Should an adopted adult have the same rights to identifying information about his or her origins as all non-adopted adults?
No, an adopted adult has not right to identifying information about his or her origins. A non-adopted adult knows his or her parents because they chose to raise him or her. In the case of an adopted adult, his or her original parents chose to put him or her up for adoption. By doing so, they gave up their responsibility to raise him or her in favour of his or her adoptive parents. Their having done so and their reasons for doing so are their personal information and no one has a right to that information without their prior consent.
An adopted adult wanting to identify his or her origins should ask the agency that mediated in the adoption for that information. If the agency wishes to process his or her request, it would charge the adopted adult a fee to cover the full cost of the process. The agency must then get the permission of both original parents (and any other relevant persons) before disclosing the information. If either original parent (or any relevant other) declines and the adopted adult later determines their identity, the adoption agency would then be required to compensate both original parents (or all other relevant persons) for its failure to keep the identities of the original parents secret. The full cost of such compensation (including all legal and other costs of the agency, both original parents and all relevant others), must be built into the fee the adopted adult pays. No taxpayers money must be used to cover any part of this process.
Under no circumstances, must an adoption agency or any parent (or other relevant person) who was involved in the adoption be required to disclose or agree to the disclosure of any information concerning the adoption without their voluntary consent.
This is my personal opinion and should not be taken to be that of the Ontario Libertarian Party or any of their other candidates.
