Introduction

In the landscape of adoption in America, the journey of adoptees and their families is often marked by emotional complexities and legal uncertainties. For me personally, as an adoptee who never had the chance to meet my birth mother due to her untimely passing, the significance of open adoption laws cannot be overstated. These laws, which vary widely across states, dictate the degree of access adoptees have to their biological origins. Advocating for federal open adoption laws is not just a matter of legal uniformity, but of compassion and justice for families like mine.

Current State of Adoption Laws

Currently, adoption laws in the United States are a patchwork of state regulations, leading to inconsistencies that impact adoptees' rights to access their birth records. According to the American Adoption Congress, only 19 states allow adoptees...