Should an adopted adult have the same rights to identifying information about his or her origins as all non-adopted adults?
You have posed a very difficult question that has no simple answer. I believe that any adult adoptee has the right to any medically pertinent information which can be collected from their birth parents. Regarding access to further information the rights of the birth parent must be taken into account. Many parents, I'm sure, placed their children up for adoption with the understanding that their identities would never be released and, given that, I would have trouble releasing this information as a matter of course. I believe that the solution to this issue is a national database which can be accessed by parents and children and allows them to alter their privacy settings. Essentially, the system would allow for the automatic transfer of pertinent medical records between concerned parties and the transfer of other personal data only when both parties agree to it. The phrasing of your question implies that you see access to this information as a rights issue, but I don't know that I agree with this assessment. I don’t see this as an equality issue. So far as I know the Charter doesn’t compel any parent to be truthful with a child regarding their origin. Families, for many reasons, often wish to hide their backgrounds from their children. While I don’t condone such a practice, I think it is a personal matter. While our hearts go out to the adopted children, I think our focus must remain on the privacy rights of both parties. One could similarly make the argument that a parent who gave their child up has a equal right to information concerning that child as does the adoptive parent, which I don’t think they do. I hope my position is clear.
