Should adopted children get access to their birth certificates when they turn 18?

The Senate Human Services committee discussed a bill this morning to

“Every day of my life since the age of 12 and removal from my mother, I have dreamed” of finding out “who (her siblings) were, how they were,” Dianna Dessau said. She said she found her siblings years later. “I support this bill,” she said, because it would make it easier for people to find biological family members, find family history and “gain a sense of completeness in knowing their own life story, both the good and the bad.”

Don Pierce shared his story. “In 1979, my wife and I were a licensed receiving home — a foster home — and on the list to adopt,” he said. Then, while out on patrol, he received a call of a woman in labor. There was no time to take her to the hospital, so he delivered the baby. “During the time that the baby was being delivered, the mother looked up at me and said, ‘I can’t keep this baby will you help me?’ … four days later, I brought Amy home from the hospital. Two months later, we adopted her.”

He said for months, he lived in fear that her mother would come back and say she wanted Amy back. Then, as she grew older he realized that she needed to “complete the jigsaw puzzle” and find out about her biological mother.

The hearing had more ups and downs, right to the end. You’ll have to watch:

Tags: adoption