This will be short tonight.
Over on the FB Bastard Nation page a conversation has evolved from the original discussion of adoptee problems with access to passports to access to the adoption decree.
In Ohio, pre-1964 adoptees receive their adoption decree when the get their original birth certificate. I’ve got a certified and non-certified copy of mine. I have little idea what happens with post- 1963s by court order and post mid-1996s (too young to access).
As far as I know in Oregon, Alabama, New Hampshire, Maine, and soon Rhode Island, only the obc is available. In those states, and including the always free Kansas and Alaska, can adoptees get their adoption decree?
If not, why? It seems pretty silly to deny the decree once the obc is out of the bag.
Do adoptees in closed states, who by hook or crook get their obc (through a state subdivision) get their decree?
Maybe I know the answer and just need my memory jogged . It’s just not a question that gets brought up much.
Bastard Nation has always advocated for the release of all court documents. Decree access is something, unfortunately, that has fallen by the wayside, and we need to work on, even if the obc is the big catch. The decree is the legal document that links us from our former name to our latter name (among other things).
I’m finishing up a blog, I hope to put up tomorrow, which gets more into this and the new dangers the US government threatens us with.
There’s bad mojo rumbling through the US, and we need all the documents we can get before they are all gone.