It’s official: Minnesota adoptees 18 and older can access their original birth records
Penelope Needham advocated for the passage of the new law. A team of volunteers who joined her in this effort gave her a book illustrating its history.
Courtesy of Penelope Needham
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Monday is the first day Minnesota adoptees over 18 can request their original birth record—even those from closed adoptions that happened decades ago.
The law was championed by adoptees citing the right to know their own history. Also affected are the birth parents who must rapidly come to terms with the idea of being contacted by a child they believed they would never see again.
Alexis Oberdorfer is the vice president of services at the Minnesota Children’s Home & LSS. She joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to share the details of the law change and how it will affect both adoptees and birth parents.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
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Audio transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING] CATHY WURZER: Today, July the 1st, means a slew of new laws takes effect in Minnesota, including Minnesota adoptees over the age of 18 can now request their original birth record, even those from closed adoptions that happened decades ago.
The Open Records Law was championed by adoptees, citing the right to know their own history. Also affected are the birth parents, who must rapidly come to terms with the idea of being contacted by a child they believed they would never see again.
Joining us right now to share the details of the law and how it will affect adoptees and birth parents is Alexis Oberdorfer, the Vice President of Services at the Children's Home and Lutheran Social Services in St. Paul. Alexis, thanks for your time today.
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: Thank you for having me, Cathy. It's a pleasure.
CATHY WURZER: I know that a lot of people around the state of Minnesota received these flyers in the mail last month. They probably looked at this and thought, wait, this doesn't affect me. But for listeners who are not familiar, this was a notice that was sent out saying what I just explained in the introduction. Can you tell us what this law will change?
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: Sure. So there's a number of changes. First, birth records that are what you think of as your birth certificate is sent out through the Department of Health. And it's not a certificate. This is an original birth record that gets amended when a child gets adopted to reflect their adoptive parents.
So this is now the copy of your original birth record that reflects your birth parent on it. And it changes it from a status of being confidential to being private data so that you are now able to access it, just like the general public is able to access their birth record. Um--
CATHY WURZER: So-- go ahead.
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: Yeah, please go ahead.
CATHY WURZER: Go ahead, please.
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: There's a couple of other things that are changed. A birth parent used to previously be able to submit an affidavit of non-disclosure, saying, I don't want to be contacted, where it would not allow that record to be released, and those will now expire.
The age changes-- well, it's minor changes from age 19 to age 18. We assume that it used to be the thought of when you turn 18, that's what we use for voting for a number of other things. And so it keeps that in line rather than the completion of that 18th year. So those are probably the most significant changes to this law.
CATHY WURZER: I understand you were adopted.
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: I was.
CATHY WURZER: So you have some personal experience here. What does it mean for you and folks like you to access your original birth record?
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: So I was adopted in another state under a different set of laws. So it is not uniform across the United States. It is a state by state decision. So it depends where an adoptee was born and what their current state laws are. The state that I was from have comparable laws in place, but they vary. The state that I was from has affidavits of non-disclosures that are still intact, whether that record is released.
In Minnesota, that's not the case. While a birth parent can submit a preference, a contact preference form, it is not legally binding. So if an adoptee goes to get their birth record in Minnesota, they receive a copy of that original birth record, along with that contact preference form, so that they understand what their birth parents' wishes are.
CATHY WURZER: Oh, OK. So birth parents still have the right to refuse contact with their child?
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: No, in Minnesota, they have a right to state their preference.
CATHY WURZER: I see.
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: But again, it's not legally binding. So they will get an original birth record. That doesn't change the documentation that they will receive.
CATHY WURZER: So the original birth parent might get contacted by the child then.
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: Correct. That is absolutely correct.
CATHY WURZER: And you have to be ready for that, OK.
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: They have to prepare for that possibility.
CATHY WURZER: What might you tell birth parents about this possibility? I'm sure there might be some who are older, perhaps, at this stage of the game and might be a little anxious.
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: Yeah, I think that is true. We're hearing confusion. We're hearing birth parents who are upset because they felt like they were not going to be contacted based off of what the prior law was. It's difficult. Laws are changing. We have practiced under whatever that current law is. We will support them however we are able to, to navigate being contacted, what that relationship is.
But the reality is adoption isn't a new place. The laws do need to be modernized. We have seen with the DNA access through various services, people were getting into extended birth family already to find out that this is my family and sometimes are poking around. They may not have the exact right person, but they start to ask questions of other relatives in that family.
By getting directly to the birth parent, hopefully, that is a more direct point of contact for them. And a birth parent needs to think about, right, what have I disclosed? It might bring them back to times that they had significant and may continue to have grief and loss. Was there trauma? Kind of needing to revisit a lot of feelings around that.
And we also recognize that some of today's birth parents, because we are seeing a lot of aging birth parents, from adoptions that took place in the '50s, '60s, '70s, may not have their full mental capacity, might have some other indicators. So we hope that they're seeking the support that they need.
CATHY WURZER: So the question, then, goes to the adoptees. Why is it important to know your parents, your original parents?
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: Yeah, well, so much of your identity, your medical history, your cultural history is connected to your birth family. And while not every adoptee is interested in having that information or searching, there are many who are. Adoptees might argue that this is a fundamental right for everybody else to have that knowledge and that birth record and to know that information. And so why should we have a separate path than what the rest of the general population has?
CATHY WURZER: What do you think? As a person who was adopted, what do you think of that?
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: I think adoptees have all kinds of questions and want those connections. I think what is hard is not everybody understands that both the adoptees, as well as the birth parents, both have their lives. Their connections are rooted in grief and loss and trauma. And that separation is complicated.
And so my question is, we need to be thoughtful on how we navigate this, on how we decide to move forward. Do we use an intermediate service? Do we go it on our own and just open up that door and understanding the person on the other side, whether they don't have the mental capacity, whether they've never fully dealt with that trauma and loss?
How do we do this in a very compassionate and caring manner and making sure that we're thinking through all of the outcomes? Are we prepared to hear answers that we don't want to hear? And how does that affect our well-being along the way?
CATHY WURZER: Are there services available? Because this is a new law, to your point, I'm betting as of today, there are probably people who are going down this road to get their records. Do you offer services? Are there consultations? Are there anyone out there that can help navigate this?
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: We do. So over, I'd say, the last 10 to 15 years, we've been watching this dynamic change for some time. Whether it is DNA information coming out, whether it's social media and people being contacted through various Facebook and other manners, we have continued to shift our services to be able to support that.
We have, in preparation for open records, specifically launched open consultation services to help parties navigate that journey, and to think about what they want and how they want to handle this going forward. So we are grateful that we have right now state funding to be able to support Minnesota residents at no cost to be able to engage in those services.
CATHY WURZER: Can you give me an example of maybe a success story where both parties are were anxious-- as you mentioned, there's a lot of trauma-- but they came together?
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: Yeah, Cathy, I just have to emphasize, when you know one adoption, you know one adoption. So, right? We know that we, over the years, have certainly helped a number of people meet the other party that they're searching for, get the information they're looking for. That's happened on a routine basis. We continue to see as DNA comes open, and now with open records, that people are going to reach out. And the other party might be caught off guard.
And it's not uncommon for us to be contacted, saying, you gave our confidential information up. This is a change in the law. This is being released by the Department of Health, not by the adoption agency that was involved in the placement. And so, we just really try to help those people understand and navigate. Do you want to have contact? What might that look like? Does your extended family know if they've never told anybody?
How else can you exchange information and maybe meet some of the adoptees' needs of the information that they're looking for? That doesn't always mean a relationship. Sometimes they need to know their medical information and being able to help support that information being passed along. So I think there's lots of ways of doing it.
CATHY WURZER: And still, as you say, it is fraught with some complications, but very interesting story here. Alexis, thank you for running this down for us. Is there a place folks can go for information?
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: I think there is a number of places. So Department of Health has a great connection to the birth parent contact preference form. It's probably the best place to get that. On the chlss.org website, we have a whole host of frequently asked questions and answers and links to different services that might be helpful. I would also suggest that fam.org being another entity in the community that does a lot with foster care and adoption is a great website as a resource as well.
CATHY WURZER: OK. Alexis, thank you for the conversation.
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: Oh, it's my pleasure. Thank you for having me today, Cathy.
CATHY WURZER: Alexis Oberdorfer is the Vice President of Services at the Children's Home and Lutheran Social Services in St. Paul.
The Open Records Law was championed by adoptees, citing the right to know their own history. Also affected are the birth parents, who must rapidly come to terms with the idea of being contacted by a child they believed they would never see again.
Joining us right now to share the details of the law and how it will affect adoptees and birth parents is Alexis Oberdorfer, the Vice President of Services at the Children's Home and Lutheran Social Services in St. Paul. Alexis, thanks for your time today.
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: Thank you for having me, Cathy. It's a pleasure.
CATHY WURZER: I know that a lot of people around the state of Minnesota received these flyers in the mail last month. They probably looked at this and thought, wait, this doesn't affect me. But for listeners who are not familiar, this was a notice that was sent out saying what I just explained in the introduction. Can you tell us what this law will change?
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: Sure. So there's a number of changes. First, birth records that are what you think of as your birth certificate is sent out through the Department of Health. And it's not a certificate. This is an original birth record that gets amended when a child gets adopted to reflect their adoptive parents.
So this is now the copy of your original birth record that reflects your birth parent on it. And it changes it from a status of being confidential to being private data so that you are now able to access it, just like the general public is able to access their birth record. Um--
CATHY WURZER: So-- go ahead.
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: Yeah, please go ahead.
CATHY WURZER: Go ahead, please.
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: There's a couple of other things that are changed. A birth parent used to previously be able to submit an affidavit of non-disclosure, saying, I don't want to be contacted, where it would not allow that record to be released, and those will now expire.
The age changes-- well, it's minor changes from age 19 to age 18. We assume that it used to be the thought of when you turn 18, that's what we use for voting for a number of other things. And so it keeps that in line rather than the completion of that 18th year. So those are probably the most significant changes to this law.
CATHY WURZER: I understand you were adopted.
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: I was.
CATHY WURZER: So you have some personal experience here. What does it mean for you and folks like you to access your original birth record?
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: So I was adopted in another state under a different set of laws. So it is not uniform across the United States. It is a state by state decision. So it depends where an adoptee was born and what their current state laws are. The state that I was from have comparable laws in place, but they vary. The state that I was from has affidavits of non-disclosures that are still intact, whether that record is released.
In Minnesota, that's not the case. While a birth parent can submit a preference, a contact preference form, it is not legally binding. So if an adoptee goes to get their birth record in Minnesota, they receive a copy of that original birth record, along with that contact preference form, so that they understand what their birth parents' wishes are.
CATHY WURZER: Oh, OK. So birth parents still have the right to refuse contact with their child?
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: No, in Minnesota, they have a right to state their preference.
CATHY WURZER: I see.
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: But again, it's not legally binding. So they will get an original birth record. That doesn't change the documentation that they will receive.
CATHY WURZER: So the original birth parent might get contacted by the child then.
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: Correct. That is absolutely correct.
CATHY WURZER: And you have to be ready for that, OK.
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: They have to prepare for that possibility.
CATHY WURZER: What might you tell birth parents about this possibility? I'm sure there might be some who are older, perhaps, at this stage of the game and might be a little anxious.
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: Yeah, I think that is true. We're hearing confusion. We're hearing birth parents who are upset because they felt like they were not going to be contacted based off of what the prior law was. It's difficult. Laws are changing. We have practiced under whatever that current law is. We will support them however we are able to, to navigate being contacted, what that relationship is.
But the reality is adoption isn't a new place. The laws do need to be modernized. We have seen with the DNA access through various services, people were getting into extended birth family already to find out that this is my family and sometimes are poking around. They may not have the exact right person, but they start to ask questions of other relatives in that family.
By getting directly to the birth parent, hopefully, that is a more direct point of contact for them. And a birth parent needs to think about, right, what have I disclosed? It might bring them back to times that they had significant and may continue to have grief and loss. Was there trauma? Kind of needing to revisit a lot of feelings around that.
And we also recognize that some of today's birth parents, because we are seeing a lot of aging birth parents, from adoptions that took place in the '50s, '60s, '70s, may not have their full mental capacity, might have some other indicators. So we hope that they're seeking the support that they need.
CATHY WURZER: So the question, then, goes to the adoptees. Why is it important to know your parents, your original parents?
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: Yeah, well, so much of your identity, your medical history, your cultural history is connected to your birth family. And while not every adoptee is interested in having that information or searching, there are many who are. Adoptees might argue that this is a fundamental right for everybody else to have that knowledge and that birth record and to know that information. And so why should we have a separate path than what the rest of the general population has?
CATHY WURZER: What do you think? As a person who was adopted, what do you think of that?
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: I think adoptees have all kinds of questions and want those connections. I think what is hard is not everybody understands that both the adoptees, as well as the birth parents, both have their lives. Their connections are rooted in grief and loss and trauma. And that separation is complicated.
And so my question is, we need to be thoughtful on how we navigate this, on how we decide to move forward. Do we use an intermediate service? Do we go it on our own and just open up that door and understanding the person on the other side, whether they don't have the mental capacity, whether they've never fully dealt with that trauma and loss?
How do we do this in a very compassionate and caring manner and making sure that we're thinking through all of the outcomes? Are we prepared to hear answers that we don't want to hear? And how does that affect our well-being along the way?
CATHY WURZER: Are there services available? Because this is a new law, to your point, I'm betting as of today, there are probably people who are going down this road to get their records. Do you offer services? Are there consultations? Are there anyone out there that can help navigate this?
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: We do. So over, I'd say, the last 10 to 15 years, we've been watching this dynamic change for some time. Whether it is DNA information coming out, whether it's social media and people being contacted through various Facebook and other manners, we have continued to shift our services to be able to support that.
We have, in preparation for open records, specifically launched open consultation services to help parties navigate that journey, and to think about what they want and how they want to handle this going forward. So we are grateful that we have right now state funding to be able to support Minnesota residents at no cost to be able to engage in those services.
CATHY WURZER: Can you give me an example of maybe a success story where both parties are were anxious-- as you mentioned, there's a lot of trauma-- but they came together?
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: Yeah, Cathy, I just have to emphasize, when you know one adoption, you know one adoption. So, right? We know that we, over the years, have certainly helped a number of people meet the other party that they're searching for, get the information they're looking for. That's happened on a routine basis. We continue to see as DNA comes open, and now with open records, that people are going to reach out. And the other party might be caught off guard.
And it's not uncommon for us to be contacted, saying, you gave our confidential information up. This is a change in the law. This is being released by the Department of Health, not by the adoption agency that was involved in the placement. And so, we just really try to help those people understand and navigate. Do you want to have contact? What might that look like? Does your extended family know if they've never told anybody?
How else can you exchange information and maybe meet some of the adoptees' needs of the information that they're looking for? That doesn't always mean a relationship. Sometimes they need to know their medical information and being able to help support that information being passed along. So I think there's lots of ways of doing it.
CATHY WURZER: And still, as you say, it is fraught with some complications, but very interesting story here. Alexis, thank you for running this down for us. Is there a place folks can go for information?
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: I think there is a number of places. So Department of Health has a great connection to the birth parent contact preference form. It's probably the best place to get that. On the chlss.org website, we have a whole host of frequently asked questions and answers and links to different services that might be helpful. I would also suggest that fam.org being another entity in the community that does a lot with foster care and adoption is a great website as a resource as well.
CATHY WURZER: OK. Alexis, thank you for the conversation.
ALEXIS OBERDORFER: Oh, it's my pleasure. Thank you for having me today, Cathy.
CATHY WURZER: Alexis Oberdorfer is the Vice President of Services at the Children's Home and Lutheran Social Services in St. Paul.
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