There are a lot of reasons given for why some Ohio adoptees can’t have access to their original birth certificates. Of the three different groups of adoptees in Ohio, the largest is those adopted between 1964 and 1996. Ohioans who wanted to protect adoptees started the drive to limit access to adult adoptees.  However, the following quote from former Hamilton County state representative, Edward C. Schumacher, clarifies his reasons as a [1]key sponsor of House Bill – 202. This bill sealed the original birth records for Ohioan’s adopted in 1964 up until the law was amended in 1996.

From August 1987 issue of “Cincinnati Magazine”  -   “My law closes the book on background which is the way it should be handled. My law gives the child a clear slate. Parents start right away providing the child with the necessary guidance and direction. They don’t have to waste time on heredity.

It’s advisable for children not to know if they are adopted. If they knew they would be seeking to find out why they do certain things. If a kid knows he’s adopted, he has a crutch. ‘Oh that’s not my fault, he’ll say, ‘that’s my family’s fault.’ I closed the book because knowing is not going to change a thing.

This law gives laws gives the child an opportunity to start some place as if that were the day he was born. It’s better for society and the child if he doesn’t know he’s adopted. If told, it forever creates a yearning. They just start asking a lot of questions.”

All the justifications for closed records given by anyone, from privacy to reducing abortions, are ALL fabrications! They were invented by folks with irrelevant and misguided agendas that were developed after the fact! Are you indignant at this loss of a civil right that most take for granted? If not, why not? Laws based on such claptrap must be changed now. Every other citizen of Ohio is guaranteed access to their own birth records, adult adoptees deserve the same.