"IT'S TIME TO SPEAK FOR OURSELVES"
Adoptive Parents' Attitudes Toward Openness in
Adoption Records:
A Study of New York State Adoptive Parents Conducted in
1994-1995
A Study of New York State Adoptive Parents Conducted in 1994-1995
SUMMARY OF STUDY RESULTS
A survey was distributed to adoptive parents in New York State through agencies and adoptive parent groups and associations. Response to the survey resulted in a sample of 1,274 adoptive parents in 743 adoptive families.
Characteristics of the Sample
The mean age of adopted children in the survey was 9.07 years. Adopted children were predominantly female and white. The majority of children in the sample were adopted through a public agency, and lived in the home as a foster child prior to the adoption. Compared with children adopted privately or through a private agency, children in the sample who were adopted through a public agency were found to enter an adoptive home at a significantly older age, and take longer to be adopted. Children who were of an "other" race were more likely to be female and to be adopted internationally. Compared with white children and children of an "other" race, African American children were more likely to live in the home as foster children prior to adoption, spend longer time in the home prior to adoption, and be adopted at an older age.
Mean age of both adoptive parents and spouses/partners was approximately 47 years. Adoptive parents and spouses/partners were predominantly white, married, with college degrees, employed professionally, and members of an adoptive parent group.
The majority of adoptive families were two-parent, dual-earner families. Single-parent families were more likely to be headed by an African-American female, and an unemployed parent. Adoptive families were, on average, larger than families in the general New York State population. For the majority of families in the sample this was their first adoption. Approximately 17 percent of sample families had other adopted/foster children living in the home. Thirty-eight percent of sample adoptions were interracial.
The Adoptive Child's Contact With Their Birth Parents
Only 16.6 percent of adopted children in the sample had any contact with a birth parent, and this contact was likely to be seldom but not regular. Approximately 40 percent of adopted children in the sample knew the name of their birth mother, and 23 percent knew the name of their birth father. If there was contact with a birth parent, adopted children in the sample were far more likely to have contact with their birth mother compared with their birth father. White adopted children and adopted children of an "other" race were far more likely to have contact with their birth mother compared with their birth father. Children who lived in the home as a foster child prior to the adoption were far more likely to have contact with a birth parent. Older adopted children were far more likely to want to maintain contact with a birth parent. Adopted children who lived in the home as a foster child prior to the adoption were far less likely to want to maintain contact with a birth parent.
Adoptive Parents' Attitudes Toward Openness in Adoption Records
In the survey instrument adoptive parents were asked their opinions relating to a set of three questions regarding various aspects of the law covering a child's access to their adoption records (birth certificates). These questions were:
- Statement 1. NYS law should allow an adult adoptee to obtain a copy of his or her original birth certificate.
- Statement 2. At what age should an adopted person have access to his/her birth certificate?
- Statement 3. An adult adoptee's right to obtain an original birth certificate should be retroactive. In other words, all adult adoptees should have access regardless of when they were adopted.
In response to Statement 1, 83.7 percent of adopted parents and 72.6 percent of spouses/partners either agreed or strongly agreed that an adult adoptee should be able to obtain a copy of his/her original birth certificate. Only 8.8 percent of adoptive parents and 20.7 percent of spouses/partners disagreed or strongly disagreed with this statement. In response to Statement 2, 39.2 percent of adoptive parents and 31.6 percent of spouses/partners thought that access to birth certificates should be made available at age 18. The majority of both adoptive parents (44.3 percent) and spouses/partners (42.0 percent) thought that such access should be reserved until age 21. In response to Statement 3, 78.9 percent of adoptive parents and 66.0 percent of spouses/partners agreed that access to birth certificates should be retroactive.
In summary, the majority of adoptive parents thought that New York State law should allow an adoptee to obtain a copy of their original birth certificate, and that this access should be retroactive (access should be given regardless of when the child was adopted). The majority of adoptive parents thought that access to an original birth certificate should be restricted to a time when the adopted child has reached maturity (21 or older). African American adoptive parents and those who adopted their child through a public agency were, on average, more open to the concept of an adopted child having access to their birth records.
Using a summary measure of openness it was found that older adoptive parents were significantly more open to the concept of disclosure in adoption records. It was found that older, white (compared with African-American) and male spouses/partners were significantly more open to the concept of disclosure in adoption records. Furthermore, spouses/partners living in homes where the adopted child was white (compared with African American) or where the child had lived in the home as a foster child prior to the adoption, were significantly more open to the concept of disclosure in adoption records.
Dividing sample parents by gender, it was found that older female adoptive parents were significantly more open to the concept of disclosure in adoption records, and female adoptive parents were significantly more open to the concept of disclosure in adoption records, and female adoptive parents who had fostered their child prior to adoption were significantly less open to the concept of disclosure in adoption records. Male adoptive parents who had fostered their child prior to adoption, and those who had adopted a white child (compared with an African American child) were significantly less open to the concept of disclosure in adoption records.
Copies of the full report are available from the Coalition office for $15.00 (includes postage/handling).
Cornell University Press Release, January 30, 1997
Adoptive parents are overwhelmingly in favor of
opening sealed adoption records, Cornell study finds
ITHACA, NY - Parents of adopted children in New York are overwhelmingly in favor of laws that allow adult adoptees access to information in their birth certificates about their birth parents, according to a new Cornell University study.
"One major argument for keeping records sealed is to protect adoptive parents who might feel threatened if their adopted chidlren knew more about their birthparents," said Rosemary Avery, Cornell associate professor of consumer economics and housing and a specialist in family policy and foster care.
"Yet, these results indicate there is no justification for keeping such information from adult adoptees, especially non-identifying information, and there is no reason to believe that New York state adoptive parents are any different than those in any other states: they are overwhelmingly supportive of opening sealed adoption records," Avery said.
As more adult adoptees pressure state legislatures to open sealed adoption records on the grounds that they are unconstitutional and important for healthy psychological development, Avery set out to determine how adoptive parents felt about the potential legislative changes and how common open adoptions were in the sample.
She surveyed 1,274 adoptive parents in 743 adoptive homes in New York. The study, which is the first intensive study on this issue in New York, based its findings on a diverse sample of parents who lived in rural and urban areas, adopted through public and private agencies and adopted children of various ages.
Among the findings:
- Adoptive mothers were more in favor of opening adoptive records than fathers: 83 percent of adoptive mothers and 73 percent of adoptive fathers felt that adult adoptees should be able to obtain a copy of their birth certificates; only 9 percent of adoptive mothers and 11 percent of adoptive fathers felt they should not have access.
- 78 percent of adoptive mothers and 66 percent of adoptive fathers felt that all adult adoptees should have the right to obtain an origianl birth certificate, regardless of when they were adopted.
- About 17 percent of the adopted children in the study had some contact with their birth mothers compared with 7 percent having some contact with their birth fathers. Of those, about half have actually seen their birth mothers and half have met their birth fathers.
- white adopted children and "other" race children are far more likely to have contact with their birth parents than black/African American children.
- Chidlren adopted by more educated parents were far less likely to have nay contact with a birth parent.
- Older adoptive mothers were more in favor of opening adoption records whiole white adoptive fathers, and adoptive parents with prior experience with fostering or adoption were less in favor of opening adoption records.