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NCJFCJ Endorses Levin Adoption Reunion Registry
The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges [NCJFCJ],
Permanency Planning Advisory Committee, unanimously adopted a resolution
supporting a voluntary national adoption reunion registry at its Spring
meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota [see resolution, below].
Founded in 1937, the National Council in Reno, Nevada, is the oldest
and largest national judicial membership dedicated to improving standards
and effectiveness of the national’s juvenile and family courts and is
a leader in providing training for judges and court personnel. This
unanimous endorsement by the NCJFCJ is especially significant because
its membership is comprised of those members of the judiciary most familiar
with adoption-related matters.
In a letter to Senator Carl Levin, author of the national voluntary
adoption registry, Judge J. Anderegg states:
"I believe a voluntary national registry is an excellent idea.
As a judge who has presided over adoption cases for more than 22 years,
I have seen significant changes in attitudes toward openness in adoptions.
I have also experienced a change in my own beliefs about how much information
should be available. When I became a judge in 1977, I believe that I
was making a commitment to releasing birth parents that I would keep
their identities confidential unless there was a compelling reason to
disclose information, and that if disclosed, I would disclose information
in as limited a way as possible.
I have come to understand how deeply some adoptees feel the need for
information about their birth families, and I have also learned that
most adoptive parents support and encourage their children’s search
for information, rather than feeling dismayed or betrayed by it.
I believe the national voluntary registry is a good idea for a number
of reasons:
- it is the only way to locate members of birth families who live
or were adopted in different states
- since it is voluntary, it does not require me to break those promises
of confidentiality I made so long ago
- it does, however, allow members of birth families an ongoing opportunity
to change their minds about confidentiality as their attitudes are
impacted and changed by life experiences.
- it puts all birth parents and adoptees on an equal footing, unlike
our current Michigan statute, which allows greater openness in adoptions
finalized after 1980
- it also allows people access to this important information who are
unable to afford the expense of hiring a private investigator or some
other expensive alternative
Thank you for your leadership on this important issue.
Sincerely yours,
Michael J. Anderegg
Probate Judge/Presiding Judge
Family Division, Circuit Court"
The voluntary mutual consent legislation, which has been introduced
by Senator Levin in previous sessions of Congress, is pending introduction
this year. For additional information, please contact Jackie Parker,
Senior Legislative Assistant, at 202/224-6221.
RESOLUTION SUPPORTING
A VOLUNTARY NATIONAL REGISTRY
[Unanimously adopted, March 20, 1999]
WHEREAS, for a variety of reasons, many adoptees are attempting to
locate and contact their birth parents; and
WHEREAS, some adoptees are seeking vital medical information which
may affect their own mental and physical health, and some are seeking
a deeper sense of identity or knowledge about their roots that may have
an impact on momentous family decisions;
WHEREAS, some birth parents who released children for adoption may
want to be available to these adult adoptees, should they desire to
make contact;
WHEREAS, many of these birth relatives who currently seek to find each
other are now elderly individuals;
WHEREAS, in the absence of a national voluntary registry, it is extremely
difficult, emotionally and financially, for adult adoptees and birth
parents to make contact with each other;
WHEREAS, a national registry is a humane and uncomplicated way in which
to facilitate the voluntary and consensual desire for contact between
adult birth relatives;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED,
That the Permanency Planning Advisory Committee of the National Council
of Juvenile and Family Court Judges supports the establishment of a
national registry which would allow adult adoptees and birth parents
to voluntarily and mutually make contact with one another. The Permanency
Planning Advisory Committee endorses this concept as a low-cost, accessible
and effective tool to allow reunions among birth families who desire
to know one another.
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