The bill allows people who were adopted in Ohio from 1964 to 1996 to get access to their original birth certificates. It also allows those birth parents to indicate whether they want their adult children to contact them.
There is a one-year window in which birth parents can have their names redacted from birth certificates. But if a birth parent does that, a detailed medical history must be provided for the adopted child.
Other states that have made similar changes have found very few birth parents want to remove their names. So beginning in March of 2015, these adoptees can get the birth information they are seeking.
Other adoptees born before 1964 or after 1996 already have access to their birth certificates under Ohio law.
