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MONTPELIER — For Rebecca Dragon and other adoptees, the key need in updating Vermont adoption law is to lift restrictions on access to birth records -- thereby placing adoptees on
Texas born adoptees can’t access their original birth certificates until they’re 18. Even then, they have to already know the names of both of their birth parents. Otherwise, the adoptee will have to petition the court.
Has the importance of sealing original birth certificates and replacing them with amended ones been outstripped by time and cultural change?
Since the 1940s, the birth certificates of adopted children have been routinely changed to reflect the history and names of adoptive parents. States across the nation increasingly favor allowing adoptees access to the originals.
Adopted children face a slew of legal challenges in trying to obtain their original birth certificates. Lawmakers across the country are increasingly granting more access as a basic human right.