(609)
599-2110 · Fax (609) 392-3094
E-mail: info@njcathconf.com
Web: www.njcathconf.com
William
F. Bolan, Jr., J.D.
Executive Director
June 7, 2004
To: Senator
Joseph Vitale, Chairman
Members of the Senate Health, Human
Services and Senior Citizens Committee
From:
Oppose S620 and S1093 which would open adoption records
The
New Jersey Catholic Conference the public policy agency for the Catholic
Bishops of New Jersey urges you to oppose the passage of S620 sponsored by Senator
Diane Allen and S1093 Sponsored by Senators Joseph Vitale and Barbara Buono
which opens adoption records retroactively and prospectively. The bills permit an adopted person 18 years
of age or older; a direct descendent 18 years of age or older of the adopted
person if the adopted person is deceased or the adoptive parents or guardian of
a minor adopted person access to birth records that has been sealed in some
case for decades.
The
New Jersey Catholic Conference has a particular concern for the thousands of
birth parents who surrendered their babies to Catholic Charity agencies with
confidentiality as their legal protection and guarantee. The need for confidentiality prevents them
from testifying before this committee and we are compelled to speak on their
behalf. Many have gone through life
depending upon this confidentiality and have chosen not to share this part of
their past with their spouse and children.
This legislation shatters this guarantee and would be devastating to
them.
The
guarantee of confidentiality for each party and their right to privacy are
principles that should be preserved in the law.
Open access to records can often cause deep psychological stress and
profound life disruptions. Under present
law licensed adoption agencies can assist adopted persons in being reunited
with a birth parent, but consent is required by both parties and professional
counseling is often made available to those adopted persons who desire
reunion.
We
are eager to encourage reunions between birth parents and adult adoptee but
only when both sides consent to the reunion.
We support the enactment of a mutual consent registry whereby adoptees
and birth parents can make it known that they wish to contact each other. The registry could then act as a broker for
that contact. In this way the right of
all parties can be protected. The
registry could also make available non-identifying information about medical
and social characteristics of birth family members and family health
histories.
Today’s
adoption environment is very different then 50 years ago. Open adoptions are encouraged and many mutually
accept this method of adoption allowing for some type of contact between birth
parent and adoptive parents. Adoptive
parents and adoptees receive medical history of the birth parents. But these bills would retroactively strip the
rights of birth parents to privacy without any prior notice. This lack of effective notice for those who
were guaranteed this right under the laws that existed at the time of adoption
is fundamentally unfair.
We urge this
legislature not to renege on the guarantee of the law accorded to birth parents
for over fifty years. Whether or not you agree with the legislative policy
decisions, the NJ Legislature guaranteed birth parents confidentiality
(N.J.S.A. 26:8-40.1 and N.J.S.A. 9:3-52).
We believe that maintaining confidentiality as provided by law in the
past and in the future is essential.
Without such measure we are concerned that many will seek desperate
measures such as abortion or even abandonment.
We urge you
instead to establish a mutual consent registry which can be used by consenting
adults who no longer have concerns about revealing their identity without
eradicating the existing law. This
registry could also address the legitimate concerns of an adoptee obtaining
medical history information by providing access to non-identifying
developmental and medical history information as well as social characteristics
of birth family members.
The New Jersey Catholic Conference urges you not to releases S620 and S1093 without considering the benefits of a mutual consent registry.
Representing the Archdiocese of
Diocese of
Our Lady of Deliverance Syriac
Catholic Diocese