I am sitting on top of the world right now. The Utah State legislature is poised to pass
a bill next week that will open the adoption records of those adopted prior to
1941. In 1941 the legislators in Utah voted
to seal all adoption records for one hundred years. They made the sealing of the records
retroactive to all adoptions ever contracted in the state. Next week they will vote to open the records
they had retroactively closed because there was no contract or guarantee to the
birth parents prior to 1941 that their names would never be disclosed.
My mother was adopted by a loving family in 1938. She had an enriched childhood with wonderful
parents. They did all that they could
for her. And they had to do a lot. My mother would qualify for special education
services if she were a child in today’s schools. She had a severe speech impediment, as well
as other learning difficulties. As I got
to be an older child and a teenager I realized that she had problems processing
language. Every time I said anything to
her she would ask me to repeat it. The
smarty pants teenager that I was caught on to this, so every time I talked to
her I would automatically repeat myself. Then she would ask me to repeat myself
again, and I would roll my eyes and say whatever I was saying a third
time. Fortunately, I grew up a little
and became kind again. I trained myself
to be patient with her, and I would help her write letters and I would help her communicate with other people.
She never wanted to know who her birth mother was. She was afraid that it would dishonor her
mother and father, and somehow, she would lose her rights as their
daughter. My grandmother wasn’t worried
about it. She was okay with her meeting
her birth mother. But they are gone from
this earth now. So I am sitting on this precipice. What could possibly go wrong?
I always knew that I would someday look at the adoption
records and that I would make contact with my mother’s natural family. I was
under the impression that I would be doing it when I was 78 years old, because
that would be 100 years after the adoption.
When you are the child of an adopted parent you really don’t
have a lot of answers. Do I have a
history of breast cancer in my family? How about a history of heart disease,
high blood pressure, diabetes, genetic anomalies? I can tell you about my dad’s side, so I have
half of a medical history. My mother
died from complications of osteoporosis.
She had the body of a 100 year old woman when she died at age 70. Was
that because of lifestyle, or was that an inherited predisposition?
My sister, Deanna Caringella, took a 23 and Me home DNA test
around Christmas and she just got her results last week. Her results showed many cousins on the east
coast so that got my curiosity up again about my birth grandmother. Why was she in Utah in 1938? Where was her family? What did she do after the birth?
After Deanna told me about her results I put forth another
effort. I called the predecessor of the
original adoption agency that handled my mother’s case in Utah on 1938. I was able to contact the correct person to
help me. He was able to look on his computer and to find the file. He pulled it up and agreed to look for any medical
information that he might be able to give me.
As he was reading the file he said things like, “Oh, wow! Oh my
goodness. Well that was an easy
adoption.” I am not sure what he meant
by those comments. I am seriously
jealous that he could read the file and that I can’t. And, to no one’s surprise, there was no non identifying
health information available in the file, not even the height, weight, or hair
color of the birth mother. When you
think about it, it was 1938. The adoption records were not sealed. There were
not extensive medical questioners that the birth parents filled out in preparation
for the 100 year dearth of contact or information. The natural parents were young adults and many
health problems don’t present themselves until people get older. I learned from
the adoption papers that are in my sister’s possession that the natural father
signed the adoption papers and that he attorney had to drive to Weber County
from Salt Lake to get the notarized signature of the birth mother. The cost of
that errand was and additional ten dollars tacked on to the price of the
adoption.
There was only one little glimmer of hope from the
conversation. The worker at the adoption agency told me about a bill in the
Utah legislature. He didn’t hold out much
hope for it. So I googled it. It really
looks hopeful. In the few days since I started
following house bill 256 it passed committee by a very large margin, and will
go up for a vote in the full house late this week.
My imagination is going a little wild. What will we find when we look in the file?
Will there be a joyous reunion, anger, denial, or apathy? Whatever! The result will be better than not knowing.
