After years of work by advocates for adoptees, the state of Ohio last year unsealed the records on 400-thousand people who were adopted between 1964 and 1996. Now, those adoptees can request and receive their original birth certificate, important medical records and in many cases discover their birth mother's name. But finding the name is just the start. For many adoptees, the birth records represent the first step in a long and emotional journey that reconnects them to not only mothers, but brothers, sisters and other family members they never knew they had. For others, reunion remains elusive. And for others still, that's a part of their life they don't want to explore.
Betsie Norris, Executive Director, Adoption Network Cleveland
Kay Williams, Reunited Adoptee, Cleveland Heights
Tamara Green, Reunited Adoptee, Weirton, W. Virginia
Resources:
Adoption Network Cleveland web site
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