This morning the Texas Adoptee Rights Coalition delivered the following letter to Representative Gina Calanni, the prime author of HB2725. TXARC worked to obtain this endorsement from Concerned United Birthparents (CUB). CUB, which began in 1976, is one of the largest and most active birthparent-focused organizations in the world. A downloadable PDF copy of the letter is here.
March 1, 2019
The Honorable Gina Calanni
Texas State House of Representatives
Room E2.302
P.O. Box 2910
Austin, Texas 78768
RE: Texas HB2725
Dear Representative Calanni:
I am the president of the Board of Directors of Concerned United Birth Parents (CUB), the only national organization focused on birthparents—their experiences, healing, and wisdom. CUB serves all those touched by adoption and all who are concerned about adoption issues.
I write on behalf of the Board of Directors to express CUB’s support for HB2725, a bill that you introduced that would restore a right all Texas adult adoptees should have: unrestricted access to their own original birth records upon request.
CUB supports the unrestricted access of adopted people to their original birth records. Access to the truth about one’s identity and origins is a fundamental human right.
The myth of confidentiality is often used to oppose open records, but birthparents were never promised such secrecy and do not want it. The majority of birthparents want to be reunited with their children, but in the end, this is not relevant. Equal access to vital statistics and court files and the wish to search for one’s birthparents are completely separate issues. An adoptee’s decision to search is independent of the right to obtain vital statistics and court files that concern himself or herself.
In today’s environment, most adoptions are identified. Since everyone involved in the adoption knows the facts about who the birthparents are, there is no reason for the state to conceal the truth in perpetuity.
Globally, many countries have chosen not to engage in the falsification and sealing of birth certificates. The practice of falsifying birth certificates did not begin until the 1930s in America. America must join the ranks of civilized nations and end this antiquated remnant of a shame-based culture.
CUB encourages you and your colleagues to enact HB2725 so that adult adoptees can again have access to important information about their own birth families. It’s time to get it right. It’s time to make it equal in Texas.
Best regards,
Mandy Krahenbuhl
President
Concerned United Birthparents, Inc.
The Texas Adoptee Rights Coalition is a coalition of Texas and national organizations working to secure the right of all Texas adult adoptees to obtain their own original birth certificates, without discriminatory restrictions.