Statement of Josette P. Marquess, Coordinator
Florida Adoption Reunion Registry and Post Adoption Services Unit
Florida Department of Children and Families

Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Human Resources
of the House Committee on Ways and Means

Hearing on Adoption Reunion Registries and Screening of Adults Working with Children

June 11, 1998

Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the Subcommittee: Good morning and thank you for the invitation to testify before this committee on the Florida Adoption Reunion Registry and the possibility of the establishment of a National Reunion Registry.

My name is Josette Marquess and I am the Coordinator of the Florida Adoption Reunion Registry. Currently the Registry is located within the Florida Department of Children and Families, Family Preservation Unit.

The Florida Adoption Reunion Registry was established by the Florida Legislature in 1981, and became operational in state fiscal year, 1982. From 1982 through 1985 the registry was physically located with the Florida Bureau of Vital Statistics, Vital Records Section in Jacksonville, Florida. The Registry was moved to the Florida Department of Children and Families , Post Adoption Services Unit in 1985.

The Florida Adoption Reunion Registry is a confidential cross-referenced file of people who are or were the principal parties in an adoption. Certain close relatives may also be included if the degree of relationship can be determined. The Registry is available to adult adoptees, birth parents, siblings, grandparents and the adoptive parents of both minor and adult children. It is the only method that we have in Florida at the present time to reunite adult adoptees with members of their birth families without either having to take court action. Membership in the Florida Adoption Reunion Registry is entirely voluntary for both parties. The Registry is also passive in that under current operating procedures we have to wait for a match. We do not actively search out either the adoptee or the birth family to encourage one or the other to register with us.

The success of the Florida Adoption Reunion Registry rests largely with our ability and care to verify all information submitted before we enter an applicant into the registry data base. For birth parents, that means getting a copy of their driver license and another piece of identification that clearly identifies who they are. Adult adoptees are also asked to provide proof of their identity and a copy of their Amended Birth Certificate when they apply to the registry. The completed Registry application is then sent to the Office of Vital Statistics for the verification of adoption. The application is returned to us with notice of verification and only at that time is an individual listed in the Registry.

All of the people in the Florida Adoption Reunion Registry have voluntarily indicated that they wish to have their identities revealed and made known to other parties involved in the adoption. In the event that a particular registrant does not wish to make their identity immediately known they have the option of naming another person, agency, attorney to act as their agent in the event that there is a match.

The registry application fee is $35.00. The registry update fee is $10.00. The fees collected from the registry applications support and pay the staff who carry out the day to day operation of the Registry. We will waive the fee for people who are on public assistance, food stamps, unemployment compensation, incarcerated or who receive some kind of disability payment. The fee waiver is granted only after a written request has been made and the applicant provides proof as to their current financial situation.

As of April, 1998 there were approximately 5,666 people in the Florida Adoption Reunion registry. The breakdown is 3,133 (55.3%) adult adoptees, 2,165 (38.2%) birth parents, 74 grandparents, (1.3%) 147 siblings (2.6%) and 149 (2.6%) others. Since the inception of the registry we have had approximately 125 matches. The majority of the matches have occurred since 1992. We average 2-3 matches per month. We have found as is the case with most state registries that as the data base grows the number of matches increases.

We do have a number of people in the registry that probably will never be matched. They are older adoptee and / or older birth parents. However, hope springs eternal and we continue to keep those applications active. There is always the possibility that we may be able to make a match between siblings or another family member at some later time.

The Florida Adoption Reunion Registry determines that there is a match between an adult adoptee and the birth parent by matching several factors. i. e. the NAME of the birth mother at the time the baby was born and subsequently placed for adoption; the DATE and PLACE of the birth of the child; the Birth Registration Number shown on both the original birth certificate and the amended birth certificate are shown to be identical; and various other social factors that may be obtained by the adult adoptee when they secure their non-identifying information from the state adoption program or from the private adoption agency that was actually involved in their adoption.

When we have a match in the Registry, for us it is a truly joyous occasion. We contact the first person registered by telephone. We advise them that there has been a match and ask if in fact they want to have their identifying information released. (It has not happened very often , but we have found that sometimes people register with us, hoping that there will be match and yet when it actually happens, they are not sure that they want to proceed with a reunion). We then contact the second party registered and determine if they want to proceed with a reunion. Both have to agree again at the time that we determine there is a match that they want to have their identifying information released. Sometimes the registry applicant only wishes to have contact through their designated agent and do not wish to have contact directly.

We have been the recipients of many cards, letters and photographs of happy reunions. We are delighted to have been a part of the process and we take comfort in the knowledge that we have connected two related consenting adults that were separated by adoption. But we have also assured ourselves and the parties involved that it is a correct match, based on factual information and not a match because the people involved want it to be so, or they look like each other or an adoptee somehow hooks up with a birth mother who gave birth to a child in a certain hospital on a certain date.

We do not unseal adoption records in the state of Florida in order to determine that there is a match. We do however access the confidential birth and adoption information that is available to us from the Florida Department of Health, Vital Statistics Section. Having this cooperative relationship with the Vital Statistics Office allows us to assure the veracity of the information that we have and affirm that there is indeed a match.

Under current Florida Adoption Law, adult adoptees are entitled to non-identifying information about their birth families from the sealed adoption record. However, the law has no provision in it to provide birth parents with any information about the adoptee or the adoptive family after the adoption has been finalized and the record has been sealed. We however made an "in-house" policy decision many years ago that we would verify for the birth parent that the child that they released for adoption was legally adopted. Presently we advise birth parents that the adoption of their child was finalized in a court of law, the state that the adoption occurred in and the approximate date of finalization. We do not provide the specific court, the county of finalization or the exact date of finalization as we have found that the provision of this information can be identifying for the adoptive family and we have compromised their confidentiality.

We have heard from adult adoptees who have been reunited in the registry and who have searched for their birth families on their own that the non-identifying information that was provided to them has been helpful in their search and eventual reunion with their birth families.

The cost of the operation of the Florida Adoption Reunion Registry is approximately at $16,500 per year. That is the annual salary of a part time employee, (MSW student) who is responsible for the processing of checks, verification of birth/adoption information with the Office of Vital Statistics and entering the information into the registry data base. This person is also responsible for contacting the applicants when we have determined that we have a match. This position is funded in part by registry fees. Total fees collected in Fiscal Year 1997-98 are estimated to be $10, 290. The remainder of the salary is paid for out General Revenue funds particularly earmarked for part time student employees.

We hear quite a lot today from adult adoptees and their "right" to any and all information that might be available about their adoption. We are in fact supportive of adult adoptees having access to all available MEDICAL and SOCIAL HISTORY and FAMILY HISTORY that may be available to them under current state adoption laws. In the instances where little or no information is available to adult adoptees in search of this kind of information we have worked closely with them to help obtain the court order needed to search for the birth parents to request the information needed.

As a result of many court ordered searches, and the conversations that I have had with the birth mothers that I have found, many (40%) over the last two years have not been entirely happy that a search had been ordered for them. What I have heard from these birth mothers is that they entered into an agreement at the time that they placed their child for adoption. They expected that their identity would be protected and that it would be honored by all parties associated with the adoption for their entire lives.

I am fairly often (five to ten times a month) court ordered to search for birth parents. I can assure you that not all birth parents are expecting or wanting to be found by the children that they released for adoption. I can tell you from my professional experience that not all adoption reunions are happy, wanted or in the best interest of all who are reunited.

For whatever reasons they might have, many birth mothers have chosen not to share with their older parents, siblings, current husband and children that 25, or 35 or even 45 years ago they had a child out of wedlock and placed that child for adoption. I have spoken to birth mothers who are fearful that husbands would leave them, children would not understand and their lives would be shattered by the knowledge of something that happened many years before.

I also have some concerns about how a National Adoption Registry might be implemented. It is my belief that for such a registry to be successful that certain information would have to be verified. I. e. In Florida, we cannot put anyone into our registry system until we verify that an adoption actually took place.

As far as I know each state adoption law has the responsibility for determining what is necessary in that state for the finalization of an adoption. In addition, once the adoption is finalized the states Office of Vital Statistics has the responsibility for issuing the Amended Birth Certificate. How would states be invited to participate in this process? Would state participation be mandatory or voluntary?

I think that without verification of information both from the adoptee and from the birth parent that the possibility of identifying the wrong person is very great. I have heard enough horror stories about people who have been contacted by someone who is searching when in fact they are not the adoptee or the birth parent that is being searched for. This is happening more and more with people who are "finding" each other on the Internet. We have had approximately twenty requests in the last six months alone where we have been asked to verify through our registry if the two people who have "found" each other are indeed the correct adoptee and the correct birth mother. We have had only two people where we have confirmed that there is a match.

If the advocates for such a registry are correct in saying that they want to make it easier for the people involved in an adoption to be put in touch with each other, I don't believe that you have to go to a national registry to have that happen. Adult adoptees and birth parents in Florida have the option of petitioning the court to obtain additional information and/or to request that a search for the adoptee/birth parent be ordered if the information that they have already obtained is not sufficient to meet their needs.

If in fact it appears that some sort of National Registry might come into being I believe that a great deal of care and consideration would have to be taken in the development of the national registry application form and how that form might be helpful to the parties that might wish to register. Again, I don't believe that you want to have people contacted who were not a part of the original adoption.

In consideration of this and in looking over a copy of S 1487 that was sent to me several months ago the only purpose for this legislation is to effect a REUNION of people who have been separated from each other by the adoption process. I contend that for two consenting adults, there are other ways for this to happen without the federal government getting involved in the adoption process.

Contrary to what we hear from some birth mothers and some adult adoptees, not all reunions are good either, for the adoptee, the birth parent or the adoptive family. I would suggest that if reunion is truly desired by the parties involved in the adoption that they should take advantage of what is already offered in many states with the establishment of reunion registries. Further there continues to be the option of court action for the people involved in the original adoption.

For some adoptive parents, the very thought of an unsolicited reunion between the child that they have adopted and that child's birth parents is enough to make them question the validity of the adoption experience. They find the whole concept of unsolicited reunion between the child that they adopted and the birth parent/family as arejection of them personally and of the parental relationship that they thought they had with the child that they adopted and raised in their family unit.

As a social worker who has been involved in the field of adoptions for many years, I would be interested in knowing who brings what to the adoption table. There are some adoptees who have not had a good family experience. Not unlike some birth children who resided with their birth families who have not had a good family experience. In speaking with adult adoptees who have had this kind of experience, some come to the reunion table with a great deal of anger and feelings of rejection. They are quite often prepared to blame the birth mother for putting them into such a situation when the birth mother in fact had little or no choice about the family that the child was placed with and certainly had no knowledge of the life experiences of the child.

I have also worked with and spoken with birth mothers for whom time stopped. From the moment they signed their Consent, under whatever the circumstances might have been, they have merely observed the life experience. They seek a reunion in the hope that they will find a child to parent. It is not unusual that the child they find is an adult who is not at all interested in having another parent.

Finally, I am also concerned that having a National Registry could spawn another "cottage industry" of folks who will help people on the registry verify their information for a fee. I hear from birth mothers and adult adoptees everyday who are being taken advantage of by private searchers, investigators and other groups/individuals who are in the search business for financial gain. Let there be no mistake about it. This is a lucrative area and one that is unregulated and it is fair to say that some individuals/organizations are charging whatever the market will bear. As I stated earlier, I am often court ordered to search for both the adult adoptees and birth parents. I can tell you that it does not cost thousands of dollars to conduct a successful search and that it usually can be done for three to four hundred dollars. However, I hear from adult adoptees and birth parents everyday complain that they have paid thousands of dollars for a search and have not gotten positive results for their money.

I would much prefer that the advocates for openness in the adoption process involve themselves in the legislative process and work toward more openness in the adoption process, so that the actual or perceived need for this kind of registry would be a mute issue.

Mr. Chairman, I hope that this testimony has been helpful to you and your colleagues in your consideration of this very important matter. I thank you for the invitation and the opportunity to testify before this distinguished committee.