Supporters have asked, "Why doesn't PAR support the Mensch amendment? Don't we have to give something up to get closer to what we want?" PAR had attempted to compromise by supporting the Wagner amendment, that did not pass, that introduced Maine's Contact Preference language into HB 162. Unfortunately, the Mensch amendment passed and asks us to "give up" rights that are not ours to give.

The description of the Mensch amendment on the September 16, 2014 hearing agenda didn't sound too extreme. The agenda stated that the amendment would allow original parents to veto an adult adoptee's access to their original birth certificate for the next three years, after which time access would be open. Make no mistake, the Mensch amendment would make a number of unacceptable changes to the law that were not readily apparent on the agenda.

#1  The disclosure veto for adoptions that are initiated after the effective date of the bill is intended to be permanent.  There is no ending date for the disclosure vetoes applied to today's fostered and adopted youth.

#2  The amendment language is unclear if the disclosure veto for adoptions initiated after the effective date of the bill will indeed end in three years.

#3  The amendment gives original parents the right to veto access upon termination of parental rights. This includes both voluntary and involuntary termination. The law currently says that the original birth certificate is not sealed until an adoption is decreed. The amendment makes no mention of how fostered and adopted adults will be attended to if their birth record access is vetoed as the original birth certificate is their one and only certified record of birth.

#4  The amendment assigns adoption agencies the primary roles of educators regarding the disclosure veto and gate-keepers for records pertaining to an adopted person's pre-adoption identity.

#5  The amendment legally compels original parents to release their personal health information.

 PAR firmly holds that no adoptee be left behind and that we cannot negotiate away rights that are not ours to give.  We cannot give up the rights of would-be vetoed adult adoptees or today's adopted and fostered youth. Original parents should not be forced to release private information. We ask only for what all other citizens have--for what is not considered a "privacy" issue for any other person regardless of family circumstance--a state issued original birth certificate.