Study panel to hear proposal to open adoption records

Whether some 350,000 adopted people born between 1941 and 1993 should be allowed access to their birth certificates – and knowledge of who their biological parents are – will be considered Tuesday by a legislative study panel.

The Interim Study Committee on Courts and the Judiciary will meet at 1 p.m. Tuesday to consider a proposal that sailed through the Senate this year but stalled  after Gov. Mike Pence’s administration raised objections.

Hoosiers for Equal Access to Records and other groups backed a bill championed by Sen. Brent Steele, R-Bedford, who also chairs the interim study committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill would have provided the same access to birth certificates as is available to people born in 1994 or later.

Steele said he was motivated to draft the legislation after hearing compelling stories such as those from people who learned of biological parents’ genetic medical conditions and sought lifesaving treatment as a result. Supporters say there’s no reason they should be deprived of knowing where they came from.

But those who oppose opening the records say birth mothers may be living with shame and guilt of secretly placing a child for adoption decades ago. In some cases, opponents say, implicit promises of a birth mother’s confidentiality was provided.

Under current law, Hoosier adoptees born between 1941 and 1993 who wish to gain access to their birth records may do so through the use of confidential intermediaries. But critics say that process can be costly, time-consuming and fruitless if a birth mother declines to consent.

Senate Bill 352, introduced earlier this year, sought to address this concern by providing birth mothers who placed a child for adoption the ability to sign a no-contact form. Advocates say that in states where adoption records have been opened, only about 0.1 percent of birth mothers have filed no-contact forms.

Also Tuesday, the study committee is expected to discuss preliminary drafts, recommendations and a final report. The committee also discussed proposed medical malpractice reforms including raising the cap on damages from the current limit of $1.25 million and potential reform of medical review panels.