Wrongly worded NYS law unintentionally excludes adopted adults from original vital records, advocates say
The president of the National Council for Adoption says the law was mistakenly worded as “adopted children” instead of “adoptees.”
Adoption advocates are calling on New York lawmakers to pass a bill that would change the wording of a state public health law that’s supposed to give people who are adopted access to their own vital records.
Ryan Hanlon, the president of the National Council for Adoption, says the law was mistakenly worded as “adopted children” instead of “adoptees.” He says because of that, New York will only give adopted children under the age of 18 access to their original, state-issued birth certificate.
“We all need birth certificates at certain times and they’re being told you can’t do this because you’re not a child and they have no recourse. There’s nowhere else they can go. If you’re 18 years or older, you can’t go get a birth certificate the way you could when you were 17 years and 364 days old,” Hanlon says.
Bills S-3765 and A-1944 to amend the wording was introduced in the Assembly and Senate almost two years ago, according to Hanlon.
Advocates are hoping lawmakers will pass it this legislative session.
“We are simply saying let’s go back. Let’s make this right. There are people that are impacted. Let’s give them an opportunity to actually get their birth certificate,” says Hanlon.
Gov. Kathy Hochul will review the legislation if it passes both houses of the Legislature.
