Lost birth certificate

On June 2, 2000, the Oregon Health Division (since renamed Oregon Health Services) implemented a citizen-initiated ballot measure that grants adult adoptees access to their sealed birth records, which contain the names and identifying information of their birth parents. At the time of a child's adoption, the original birth certificate is sealed and the child is issued a new certificate identical to the original except that the adoptive parents' information replaces that of the birth parents. Prior to June 2, 2000, the sealed, pre-adoption birth records were accessible to Oregon adoptees only through a court order. However, these records can now be requested and obtained by all adoptees [greater than or equal to] 21 years of age through the same procedures and fees that apply to non-adopted Oregonians.

This change is the result of a movement led by adoptees and supporters to gain equal access to pre-adoption birth records. Advocates collected signatures and qualified for a ballot measure to be included in the November 3, 1998, statewide elections. Ballot Measure 58 passed 57% to 43%, but on December 1, 1998, two days before the new law was due to go into effect, a group of "Jane Doe" birth mothers filed suit. They argued that opening the birth records would violate their right to privacy and break promises of confidentiality given to them when they placed their children for adoption.

The court ordered an injunction, delaying implementation of Measure 58 until the lawsuit could be settled. At the same time, the Oregon Health Division's vital records section began to accept adoptees' requests for their pre-adoption birth records with the agreement that the requests would be processed in the order they were received if and when the injunction was lifted.

The birth mothers lost the suit and subsequent appeals, up to the State Supreme Court. Consequently, in accordance with the new law, on June 2, 2000, the vital records section issued its first batch of pre-adoption birth records to adoptees. By this time there was a backlog of 2,593 record requests waiting to be processed. As of September 2000, the backlogged requests were filled, and Oregon adoptees are currently able to obtain their pre-adoption birth records shortly after submitting their request.

An evaluation of the impact of releasing these records was imperative since this issue was vigorously debated, represented a major change in the handling of vital records, and required a substantial expenditure of health department resources and because other states are considering similar legislation. The objectives of the evaluation were to describe the adoptees who obtained their records in terms of: (a) the characteristics of this population, (b) the information they obtained, (c) their motivations and expectations, (d) and whether they found the information useful.

METHODS

Sampling design

The data collection period for this survey was September 20, 2000, to September 29, 2000. Study participants were identified through random sampling of birth record request forms submitted to the Oregon Health Division's vital records section. The record request forms were stored in filing cabinets in order of the date submitted. Sampling was conducted in rounds such that one record was selected from every inch along each drawer during each round. Each sampling round resulted in the selection of approximately 50 records. Once interview attempts had been made for all adoptees sampled in one round, the next round was selected. Information on the front of the page was not visible to the individuals selecting the records. Sampling continued in this manner until the data collection period closed.

To ensure that the adoptees had some time (at least two months) to make use of the information, only adoptees whose birth records were sent to them before July 20, 2000, were eligible. Sampled requests were paired with their corresponding pre-adoption birth records and post-adoption birth certificates based on file numbers and verified using dates of birth. Phone numbers were available from the record request forms.

Exclusions

Adoptees raised by one birth parent and a step-parent were ineligible because their motivations and experiences would differ importantly from those raised by two adoptive parents. To facilitate the interview process, adoptees were also ineligible if a legal representative rather than the adoptee him/herself submitted the birth record request or they were currently living outside the U.S.

Data collection

Data were collected through record abstraction and telephone surveys. Abstraction of the record request form, pre-adoption birth record, and post-adoption birth certificate for the entire random sample was performed to collect demographic data and to estimate the percentage of records that were missing data. For each adoptee sampled, year of birth and the presence/absence of each of the following pieces of information was recorded: birth mother's name, age, race, address, and birth state; birth father's name, age, race, and birth state.

Additional demographic data, educational level and current state of residence, were collected from telephone survey participants. Data describing the adoptees' expectations and motivations and the usefulness of the birth records were also collected via telephone survey. The telephone survey instrument was developed with input from Oregon Department of Human Services vital records section staff. The first 15 interviews served as a pilot test of the questionnaire, which was modified slightly based on the responses of these 15 adoptees and the impressions of the interviewer.

To measure expectations, survey participants were asked, "Was there information that you were expecting to get that you did not get?" If they answered yes, up to three pieces of expected information were recorded. Participants were also asked, "Was there information on your birth records that you were not expecting to get?" Participants were also asked if overall the birth records contained more information than they expected, less than they expected, or about what they expected.

Survey participants were asked an open-ended question about their motivations, "Overall, what was your primary reason for requesting your birth record?" Many of their reasons had been anticipated through pilot testing and discussions with the vital records section staff--e.g., to find birth parents or to get medical information. Survey participants were then asked a yes/no question to indicate whether each anticipated reason was "part" of their motivation for requesting their birth record.

To determine the usefulness of the records, participants were asked to what extent their records helped them to accomplish their primary motivation: "a lot," "some," "a little," or "not at all." Overall usefulness of the record was assessed with: "Overall, would you say that the information on your birth record was `very useful,' `somewhat useful,' `a little useful,' or `not at all useful'?"

Usefulness was also assessed through a series of yes/no questions that allowed for estimation of the probability of adoptees finding their birth parents. These questions extracted: (a) whether the respondent had already found their birth parent before requesting their birth record, and if not, (b) whether they tried to find their birth parent after they received their birth record, and if so, (c) whether they found their birth parent using the birth record, and if so, (d) whether they contacted their newly found birth parent. Separate sets of questions addressed birth mothers and fathers. Additional questions, posed to adoptees who reported having contacted a newly found birth parent, addressed whether they asked their birth parent for medical information, if they were given useful medical information, and the quality of their initial interaction.

Finally, telephone survey participants were asked whether getting their birth record was "very important," "somewhat important," or "not at all important" to them.

Data security and confidentiality

To ensure confidentiality, no personal identifiers were recorded on the record abstraction sheet or the telephone survey form. Much of the data abstracted from the pre-adoption birth record and the post-adoption birth certificate were recorded as simply present or missing (including birth mothers' names and state of residence). Other data were collapsed into categories so that the information was not specific to individual adoptees. During the telephone survey, personal identifiers, such as names, addresses, and phone numbers, were not collected. Once the abstraction and interview were complete, the birth records, which contained personal identifiers, were separated from the abstraction sheet and/or survey forms. Thus, it was no longer possible to link a record abstraction sheet or telephone survey form with an adoptee, their birth parents, or their adoptive parents.

RESULTS