Should an adopted adult have the same rights to identifying information about his or her origins as all non-adopted adults?
The following release we put out in late 2005, sums up Mr. Barrett's stance on adoption disclosure.
For Immediate Release
Nov. 04, 2005
Adoption Disclosure Invades Privacy: Barrett
Queen’s Park – Natural mothers who were promised their privacy in adoption cases will now have to plead with a tribunal to have that privacy protected according to MPP Toby Barrett.
PC MPP’s joined Barrett this week as he voted a second time against Bill 183 – the Adoption Information Disclosure Act - in an effort to protect the privacy of natural mothers.
“Individuals who thought they were protected are now going to have their privacy violated” Barrett stated. “Other provinces in this country offer the right for birth parents to veto the disclosure of their identities. Why should Ontarians not have that right?”
The Adoption Information Disclosure Act, which passed with Liberal and NDP support, requires identification and personal information of birth parents, adoptive parents and adopted children to be accessible to all parties involved. Although other provinces have expanded their disclosure laws, Ontario is the only province to have the law apply retroactively without the individual’s option to veto this disclosure. According to the Act, Ontario adoptees or birth parents wishing to avoid disclosure will have to appear before a tribunal and argue that revealing the contents of their file would cause them physical harm or mental anguish.
Barrett supports greater disclosure of adoption information but believes the rights of the minority must be protected. Privacy commissioners from every province and the Federal Government hold the same position.
Bill 183 neglects to account for adoption cases in which full disclosure can be damaging, where a reunion is traumatic and unwanted.
“Adoption cases that have developed out of regrettable circumstances such as rape or child abuse, can be very delicate matters in which privacy should be respected and adhered to,” said Barrett. “It is truly unfortunate that the Liberal government does not see it that way.”
