The board of Adoptees United Inc. has endorsed the following position statements on current issues affecting adopted people in the United States.
Core Issues
ISSUE: Pre-Adoption Original Birth Certificates
Position: Adult Adopted People in the United States Have the Right to Request and Obtain Unaltered Copies of their Own Original Birth Certificates (OBC), Without Discriminatory Conditions.
Adopted persons as adults are able to request and obtain their own original birth certificates without discrimination in fourteen U.S. states, as of July 1, 2023: Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Vermont. In all other states and the District of Columbia, adopted persons must obtain a court order, use ineffective and outdated registry systems, or are subject to parental control, removal or erasure of identity information, or encounter other discriminatory provisions that restrict the right to obtain the adoptee’s own vital record. These provisions, based in secrecy and shame—and often used to humiliate and further stigmatize adopted people—have never aligned with ethical or best practices in adoption. All fifty states and the District of Columbia must enact equal rights legislation to secure the right of all adult adoptees to obtain an unaltered copy of the pre-adoption birth certificate. Adoptees United will work with state and national organizations to educate legislators and the public on this issue, build strong coalitions around legislative efforts, and provide logistical and data support to organizations and others who also endorse AU’s non-discriminatory position on this issue.
Adoptees United Inc. will not support any effort or organization that endorses discriminatory provisions in OBC-related legislation.
Additional Resources:
- Adoptee Rights Law Center PLLC
- American Adoption Congress
- Bastard Nation: the Adoptee Rights Organization
ISSUE: U.S. Citizenship for Intercountry Adoptees
Position: Any Person Who Is or Has Been Legally Adopted by U.S. Citizen Parents Shall Automatically Acquire U.S. Citizenship.
Adult adopted people must be treated equally under U.S. law. Nevertheless, tens of thousands of people legally adopted by U.S. citizen parents lack U.S. citizenship, despite legal entry to the United States and life-long residency in the country. Thousands of others face extreme difficulties in proving U.S. citizenship. Without secure U.S. citizenship, intercountry adoptees are unable to participate fully in U.S. society. They cannot vote, may lack sufficient work authorization to secure employment, and cannot travel outside of the United States without risk of being barred from returning home. The United States has also deported intercountry adoptees to countries where they had never lived more than a few weeks or months and where they do not have family, friends, or community support.
Adoptees United commits to work as a strong ally with intercountry adoptees and with established intercountry adoptee organizations. Adoptees United supports closing the date-based loophole in the Child Citizenship Act. U.S. Congress must pass legislation to grant all intercountry adoptees automatic citizenship, regardless of an adoptee’s age.
Additional Resources:
ISSUE: Identity Documents
Position: Adopted People in the United States Must Be Treated Equally to All Other People in their Ability to Secure Necessary Documents for Identification, Including US Passports, State-Issued Drivers’ Licenses, and State and Federally Issued Identification CarDs.
Adoptees United reaffirms the core principle that a full and equal right to identity applies to all adopted persons, whether adopted domestically or transnationally. Adoptees United commits to working with state and national organizations to ensure that adopted persons in the United States are treated equally to all other persons in securing needed identity documents, particularly securing U.S. passports, obtaining state-issued identification, or complying with documentation needed as part of the implementation of the REAL ID Act of 2005.
Additional Issues
ISSUE: Abortion Rights
Position: A RIGHT TO SAFE AND LEGAL ABORTIONS MUST BE DEFENDED AND PROTECTED.
As an organization deeply committed to equality for all people, Adoptees United supports and believes in a person’s inherent fundamental right to identity and autonomy. Our organization specifically and unequivocally endorses the right of women and pregnant people to secure safe and legal abortions throughout the United States. We believe that state efforts to restrict the autonomy rights of women and others—through the use of its police power and in conjunction with individuals and organizations— is a form of hate and misogyny. We will work to oppose such efforts. As allies, we will support other organizations in ongoing work to secure an inherent fundamental human right that had been guaranteed to women for at least the last 50 years.