[amfete79]

Ohio Legislative Alert

Action Needed! Please forward this email widely

Bill Hearing Wednesday April 30, 2008 – Columbus Ohio



Up until last week, Ohio House Bill 7 contained language that would allow Ohio adult adoptees access to their original birth certificate upon their request. This is something that Adoption Network Cleveland and others across the state have been working on diligently over the last 20 years. Last week, that language was stripped from the bill.

The legislators are very concerned about birthparent privacy. They are assuming that if a birthparent placed a child in a closed record adoption (the only option available at that time) between 1964 and 1996, that allowing the adult adoptee access to their original birth certificate is an affront to the birthparent’s privacy.

They need to hear directly from birthparents whose children were adopted in Ohio between January of 1964 and September of 1996 to gain an accurate view of what birthparents want. Adult adoptees or adoptive parents in reunion with birthparents from that era are also needed. Also, professionals who have worked with birthparents from that era would be helpful.

Please attend the next hearing on House Bill 7 and testify – have your voice heard! The hearing will be at the Ohio Statehouse at 4 pm Wednesday April 30, 2008 – room 017. Advocates will meet outside of the hearing room starting at 3 pm. If you can come to the hearing and would like to testify (or discuss testifying), please contact Betsie Norris at Adoption Network Cleveland betsie.norris@adoptionnetwork.org and H.B. 7 sponsor Tom Brinkman’s legislative aide Kara Joseph at Kara.Joseph@ohr.state.oh.us.

To sign up for email legislative alerts, go to Adoption Network Cleveland™ - H. B. 7 Updates and fill out the form on the right hand side of the page.

Thank you!



Betsie Norris
Executive Director
Adoption Network Cleveland
4614 Prospect, Suite 550
Cleveland, Ohio 44103

[brandon1]

Does anybody know the out come to this meeting?