(This feature first appeared in the Fall 1999 issue of the Bastard Quarterly.)

Despite vigorous opposition by Bastard Nation, ACT NOW, and other triad organizations, Illinois Governor George Ryan signed HB 631 into law on August 7, 1999. The bill goes into effect on January 1, 2000. The bill creates the
Illinois Adoption Registry and Medical Information Exchange to replace the current Adoption Registry. The wording in the general intent of this bill is extremely foreboding: "The General Assembly supports public policy that requires explicit mutual consent prior to the release of confidential information."

HIGHLIGHTS OF HB 631 - P.A. # 91-0417

1. ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATES FOR JOINING UP

The new law provides for the new Registry to release original birth certificates to some adoptees who meet the following specific criteria:

a) The adoptee must register with the new Illinois Adoption Registry and Medical Information Exchange Registry as well as file an Information Exchange Authorization Form.

b) The adoptee's birthparent/s or birth sibling/s must register with the new Illinois Adoption Registry and Medical Exchange Registry. They must also file an Information Exchange Authorization Form.

c) If these two conditions are met, then "a match" is made and the adoptee will be issued an original birth certificate.

So who gets their original birth certificates? Registered adoptees whose registered birthparents say it's okay.

2. BIRTHPARENTS GAIN LEGAL POWER OVER ADOPTEES' BIRTH CERTIFICATES

For the first time, birthparents are given the legal right to either agree to or to block the issuance of an adoptee's original birth certificate. This new provision belies the fact that birthparents signed away all legal rights to their children when they irrevocably surrendered them to adoption.

Original birth certificates belong to the people whose history they record - the adoptee. Original birth certificates in Illinois are sealed and until now, the court has been the only one designated by law to release them. HB 631 establishes a legal right of individual birthparents to control the release of their relinquished children's legal birth documents in perpetuity.

3. WHITE-OUTS

The "white-out provision" is alive and well in Illinois; it's just got a new name. "If information is disclosed pursuant to this Act, the Department shall redact it to remove any identifying information about any party who has not consented to the disclosure of such identifying information." So now it's okay to edit the information on copies of legal documents. What's next? Divorce decrees? Criminal records? School files?

4.ADOPTION REGISTRY ADVISORY COUNCIL

HB 631 establishes an Adoption Registry Advisory Council, composed of one representative each from: 15 social service and/or adoption agencies 5 adoptive parents' organizations 4 adoptee search and support groups: a) Children Remembered (Melisha Mitchell's group); b) Healing Hearts (headed by Mary Wilkens, Board Member of ICTA); Truthseekers in Adoption; and the AAC. And... 1 independent organization - Illinois Medical Society

Social workers and adoption agency personnel will be running the show. They represent 60% of this council, yet adoptees, the ones central to the entire adoption process, comprise a questionable and paltry 6% of the new council.

5. CLAIMS THAT NEW REGISTRY WILL ADD 500,000+ PEOPLE

According to proponent Melisha Mitchell, "IL legislators allocated an impressive six-figure budget to the new registry for the fiscal year 2000," in order to hire more personnel, update equipment, and publicize the new registry. Mitchell says that the new registry "expands access....to over 500,000 people previously excluded from the Illinois Registry." Here's who she's counting: "Interstate and international adoptees who were born, surrendered or adopted in IL, plus their birthparents, as well as adoptive parents and legal guardians of minors, and under some conditions, non-adopted siblings." This figure has been pulled from the air. Nowhere are there any statistics or reliable studies on which to base this prediction.

HB 631 blasts any hope for open records for a long while to come. Illinois legislators will not revisit adoption issues any time soon. Why should they? They've just amended the IL Adoption Act, which together with the Confidential Intermediary Section already on the books, is considered to be "in the best interest of adopted and surrendered persons."

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Anita Walker Field is Bastard Nation's Illinois Director and a member of Bastard Nation's Legislative Committee. Anita, 61, is a retired librarian, who successfully petitioned the court in Illinois as her own lawyer to have her adoption records opened. Her story was featured in a USA Today article on the adoptee rights struggle.

(This feature first appeared in the Fall 1999 issue of the Bastard Quarterly.)

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