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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A Taylorsville representative is sponsoring a bill that would make it easier for adoptees to be reunited with their birth parents.
The bill, sponsored by Representative Kory Holdaway, would allow any adoptee, age 21 or older, to obtain a copy of his or her original birth certificate. The only exception would be if the birth parents requested the information NOT be released.
Under current Utah law, original birth certificates are sealed after an adoption is finalized and a new birth certificate is issued.
The bill would also allow birth parents to have the option of releasing their names only if a child came looking for them.
The idea for Holdaway's bill came from a Utah man's struggles to find his own birth parents. Hoping to help other adoptees, 22-year-old Tyson Asay called Holdaway to find a way to make adoptee-birth parent reunions easier.
Although, the bill won't help Asay because it would only apply to adoptions after January of 2007, he hopes it will help other adoptees avoid his disappointment.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
