OBC means Original Birth Certificate...
... and I don't have one. That is, I do - but it's sealed in Sacramento and - by law - I am not allowed to have it. What I do have is an AMENDED birth certificate and nearly everything on it is false. It doesn't even look like a real birth certificate. I wonder if my birth-date is a lie... hmmm - that would mean that my natal chart is all wrong, too - but that might actually explain a few things.
What a crummy and creepy and totally UNFAIR law. I want my original birth certificate. It's mine and I want what's rightfully and morally mine. Maybe my mother (Nancee) named me and if she did I'd really like to know what name she chose for me - I really, really would. Really. That document is not, as too many people seem to think "... just a piece of paper." The last time I heard that it was from the mouth of a PAP. Actually, it was from the keyboard of a PAP but it amounts to the same thing. (PAP is adoption-speak for prospective adoptive parent.) What an insensitive, outrageously insulting and demeaning thing to say to an adoptee. "Just a piece of paper..." indeed. Just one more erasure of identity.
I should have started this particular leg of my journey years ago, before my father died. As an attorney he knew judges - and a judge will have to be the one to grant me access to my OBC. Hmmm… now let me think. Who do I know of my dad's friends and colleagues who are A): still alive... B): still on the bench... and C): adoptee-friendly. Wow - that's a tough one. I don't think there's anyone - not anymore.
But in any case - why should I be reduced to even thinking about pulling strings or asking for favors when everyone else who was born in this country but who was NOT adopted can get their own - their one and only - birth certificate?? WHY am I denied this? To protect me? FROM WHAT? FROM WHOM? I know all the names that should be on it anyway - except mine. Everyone who could possibly be "hurt" by my having my Original Birth Certificate is now dead - except me.
Labels: adoption, OBC, open records
posted by Deborah (Rykoff) Bennett @ 11:55 PM
10 Comments:
ABSOLUTLY!! AND I WANT MINE TOO!!! I'M GOING TO GET IT!! YES I AM!! WE ALL WILL, IT WILL BE IN OUR LIFETIMES AND ANYONE WHO FEELS DIFFERENTLY, SHOULD JUST STEP ASIDE BECAUSE WE HAVE A NEW ARMY COMING THROUGH, READY TO TAKE ON THE LAWS, THE INDUSTRY AND THE SEALED RECORDS ADVOCATES!! STEP ASIDE, THE REST WILL BE HISTORY!!
That absolutely fucking sucks. I wish I could snap my fingers and pull some strings for you and get it for you. You deserve that basic right just as everyone else does.
This is absolutely ludicrous that my children, who are now 50 and 48 years old, cannot get their original birth certificates in GA. My 2nd husband adopted them, and the birth certificates were changed to reflect their new names and his name as birth parent. We are now divorced. Can anyone out there help me figure out a way to get the sealed birth certificates and have the names changed/removed and re-add the birth father?
By the way, anyone using this site should watch their foul language!
SirBen52@aol.com
As an adoptee who was born in GA, I have tried to obtain the original birth certificate without success. I have been told by Dept of Vital Records that it can be released with a court order setting aside the adoption, but I have not pursued that. If someone figures out how it can be done I'd appreciate some info. huddleston@ftc-i.net
Doing some research there is a form that can be filled out through the probate court that an adult adopted person can request that the original sealed birth certificate be released. I am in the process this week to find the form to request this seal to be unsealed. I am the mother of the children that were adopted, however my situation is alittle different because my parents adopted my 2 and I have been in their lives the entire time. So try to find this form from the probate court.
My sons (adopted from Guatemala as infants) are blessed by having copies of their original Guatemalan birth certificates. Granted, this doesn't help much from the medical standpoint, medical records being few and far between down there, but until I read your perspective, I didn't realize what a gift my kids have. I will continue to hope and pray that all adoptees get that same gift someday. You are absolutely right - it is much, much more than a piece of paper.
I am going to turn 54 years old in December of this year, 2008. I have been trying to get my original birth certificate since I was 18. Adopted parents have long passed away and still no use. Anything I can do, let me know. I would love to start up looking again.
Personally, I think you might have a better/easier time with a modern day judge than the "old fashioned" type.
Hope you get that OBC, I would KILL for mine -- and about a zillion court documents and transcripts from my adoption hearings where my birth parents were actually present! Even if I would "find them hurtful" it is still a piece of MY history - that as an adult, I feel I have every right to know!
You absolutely should have your rights and now, yesterday, always.Hopefully South Dakota voted the right way yesterday, one more making it 5, am I right? The only way is going to be by pressure and activism.I believe your Constitution says something about rights for all and Federal legislation I'm informed by another blogger may be the way through.
Here in Oz we have our rights and are so behind you all.Good wishes.
At age 68 I learned that I had been adopted. What else I learned was that my wonderful Christian parents lied through their teeth at every turn. At 18 yrs of age my 'Mother' forced me to return home every weekend...charging me $10.00 to come and get me; forced me to clean her entire house while she and my sister???..went shopping and visiting. All against my will. (White slavory) Then at their death I received extrememly little. my wonderful Christian Baptist sister took my share along with hers. And gave her two sons the amount my dead brother's heirs should have received. I'm angry, you bet. Esp. since the authorities want me to pay them $3,000.00 to open the sealed adotion papers.
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