- When adoption laws were first enacted, the focus was on protecting the identities of the birth parents. Lawmakers assumed that all birth parents wanted to conceal their identities and would have no interest in connecting with the birth child at a later date. To accomplish this, adoption records were sealed when the adoption was finalized, and neither the birth parents nor the adult adoptees were allowed to access those records without court orders.
- Society's views on premarital sex and unplanned pregnancies have changed enormously since most of the adoption laws were enacted. Numerous birth parents and adult adoptees are speaking out against the practice of sealing adoption records permanently. Many birth parents and adult adoptees search, but they have a very hard time locating each other because adoption laws continue to seal the adoption records.
- Many people mistakenly believe that birth parents and adult adoptees can access the sealed adoption records as long as all parties consent. In many states, this is not true. Even when both parties want to access the sealed adoption records, many state adoption laws prohibit this without a court order. The adult adoptee must prove a compelling need, such as a dire medical emergency, in order to unseal the adoption records.
- Many adult adoptees struggle with feeling deep loss because they have been denied access to information that could lead them to a reunion with their birth families. Many current adoption laws seal adoption records forever, so even a 50-year-old man is legally prevented from accessing his adoption records to find his 68-year-old birth mother. Many assert that current adoption laws that seal birth records violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because no other class of people are categorically denied access to their own original birth certificates.
- Lawmakers may change adoption laws so that sealed adoption records are automatically unsealed once the adoptee becomes an adult. Some adult adoptee associations have filed a class action suit and argue before the U.S. Supreme Court that current adoption laws that seal adoption records violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
