Hey, Minnesotans! Do This One Thing

Adopted people in Minnesota and across the country face significant barriers to secure a basic thing: legal proof of their own adoptions. And with proof of an adoption at issue for voting rights, US citizenship, and identification, this must change. Here’s what you can do in Minnesota to make that happen.

TLDR;

Contact your Minnesota state House representative (I make it easy here) to request their sponsorship and support for SF4382, which does one thing: allows an adult adopted person to request and obtain a certified copy of their own adoption decree. That’s it. Read on if you want more information about SF4382 and what it does.

About SF4382

Minnesota Senator Erin Maye Quade recently introduced SF4382, which does one simple and absolutely necessary thing: provides the right of an adult adopted person and that person’s adoptive parents to request and obtain a certified copy of the court’s adoption decree. That’s it. Sounds reasonable, right? Of course it is, but it’s not just reasonable, it’s necessary. Here’s some background, as well as the why:

• Complex and Unnecessary Secrecy. Minnesota law currently requires that ALL state court adoption records remain sealed and secret. Minnesota was actually the first state in the US to do this, in 1917. But that secrecy has hurt adopted people and their families for generations, making the ability to show and prove your own adoption subject to the whims of a judge. With 87 different counties in Minnesota—and nearly 300 district court judges—you may not be able to get your own decree. Or it’s expensive to do so. Or it’s confusing ad complicated, with the need to complete a formal court petition, pay a court filing fee, and hope that the judge understands your request and grants it (even as an attorney for my clients, I’ve been denied the release of a client’s adoption decree in a few cases).
  
• US Citizenship for Intercountry Adoptees. Children born outside of the United States and adopted by US citizens in many cases require a finalized adoption in state court—in order to obtain US citizenship. Accordingly, a certified copy of a Minnesota state court’s final adoption decree is necessary to prove 1) that you are a US citizen and 2) you have the right to a US passport or a Certificate of Citizenship. Without a certified copy of the adoption decree, you can be denied these critical documents—even though by law you are a US citizen! That’s nuts, and it limits many intercountry adoptees from participating in all facets of life in the US—as US citizens. More significantly, Minnesota has the largest concentration of intercountry adoptees nearly anywhere in the world. That’s a big deal. But a terrible deal at that. We can fix it by enacting SF4382.
  
• US Passports and Voting Rights. Many adopted people, including many who were born in the United States, are denied US passports because the birth record issued after an adoption was filed more than a year after their births. One way to resolve that issue is to provide a certified copy of the adoption decree, which would show why a birth certificate was issued later in the child’s life, perhaps years after birth but shortly after an adoption. Same goes for voting rights, as a few states and now the US congress are pushing for strict proof of US citizenship in order to vote or to register to vote. For the same reason an adoptee may need a certified copy of the adoption decree for a US passport, they may also need it to prove they are who they are—the person with a name given to them years after their births.

Do It!

Contact your Minnesota state House representative. Here’s how, and what to say. I’ve also provided a list of state representatives below, along with their contact information. Why only the House? Because we have support for now in the Senate.

Dear Rep. [Last Name]:

I am a constituent in your district who lives in [your town]. I ask that you support SF4382 and/or sponsor a House version of the bill. The bill does one simple thing, which is important to me and my family: it allows an adult adopted person and that persons’ adoptive parents to request and obtain a certified copy of the adoption decree from the Minnesota court that finalized the adoption. This is important for a lot of reasons, but especially to make it easier for adoptees to get proof of their own adoptions without having to petition a district court and convince the court to release it. Without a certified copy of the decree, many intercountry adoptees cannot secure US citizenship. Adoptees, even those born in the United States, also have issues securing US passports or qualifying to vote without a certified copy of the adoption decree.

I ask for your support on this important legislation. Please let me know your position on SF4382 and if you will support and/or sponsor a House version.

House Representatives: Contact Information