Today’s St. Paul Pioneer Press has a good commentary on Gov. Pawletty’s right-decision- for-the-wrong-reasons, veto of the greatly compromised obc access bill. Written by St. Paul Attorney and adad Jim Hamilton, it discusses the absurdity of adoptee identity confiscation in Minnesota:
Here’s part of it:
Fortunately, my son was born in a country that does not seal original birth certificates. He already has a certified copy of his. He knows his origins. But thousands of others adopted in Minnesota since 1917 (and their descendants) will never know theirs, so long as Minnesota continues to meddle in their private lives.
Ninety-one years of such meddling is more than enough. Perhaps our next Legislature and our next governor will recognize that the state has no legitimate role to play in this area of our lives. Perhaps they will recognize that adult adoptees are indeed adults, not the children they once were. But they’ll need to hear from us to do so.
“Ninety-one years of such meddling is more than enough.”
Absolutely. You are so right, Mr. Hamilton. And thank you for saying so so succinctly 🙂
Update:
I received a number of emails responding to my opinion piece. One writer told me of a Minnesota law of which I was unware: a law sealing the birth certificates of those born to unmarried women. That law, however, also provides that the child has absolute access to the birth certificate at age 16. Seems that even among bastards, some bastards are more equal than others.