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The point is that each and every one of those 300 million people has a heritage took look back on -- well, at least most of them do.
See, there are literally millions of people out there who have no idea where they come from, where they’ve been, nor what legacy they can proclaim.
Why? Because they’re adopted -- that’s why.
If you were born in New Jersey, and you’re adopted, you have no idea who you really are under your skin or in the past. That’s because if you’re adopted you don’t have the right to know anything about who you really are. You are only allowed to be what your adoptive parents and the government say you are.
Knowing the names of birth parents does nothing to detract from the fact of who an adoptee’s parents are -- that distinction belongs solely with the loving and caring parents who raised the adoptee.
Adoptees are not looking for a way to replace their parents with their birthparents. What they want is to gain a sense of who they are under their skin -- historically, and more importantly medically.
According to a poll conducted earlier this year, by the Monmouth University Polling Institute, 90-percent of us believe that those adoptees should have access to their family history. If not for the basics of a family genealogy, then for the medical history that would also be found in knowing who your are biological mother and father.
Is there heart disease in the family history? Is the adoptee’s genetics prone to diabetes? And a long list of other medical considerations make opening up the adoptees birth certificate of vital importance.
We take it for granted that we can go to the local clerks office and get a birth certificate that legitimates who we are, who our parents are and all the benefits of knowing that basic information. Adoptees don’t get that luxury because the State of New Jersey sealed all adoption records in 1938, and two years later revised the law to insure that adoptees could not get a copy of their birth certificate.
That is just plain wrong.
The United Kingdom has given adoptees access to their birth information since 1975, why are we so far behind?
Alabama, Alaska, Delaware, Kansas, New Hampshire, Oregon and Tennessee have all given adoptees the information they need too. Why are we behind the times?
We all need to know who we are in our bloodline.
I know about my Scottish ancestors who came to this country in the 17th century. I’ve heard stories about my Polish ancestors who came through Ellis Island in search of a better life. I know about the cancer and diabetes that has hurt my family.
Adoptees deserve to know all of that too.
Currently, there is a bill pending in the legislature to open up the adoptees birth records. Sponsored by Sens. Diane Allen, R-Edgewater Park, and Joe Vitale, D-Woodbridge, the bill would allow adopted adults and the parents and guardians of adopted minors access to a true copy of the adoptee’s original birth certificate and other related information.
Everyone deserves to know about who they are if they want to know. It’s a basic right that should not be infringed upon by any government.
On Monday, the bill was released from a Senate committee and will now go to the full Senate for a vote. Now the Assembly needs to do its job and pass this important legislation, so everybody can have the basic knowledge of knowing who they are under their skin.
-- Charles Webster is the political columnist for The Trentonian. His ‘Under the Dome’ column appears every Monday and Wednesday. He can be reached at cwebster4@trentonian.com.
