There is a reason for Minnesotans to celebrate. Adoptees, close descendants of adoptees and those of us who support adopted youth share an investment in a recent law change. Beginning July 1, 2024, all adopted people born in Minnesota who are 18 or older will be able to request their original birth certificates from the Minnesota Department of Health. Children, grandchildren, and spouses will also be able to access that original birth certificate if the adopted person is deceased.
A big deal
This is a BIG deal. A Just win for adopted persons to have full access to their first legal document in this world. Beyond that, an opportunity to learn more about their past, if they choose. Not only about their birth parents and possibly immediate family, but about their heritage, the history of their people. Potentially even access valuable information about health and family medical issues.
Historically in the U.S., this information has been closely guarded. Minnesota is only one of 15 states to have affirmed and restored this right to adopted people. As the child of an American Indian adoptee, I am familiar with the toll it can take on families to be separated from their history. For many transracial adoptees placed with white families, it’s downright confusing navigating that gap in basic knowledge of where you came from. My mother wondered with interest about her family history, her culture and always about her sister. She spent most of her life living in a state where adoption records were sealed in a closely guarded vault, and no one was getting in. It’s not easy living a lifetime wondering where you came from.
The vault is opening
An original birth certificate is something people raised by biological parents take for granted. Every adult should have access to their very first legal record that they exist. As is the practice still in place today in Minnesota, when a child is adopted their birth record is changed to show the adopted parent’s information and the new name of the child if the parents elect to legally change it at adoption. This new law is a huge victory for adopted people to restore access to that original certificate.
Adoptees have a right to their past. Their legal history should not be guarded from them with lock and key. Today I’m celebrating that the vault is opening and if adoptees want to know more, they can. Or not. THEY get that choice.
For more information from the Minnesota Department of Health on this important law change and how adoptees can access their original birth records, click HERE.
Check out this podcast on the new law hosted by Foster Adopt MN (FAM) and featuring Gregory Luce, founder of Adoptee Rights Law Center, and Erin Merrigan of Concerned United Birthparents, which is the first and only national organization founded and funded entirely by parents of adoption loss.
The Minnesota Coalition for Adoption Reform & Adoptee Rights Law Center PLLC are hosting information sessions in June about the new law going into effect and how it’s going to work. Find dates and locations here.
Renee Banas is Kin Link Program Director at Ampersand Families.
