Adoptee Rights Law Center

Legal representation and advocacy for adult adopted people

Gregory D. Luce

The Truth About Florida

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The truth about Florida is this: no OBC access bill will get through the Florida legislature this session without legislators adding crippling and discriminatory restrictions. Ask questions. But insist on true answers.

What You (Don’t) Get in Pennsylvania

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Far from a copy of an original birth certificate, the document Pennsylvania adoptees actually receive today is so disappointing as to be laughable.

Fact-Checking Florida HB357

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When you fact-check claims of anonymous people who tell adoptees to swallow inequality, the decision is easy. No to HB357. It’s yet another disaster.

Donate DNA Kits for #AdopteeRightsAwareness

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I want to do two things in November: 1) celebrate my birthday; and 2) help adoptees who cannot afford DNA test kits. Come celebrate with us.

When Something is Nothing and Nothing is Something

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Florida’s HB357 creates an inequitable two-class system of OBC access that requires a forty year period to pass after an adoption before most adoptees can obtain original birth certificates upon request.

What’s at Stake: Florida

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If proposed legislation in Florida does not preserve a clean and unrestricted right to an OBC, then it will strip away rights from those who have already held them for decades.

Let’s Do Some New York Math

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I preface this by saying, “My God, New York legislators, did you not even think to determine the financial impact of this terrible bill?”

New York’s Bad Bill

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With questions about New York’s not-an-OBC access bill, I thought I’d set out what the bill actually does—or actually fails to do for adoptee rights.

Bastards in the Room

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It is through the emptiness of an answer that we sometimes obtain the truth.

What’s an Original Birth Certificate?

Most adopted persons know what an original birth certificate (OBC) is. Many non-adopted people do not. An original birth certificate is the initial birth certificate created shortly after a person's birth. For most people, it is their only birth certificate.

For persons born and adopted in the United States, a new or "amended" birth certificate replaces the OBC once the adoption is final. In addition to replacing the original, the names of the birth parents are also replaced with the names of the adoptive parents. Some states may also alter or omit additional information on a new certificate, including the adoptee's specific place of birth.

Depending on state law, an original birth certificate is sealed and remains unavailable to the adopted person, even when they become an adult. If you are not adopted, your original birth certificate is your only birth certificate---and it is always available to you upon request.