I first published a short history of adoptee rights in Florida in September 2017, and later offered a broader and more extensive printable report. The report, which has now been updated for 2021, remains freely available here, and it is also embedded below.
Florida: A Brief History of Adoptee Rights, covers the beginning of Florida adoption law in 1885 and provides a comprehensive timeline showing how Florida adoptees had an unrestricted right to obtain their own original birth certificates until June 30, 1977. Because the 1977 law that restricted that right was not made expressly retroactive, adult adoptees who were adopted prior to June 30, 1977, may have current legal rights to request and obtain their own OBCs. The report, with its timeline, discussion, and links to Florida statutes and caselaw, discusses and highlights this issue.
I will continue to add reports on other issues and states, and will have a more comprehensive state-by-state guidebook and resource available in 2021. Printed reports will also be available for purchase, with the aim to keep the cost low for adoptee rights activists who wish to use the reports for ongoing work. More information about this report and others is available here.
A Brief History of Adoptee Rights in Florida
Printed Reports
Sorry, printed reports are not currently available. If there is sufficient interest to print the 2021 updated report, I may do so. Otherwise, the report is available online and as a free PDF download.
Nice work, Mr. Luce. This type of groundwork is essential in states seeking to change records access laws.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I was adopted before this law went into effect, so I may have a leg to stand on in getting my OBC. I did not know any of this!
I will be copying the relevant info, and submitting with my request for a judicial review post haste!
Do you know of anyone who has done so, and been successful?
I new at most of this web stuff. I’ve repeatedly tried to obtain an OBC from Florida, in orange county. They say you need to petition the court , get them to open your records. Then you call some lawyers and they all say the same thing! They dont know how to do that??? So where do we start?? I went on Ancestry.com and found some connections. My mother I think has passed. But I could have met her years ago if Florida wasnt such an Ass!!