Opening court records to adoptees and first parents

Oregon Capitol Building, Salem

While legislators elsewhere debate whether to allow adoptees access to their original birth certificates (OBC), Oregon is moving ahead with legislation which would allow adult adoptees to learn the details of their adoption and make it easier for first parents to learn the adoptive name of their child and the names of the adoptive parents.

This is a first in the country. While Washington State, New York, Ohio consider bills to give adoptees their original birth certificates, this goes farther in giving both adoptees and birth parents information about one of the most pivotal and life-altering events, information that the state previously deemed off-limits, even though it was about one's self.