A s an adoptee and an adoptive parent, I applaud the New Jersey Senate and Assembly for passing the New Jersey Birthright Bill. This important legislation will restore a basic human and civil right to relinquished persons who lost their genetic identity upon adoption.
Like every minority group, adoptees are often faced with stigma and can be marginalized in unexpected ways. When my birth mother died in 1997, I mourned her death alone, as family and friends judged her importance to me incomprehensible since I had known her for only 10 years.
The situation became unbearable when I was unable to bury her since I did not have my original birth certificate proving I was her daughter. While her body remained in cold storage at a funeral home, I had to go to court to get permission to arrange for her burial.
At the same time, I became my birth father’s legal guardian since his other children took no responsibility for him. During that legal process, I needed to find and connect with my birth siblings, and have honored requests from those who want no contact.
Since then, I have formed a close relationship with one of my biological sisters and now have medical information that has benefited both of our families and likely saved my life.
Susan Merkel
Member of NJCARE and American Adoption Congress
West Windsor