- About 200,000 adoptees in Illinois will have easier access to their birth certificates under a new state law, officials say.
Many of them will learn of the identity of their biological parents for the first time, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The measure, signed into law by Gov. Pat Quinn, enables people adopted before 1946 to file a written request with the vital records division of the Illinois Department of Public health.
By late 2011 anyone 21 or older or who was born after Jan. 1, 1946, will be able to access the birth records through the state's adoption registry.
Adoptee Elizabeth Lively, 56, told the Tribune she would rely on the information only to learn details of her birth and her parents' identities, not to seek a reunion because of the fear of rejection.
"To have this piece of paper of where you come from is what is so important … even though I don't want or need to do a search," said Lively, of the Chicago suburb of Burr Ridge. "This fills the void, without going through that."
The law does not guarantee those adopted in 1946 or later would get information on biological parents' identities. A privacy provision gives parents the final say in revealing their identities.
If one parent opts out, the adoptee could find out the name of the other parent. But the adoptee may get a birth certificate with names redacted if both birth parents opt out.
State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, a Chicago Democrat, began the state's fight to open adoption records more than a decade ago after she began a search for her own birth mother. Feigenholtz found her birth mother but still had no access to her birth certificate.
"We're opening a new chapter in adoption history in Illinois," Feigenholtz said at a news conference. "In Illinois, we can finally say that no one will be forced to live and die always wondering about who may have been their birth mother, who may have been their birth father."
