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Committee passes bill that would allow access to original birth certificates

January 31, 2000
By: Francine Krantz
State Capital Bureau

A House committee has passed a bill that would give adult adoptees easier access to their original birth records. Francine Krantz has the story from Jefferson City.

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The House Children and Families Committee has approved a bill that would give adoptees over the age of 18 access to their original birth certificates.

Under Missouri law adoptees can't get the original certificates without a court order. That's because the names of the biological parents are listed on the document.

St. Joseph representative Glenda Kelly introduced the bill and says she does not want to completely open adoption records.

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Contents: Kelly says the issue is a civil rights issue because everybody in the United States except adult adoptees can get their birth certificates.

Only three members of the committee opposed Kelly's proposal. They said they think it was written too broadly. From the State Capitol, I'm Francine Krantz.

At least one lawmaker says she does not support a proposal to give adopted children easier access to their birth records. Francine Krantz has the story from Jefferson City.

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Republican representative Luann Ridgeway says she opposes a bill that would give adoptees over the age of 18 access to their original birth certificates.

The House Children and Families Committee decided to pass the bill after hearing positive testimony from both birth mothers and adoptees.

But Ridgeway says at least two judges in her district have already voiced strong concern over the bill's wording.

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Contents: She says she's convinced the bill violates the privacy of the birth mother as well as the birth father.

St. Joseph representative Glenda Kelly sponsored the bill and says that most of the people she has talked with support the legislation. From the state capitol, I'm Francine Krantz.