The following is an email message posted to the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) Public Records Access Monitoring Committee mailing list and is republished here with permission:

Many states have changed their adoption records access laws over the past decade.  However, Senate Bill 331/House Bill 999 (http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2021RS/bills/sb/sb0331F.pdf) in Maryland which would have allowed adult adoptees 18 years and older unrestricted access to their original birth certificates and adoption records without a court order failed in the Maryland Senate by a vote of 16 for and 31 opposed. The bill would also have changed the “disclosure veto” option into a “contact preference form,” in which a biological parent or adoptee can state whether they prefer to be contacted or not. It had received a favorable report by Judicial Proceedings.

The American Adoption Congress has a chart of access with or without restrictions for adult adoptees access of their original birth certificates at: https://americanadoptioncongress.org/state.php

To read more see: https://www.marylandmatters.org/2021/03/30/bill-that-wouldve-granted-adoptees-access-to-birth-certificates-fails-on-senate-floor/

Jan Meisels Allen

Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee