(Springfield) On March 13, 2008, The Illinois House Adoption Reform Committee approved legislation, 8-1, that enables Illinois adult adoptees to obtain copies of their original birth certificates.

The measure, HB 4623 sponsored by State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago) provides for unfettered access to the original birth certificate for adopted persons born before January 1, 1946. Adoptees born after January 1, 1946, will have to wait until April 1, 2009.

 

Since 1947, original birth certificates of adopted persons have been sealed under Illinois law and available to adult adoptees only via court order or in cases where the adoptee is matched with a biological relative on the Illinois Adoption Registry and Medical Information Exchange. 

Feigenholtz’s legislation, HB 4623, would undo the 1947 law.

“The right to one’s own identity is a basic and unalienable human right,” said Feigenholtz. “Existing Illinois law robs tens of thousands of Illinois adults of the right to know who they are.”

 

The legislation now moves to the full House for consideration.