Michael, at 20:54 on Thu, Oct 31 1996, you wrote to Peter Lane-Collett ...
Hi Michael
MK> Perhaps you and some of the other participants in Zone 3 could share some 
MK> information about adoption record access (sealed/open, easily/hard 
MK> accessed) with the rest of us and vice versa...
I've not ever tried to find out anything about my "birth" parents and as far 
as I know they've never tried to find me. I've never had anything that my 
adopted parents knew kept from me. I know the basic circumstances of my 
adoption and my birth parents and bear them no ill feeling as I could not 
have wished for a better family. I also never had any problems about "who I 
am" and therefore not felt the need to search out any other "family" I might 
have. I would be willing to meet with them but would likely not actively 
search them out while my adoptive mother lives. She told me that she wouldn't 
mind and I said that I don't even consider them family but I think it might 
hurt her feelings just a little if I did.
The only reason I might try to find something out is for medical histories. 
Besides the state adoption laws at the time of my birth (late 50's) made it 
then and now almost impossible to find out anything.
As far as I know, in some states there have been some successes where both 
adoptees and birth parents have registered with organisations that help with 
this sort of thing. I don't think there is any such thing as "open" documents 
as all adoptions were handled by state adoption departments and not privately 
run organisations.
One thing that is annoying is that a "birth extract", which is a birth 
registry entry minus any information about parents, is no longer suitable for 
applying for a passport.
Still I find the cho interesting reading and it may give me ideas in case I 
ever do initiate a search.
MK> BTW, Welcome to the ADOPTEES echo!!
Ta muchly!
Regards from OZ
Peter
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