In a February 25, 2013 letter published in the Hartford Courant, Paul Schibbelhute, a legislative adviser to Access Connecticut, an advocacy group for adult adoptees, questions proposed Connecticut Senate Bill SB 59.
Schibbelhute writes that the bill, “presently in Public Health Committee is an opportunity for Connecticut to join New Hampshire, Maine and Rhode Island as states that have restored the “human right” for all adult adoptees born in these states to obtain their original birth certificates (OBC).”
According to Schibbelhute’s letter, the bill would “deny all adoptees born before June 1, 2014, (the proposed effective date of the bill) the right to obtain their OBCs.” There is nothing equal or human about the bill as written. It will do nothing for the thousands of adult adoptees now seeking their OBC’s.
Tiff_ku1/Flickr.com
As I see it, it is a band-aid, meant to shut up the whining masses of adoptees who have the gall to request a document that every non-adopted American has access to. Bill SB 59 is a lame attempt by Connecticut officials to address the issue of equal access without rocking the moral boat of the scaredy cats who believe more in the privacy rights of birth mothers, than in the human rights of adoptees.
Senate Bill SB 59 as presented, blows a lot of smoke, but fails to flame any real change in the Connecticut movement for equal access to OBCs.
If you believe that Connecticut adoptees deserve equal access to their Original Birth Certificates (OBCs) – get involved today. Contact information for the grass roots group Access Connecticut is available on its contact page.
You can read about the Bill and track its progress here.
Blessings for equal access laws that make a real difference!
Vicki-lynn
V.L. Brunskill 
Hi, I have the laws for ct. from back in 1990. Adoptees could request a copy of their birth cert. and get it. Why aren’t those being reinstated. Those people at that time, were not sealed.
Not sure, I hope that someone with more knowledge on current Connecticut law will comment. In the meantime, I’ll see what I can find.
Adoption Rights Coalition from 1991 states that the OBC’s are sealed. http://www.adopteerightscoalition.com/2001/02/connecticut-adoptions-and-obc-access.html#uds-search-results
I also searched the state statutes at childwelfare.com, https://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/laws_policies/state/index.cfm?event=stateStatutes.processSearch
That page says-
Access to Original Birth Certificate
Citation: Ann. Stat. § 7-53
Any person seeking to examine or obtain a copy of the original birth certificate must obtain a written order from the court in the jurisdiction in which the adopted person was adopted or born. The court will determine that the examination or issuance of a copy of the birth certificate of the adopted person by the adopting parents or the adopted person, if older than age 18, or by any other person will not be detrimental to the public interest or to the welfare of the adopted person or the birth or adoptive parents.
Anyone else have any clarification? Please post a comment.
Before 1991 they were not sealed.!