Bill Introduced to Grant Adoptees Access to their Pennsylvania Birth Records

The following excerpt is from an article published in the July 29, 2013 edition of ReadingEagle.com:

When Pennsylvania children are adopted, the state seals their original birth certificates and issues revised certificates that name the adoptive parents instead of the biological parents.

Those documents don’t even indicate that an adoption took place.

The state has not allowed adoptees to see their original birth certificates since 1985. But a bill introduced this year by state Rep. Kerry A. Benninghoff would grant that right to adult adoptees born in Pennsylvania.

Before introducing the bill, the Centre County Republican sent a memo to House members listing several reasons adoptees might want to access their birth records.

Some want to establish relationships with their birth families or seek information about their medical history, according to Benninghoff. Others are interested in discovering their ancestral roots.

Read the full article.

About Leland Meitzler

Leland K. Meitzler founded Heritage Quest in 1985, and has worked as Managing Editor of both Heritage Quest Magazine and The Genealogical Helper. He currently operates Family Roots Publishing Company (www.FamilyRootsPublishing.com), writes daily at GenealogyBlog.com, writes the weekly Genealogy Newsline, conducts the annual Salt Lake Christmas Tour to the Family History Library, and speaks nationally, having given over 2000 lectures since 1983.

One Reply to “Bill Introduced to Grant Adoptees Access to their Pennsylvania Birth Records”

  1. I believe that all people have the right to know who they are, and with the use of DNA, in time genes will find you out anyway, the only reason for sealed birth records is for the feelings of the parents, not the child.

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