Adoption can give children a beautiful family, but adoptees in closed adoptions often still have questions about their background. Adoptee rights law varies from state to state, but this article will give an overview of what to expect as an adoptee seeking adoption information about your rights and why open adoption is increasingly common. You can click here to get adoption information from an adoption professional.
What Rights Does an Adopted Child Have?
Adoptee rights vary from state to state, but these are some of the common rights that an adoptee may have:
- A right to a safe environment: adoptees have the right to be placed in an environment that promotes their well-being and is safe.
- Right to be treated with dignity: adoptees have the right to be treated with the same dignity and fairness as any other person.
- Right to access information: adoptees sometimes have access to access information about birth families, in some cases, medical history, background, and cultural heritage. The extent of this law depends on local guidelines.
- Right to know about adoption status: adoptees have the right to know that they have been adopted and to be informed of what adoption means.
- Right to privacy: adoptees have a right to privacy, including the protection of identifying details in some cases.
- Right to medical history: an adoptee may have the right to access the birth family’s medical history, which can be important in understanding the adoptee’s health and making health decisions.
- Right to post-adoption support: the adoptee may have a right to post-adoption support like therapy or counseling.
Adoptee Rights by State
Since adoptee rights are outlined through state and local laws as well as federal laws, the best way to learn more about your rights is by getting in contact with a local family or adoption lawyer.
Adoptee Rights Organizations
Adoptee rights organizations advocate for the interests of adoptees and work to protect and promote their rights. These organizations can raise awareness and push for changes, as well as providing support to adoptees and their families.
As an adoptee you may find that these organizations lobby, create awareness campaigns, offer support services, do research and promote education, offer legal assistance, and even offer opportunities for connections and network building. Some organizations that participate in this type of work are the Adoption Rights Coalition and the Adoptee Rights Law Center.
Open Adoption and Adoptee Rights
Movements for adopted child’s rights often advocate for adoptees right to access information, the right to know your adoption status, and the right to know your medical history through birth parent records.
While these rights play an important role in closed adoptions, more and more modern adoptions are open adoptions, and many open adoption plans already include communication and information transfer between birth parents, adoptive families, and adoptees. Adoptee rights laws can affirm the goals of open adoption and add to the rights of adoptees in closed adoptions. Open adoptions have the additional benefit to everyone that you can maintain a meaningful lifetime connection. To learn more about open adoption, you can click here and talk to an adoption professional now.