The Sealed Records Adoption Controversy

The Sealed Records Adoption Controversy C. Wilson Anderson, Pennsylvania State University

Abstract
Present public policy supports the confidentiality and anonymity of the adoption process. The "sealed record" component of this process is a matter of controversy among social workers, attorneys, adoptees, and natural and adoptive parents. Efforts of adult adoptees to gain access to sealed court records for information on their origins is gaining support from both social workers and lawyers. Issues and lines of debate are synthesized with special attention to adoptees' assertions of constitutional rights to access. The fundamental issue, however, may be a matter not of constitutional right but of the need to change public policy on behalf of adult adoptees.

The Sealed Records Adoption Controversy C. Wilson Anderson, Pennsylvania State University

You may surprised to learn that this was written in 1977.