The first time I held my original birth certificate, I was in my 50s. I’d spent a lifetime knowing that I was adopted. I was loved, supported and grateful for my family, but still missing the first page of my own story. That small piece of paper held answers that had always been out of reach: my birth time, my birth mother’s name and many other small details that finally connected me to the beginning of my life.
For decades, adoptees such as me in Illinois were denied access to that most basic document. We could vote, buy a house or raise children of our own, but not see our own birth certificates. For years, the state sealed those records, citing outdated privacy laws that had long since outlived their purpose. That injustice became my mission.
When I first introduced legislation to allow adult adoptees to access their original birth certificates, I knew it would not be easy. The bill took 14 years to pass: 14 years of hearings, negotiations and emotional testimony from adoptees, birth parents and adoptive families alike. Some feared the unknown; others worried about privacy or the reopening of painful memories. But I believed then, as I do now, that knowing where you come from is a fundamental human right.
The bill was signed in May 2010. For the first time, adult adoptees in Illinois could open the door to their origins. That moment has become a personal and political milestone, not only in my career but also in the lives of thousands of Illinoisans who can now hold their own stories in their hands.
Read more at: https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/30/opinion-adoption-birth-certificate-illinois/