[lit-ideas] New Canadian Adoption Legislation
- From: "Erin Holder" <erin.holder@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 8 Jun 2005 09:50:19 -0400
"Giving me my birth information and giving my birth parents my adult name are
two totally separate issues that need not be linked in this bill," he said.
* While this guy seems slightly neurotic I have to say that I agree with him on
this point. There would certainly be reason for an adopted child to want
biological information - especially when it comes to biological medical
history. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that easier access to biological
medical history is the only amendment that adoption legislation requires. This
is important information - knowledge of what sorts of medical problems run in
one's biological history. The only reason, however, that a biological parent
could want information on their adopted child, after all these years, is sheer
curiosity. Frankly, to release to that individual such information simply
because "they're curious" is a load of crap.
Erin
TO
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http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=de9954e4-7564-4861-96c3-3cffd8612f98
A proposal to radically revamp adoption laws in Ontario has renewed a
passionate debate across the country over what should happen when the right of
an adopted child to know where she came from collides with the right to privacy
of the birth parents. Today and tomorrow, the National Post examines the state
of adoption in Canada, from the battle over access to birth records to the
story of one young woman who was asked by friends why she didn't have an
abortion instead of giving her baby up for adoption.
- - -
Denbigh Patton doesn't know what would happen if the woman who gave birth to
him found out his name. Adopted as an infant more than 40 years ago, the
Toronto resident does not know who she is and, for the time being, does not
care to.
And, as he and lawyer Clayton Ruby fight to prevent the passage of Ontario's
new adoption legislation, which would open records to birth parents and
adoptees, he believes his right to privacy trumps the interests of a woman who
gave him up when she was just a teenager.
"She is unknown to me and at this moment, I don't choose to change that," he
said. "And yet the government is determined to release my name to my birth
mother when she chooses -- and not when I choose."
Under the proposed legislation, the Child and Family Services Act and the Vital
Statistics Act would be amended to allow both adoptees and their birth parents
to access adoption files containing names, medical records and other personal
information.
Mr. Patton says the majority of adoptees want this information and all of them
deserve to have it, but they should not have to give up their anonymity in
exchange.
"Giving me my birth information and giving my birth parents my adult name are
two totally separate issues that need not be linked in this bill," he said.
"They are not linked by principle, they are not linked by logic."
Mr. Patton has not sought access to adoption files that hold the particulars of
his birth, names of his parents and a medical history that could have an impact
on his future.
He may request them some day if he decides it's necessary to fill in the
blanks, but he says no one else has the right to dictate their release.
"It was not my choice to be adopted. I had no say," he said. "But now that I am
an adult, there is no excuse for making these decisions on my behalf. The
government may not give out my name. Period."
He compared the opening of adoption records to the dissemination of an
individual's HIV status, health records or sexual orientation.
Mr. Patton is willing to have his lawyer defend that argument all the way to
the Supreme Court, if necessary.
Proponents of the change argue that individual adoptees like Mr. Patton will be
protected by a no-contact clause, which would allow him to specify that he does
not want his birth mother to contact him, and slap her with a $50,000 fine if
she does.
It is an argument that provides him no comfort.
"The disclosure is the harm," he says.
"I cannot stop her from talking about me to you. I cannot stop her from
Googling me," he said. "I cannot stop her from driving past my house or
photographing my children on the playground."
He has not ruled out making contact with his birth mother, although he does not
believe he will.
And he does not know what would happen if she decided to make contact with him.
"The most honest answer to the question of how will it affect me," he said, "is
that I have no idea."
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