Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 11:36:36 PST
Subject: SF Examiner Article Dated 2/22/99

I mailed this to the editor of the SF Examiner.
Reading the article made me sick to my stomach.
I had to respond. I urge others to read and respond as well.
If we hope to have any sort of reform in adoption laws,
we should do our best to redirect the misinformation
and inaccurate perception surrounding all of our circumstances.
(Bmothers/Adoptees/Bfamilies)

Dear Editor,
I think that your article, “Fight over adoption secrecy” written February 22
is grossly misleading and a far cry from the truth.
While adoption laws as they currently stand in 47 states
do not allow adoptees access to the original birth certificates,
they never guaranteed secrecy for the birth parents.
And to say that adoptees are “angry, dangerous children”
who want nothing more than “to confront our birth mother”
is merely more proof positive of the inaccurate perception that adoptees are just that,
children incapable of managing their own rights or making rational decisions.

As an adult adoptee, I feel that my history is my right.
To deny me access to my history is to deny me the same rights
and privileges as every other first class citizen.
I am not angry, nor am I searching for my birth parents to confront them or interfere in their life.
I am a human being, with normal questions about who I am or where I came from.
I was a person before I was adopted
and though I was not of an age to have legal say in my adoption proceedings, I am now.
And I believe I should have every right to know.