You & Adoptee Rights. Do you have access to your OBC? If you do, have you gotten yours yet? What did that mean to you? If you haven't, what's stopping you? If you don't have access, how does that directly affect you (if at all)?
I know that having their OBC is a big deal for a lot of adoptees, but it’s not for me. Nor is it for any of the other adoptees that I know in real life. Maybe that’s a Canadian/American difference? I don’t really know. I don’t see my birth certificate as a lie, or a cover up. It is simply a matter of record of who I am. I am not Colleen Wilson, though that was my name for the first 6 weeks of my life.
I don’t often have to use my birth certificate for ID anymore, but if I did, I would not want it to somehow indicate on there that I had been adopted, something that I’ve seen some adoptees advocate for. Sharing whether or not I was adopted is something that I should have the choice to do, and not be something that was communicated every time I signed up for swimming lessons as a kid. I also don’t think that I would want/be able to use my original birth certificate, with my original name, as it is no longer valid.
Birth certificates are certainly an area of adoption that can be complicated, but I don’t think people should tie their identity into a government issued piece of paper.
3 comments:
I really appreciate your response to this question even though our feelings/opinions on this matter are not the same. Obviously not all adoptees think alike, about this or any other issue. I actually got along pretty well without my OBC, too. I've personally never had any difficulties with passports, or whatever, as some adoptees say. I decided to send for the copy of mine when I realized I could, in part out of appreciation for the adoptee rights advocates who made it possible for me to do so. Whether I wanted/needed it or not, I appreciated the fact that I could get it if I wanted it. And when I thought about it, I decided I wanted it just because it is a piece of my history.
In Canada I believe only BC and On adoptees have access...just in case you ever change your mind.
I don't advocate that the BC states adopted but in the states there are two forms - one long form that has details about your birth, weight, gestation age, illegitimate or not (not on their anymore), etc. The short form is the one used most often parents / date/place of birth/name etc - they don't have the wallet sized id version only.
What I would like to see is that the long form have two entries - the genetic parents / name; and legal parents / name - then only the legal parents / name would be shown on the short form - no one would know the person was adopted but it would be accurate.
To me the prohibition against the adoptees from accessing their own record of birth - that is what at the heart of it wrong.
My OBC has a disclaimer on the bottom that it is not the legal birth certificate on file so it could not be used for ID even though it is a raised seal certified copy.
I really appreciate reading your thoughts on this, and the reminder that there are myriad opinions on this issue.
How do you feel about the name Colleen? Does it resonate for you?
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