Lynn Grubb

I've been thinking about why it has taken so long for the United States to grasp that adopted citizens should have a right to an accurate copy of their birth certificate. A struggle for the average citizen to understand adoptee rights comes from the urban legends that circulate like wildfire -- until they are seen as true --when in fact, they are false. The laws are far behind the realities of information, the internet and the wants and needs of modern original mothers and adult adoptees in domestic adoption. Adoptees are dying every day without their medical history, and the stories of their lives.  The progress has been slow since Oregon opened birth certificates to all adoptees in 2000. Read about Oregon's law here . The following myths are alive and well in the minds of the opposition of adoptee access to original birth certificates. Every adoptee needs to be well-versed in "talking points" when the legislature, family and friends ask valid quest...

There is a bill that was drafted by Sen. Lyle Hillyard ( R. Utah ) - SB155 - that would provide a mechanism to make open adoption agreements enforceable.   The intent behind the legislation is to initially effect foster-to-adopt families, but I strongly believe that it should also include private domestic infant adoption.  See article here . Not surprisingly, the NCFA (National Council for Adoption) is against this legislation. They are the number one opposer of adoptee rights, so it’s not a big stretch to see they don’t care about original families having continued contact with their children. David Hardy, a past president of the Utah Adoption Council, said there is no consensus on the issue among adoptive parents and he goes on to say: "There's certainly concern we're cheapening the parental relationship if you have an enforceable agreement.” Cheapening the parental relationship?  I think what he really means is adoptive par...

photo credit: Stu Phillips I took part in a discussion amongst other adult adopted women. This discussion become very heated when a particular original mother entered the conversation.  This original mother surrendered her child because, in essence, she didn't want to change her lifestyle and be a single parent.  This original mother spoke of all the traveling she has done and blogs about her life as an original mother in open adoption. I have never visited the blog, but I understand it offends many people, especially adoptees.   Most of my fellow adoptees felt offended by this woman because we were "her child"  at one time.  We were left and we all have a visceral reaction to hearing a mother discuss why she left her child (especially when those reasons appear shallow or selfish). Aside from that reaction, I asked the group why are women so hard on other women? Does this mother not have a right NOT to parent?  It's not like it is any easy task to ...

Thanks to the hard work of  Adoption Equity Ohio a bill should be introduced on Tuesday opening original birth certificates of Ohio adopted citizens born between 1964 and 1996. Now is the time to start contacting your legislature to ask for co-sponsorship and support. It only takes a few minutes to type up a brief letter informing your representative as to how you stand on political issues.  If you want some guidelines, go to  Lost Daughters. I am brand new to this myself as I was recently asked to be part of the legislative committee for the  Adoptee Rights Coaltion  and have only one time before written to my representative on an issue that I felt strongly about. Although writing to your legislature appears intimidating and daunting on the surface, once you get started, you realize it is not that difficult to express your opinions to someone whose job it is to care about citizen concerns. As an adopted U.S. citizen, this is one of THE biggest issue...

 The overwhelming majority of the non-adopted have an extensive family medical history that they take for granted.  For example, many of the medical issues are well-known in the family such as Grandma's diabetes and great grandpa's heart condition.  They know their blood brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, etc. and if they don't know personnally, somebody in the family knows the diseases, conditions and illnesses that each family member has or has experienced or has died from. When a child is placed for adoption, their life is put in danger if a complete medical history is not ascertained by the social workers or attorneys handling the adoption. The right questions need to be asked of both sides of the birth families and documented. My medical history consisted of this:  "All family members were in good health as could be ascertained from the record." HUH? Later in the file, the social worker admits that my father did not know about my conception, so th...