Disclosure Vetoes

I am going to be real with you, dear readers. In case that statement confuses you, by real I mean there is going to be some swearing involved. If a few four letter words of the milder variety offend you, consider this your trigger warning.

I had never heard of a disclosure veto until just this year. I was talking with another adopted person, who matter of factly mentioned that, if their parent had signed a disclosure veto, they would have been given an uncertified copy of their birth certificate with their parents names redacted.

From a supposedly open access state.

What the hell is a disclosure veto?

A Disclosure Veto is this tricky bullshit that legislators came up with in some states where adoptees have been magnanimously granted Open Access to our original birth documents. Certificates that should be considered a basic human right.

A Disclosure Veto is a mechanism whereby the persons parent may inform the state that they do not give permission for their identities to be revealed to their child.

The parents human rights supersede those of the adult offspring. By law.

And this feckery is considered part of OPEN ACCESS.

What can I say? Lawyers and politicians and the adoption industry are involved. Just taking peoples money and pretending the human rights of a portion of the population do not exist.

What’s even more baffling than this casual disregard for logic and respect for our humanity is that even people who have used DNA to determine their parents identities are still denied their documentation!

I could take copies of my DNA results, photos of my parents and extended family and a full family tree in to the records department and still be denied access.

The lunatics are running the asylum.

Am I angry? Absolutely. If you are not, you should be. I am fortunate in that I was born in a country that doesn’t play these cruel games with people. I know who my mother is from my birth certificate. I used DNA to figure out who my father was. You could say that I have no stake in this game, but you would be wrong. The game is one of Human and Civil Rights. It should matter to everyone.

I can come from my place of privilege, as someone who has access to her non-redacted adoption file and original birth certificate and insist that other adoptees be granted the same recognition of their humanity. If you are not an adoptee, you can come from your position as someone whose rights to their identity has always been recognized and advocate for reform.

Disclosure Vetos are wrong. They are inhumane. They are out-dated. They need to be done away with.

#NAAM#NAAM2021#Everymonth