Equal Rights Are Not Optional — Vote YES on HB301

Virginia currently denies a specific class of its citizens access to their own birth certificate. That class is adult adoptees.

Every other Virginia citizen can obtain their original birth certificate for $11. Adult adoptees born in Virginia cannot — not without a court order or approval from the Commissioner of the Department of Social Services. No other group of citizens is required to seek government or judicial permission to access their own birth record.

This is not a matter of opinion. It is codified discrimination.

Several facts are frequently misrepresented in opposition to this bill:

Anonymity was never promised to birth parents. It is not legally possible to promise anonymity at relinquishment. The original birth certificate is not sealed at relinquishment — it is sealed only when an adoption is finalized and an amended certificate is requested. Birth parents do not control this. Adoptive parents do.

Birth parent groups support this bill. Organizations representing thousands of birth mothers have submitted letters in support of HB301 because they want their adult children to have equal standing under the law.

This bill includes a Contact Preference Form. Birth parents may file a confidential preference regarding contact. Privacy concerns are addressed in the legislation.

15 states have already passed this. Virginia is not leading — it is behind.

The Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee has the opportunity to correct an inequity that has no legal or ethical justification. Virginia-born adult adoptees are full citizens. They are entitled to their own records.

Vote YES on HB301.