Adoptee birth-records bill passes

Dave Stafford for www.theindianalawyer.com

A bill long sought by Hoosiers adopted between 1941 and 1993 and denied their birth records passed the Indiana General Assembly Monday and heads to the desk of Gov. Mike Pence.

Senate Bill 91 cleared the Indiana House by a vote of 72-24.

“Today marks a tremendous victory for hundreds of thousands of people adopted in Indiana. Through Senate Bill 91, all adoptees will have equal access to their birth certificate and medical records, regardless of the year they were born,” said Pam Kroskie, president of Hoosiers for Equal Access to Records.

Kroskie said the legislation allows adoptees to find closure, uncover vital answers about their medical history and cure administrative heartaches that come from having an amended birth certificate.

“We are deeply grateful to the Indiana General Assembly for moving Senate Bill 91 forward, and thank Gov. Pence for his partnership on this critical issue,” Kroskie said. “Thanks to their overwhelming support this session, Indiana adoptees are now on their way to achieving access the most basic parts of their identity.”

House sponsor Rep. Greg Steuerwald, R-Avon, said the bill puts those placed for adoption from the 1940s to early 1990s on the same legal footing as people born before or after that date. Birth parents will still be able to sign a contact preference form denying access to records if they choose. If signed by Pence, the law will take effect in July 2018.

Rep. Peggy Mayfield, R-Martinsville, said she could support the bill because the burden was on the parents who placed their children for adoption. Rep. Tom Washburne, R-Evansville, said the bill “troubles me a great deal.

“My concern really is about the people who in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s gave up their child for adoption and maybe they have never told their spouse,” Washburne said. “I just can’t believe there isn’t an expectation of privacy that extended back there.”