I’m fully aware of the issues on both sides of the adoption-reunion debate. On a personal level, I believe that all adoptees should have access to their birth records. The Ohio House recently passed a bill to give adoptees access to their records. Now it’s up to the Ohio Senate. We will see if the Ohio Senate leaders bring Senate Bill 23 to a floor vote… It’s up to them…
Following is teaser from a great adoption reunion story that made me cry… It was written by Regina Brett for the Plain Dealer, and published September 14, 2013 at Cleveland.com.
For years Carol worked with Adoption Network Cleveland to find information about her birth records. In March, Adoption Network found a document that revealed Carol’s full birth name. Her birth mom named her Beth and gave her the middle initial “I”. The birth mom was an unmarried 18-year-old.
Carol went on the internet and found a woman on Facebook who bore the same last name and was 68, the age her birth mom would be. (I’m not sharing the woman’s name, since she lives in a small town in Ohio, has a unique name and hasn’t told all those close to her that she placed a baby up for adoption.)
Carol found the woman’s address on the White Pages and sent her a letter full of questions. Carol wondered about her medical history, her genealogy and what the initial “I” stood for in her middle name. Three days later, Carol got an email.
The subject read: “The I is for Irene.”
