The U.S. Census Bureau at An Adoptee's Service

Today while reading a genealogical column in our local newspaper I was happy in a way to see that The U.S. Census Bureau can be of help with passport applications (www.census.gov/genealogy/www/agesearch.html). The website does not say that adoptees are exempt. So I saw red to think that adoptees with delayed birth records can now pay $65 to prove a birth and a family relationship. It is just another way to cash in on adoptees who are still legally denied a copy of their OBC.

For years now some adoptees have had problems with obtaining a passport. When an amended certificate, the only one that many adoptees have is dated several days or maybe months after their birthdate, government officials question if it is authentic. So the issuance of a passport is denied. The date on my own amended birth record was definitely falsified since my adoptive parents did not know about my birth until I was three weeks old. But there are no questions asked by any government agency because the dates match. I'm not complaining but it goes to show that a falsfied legal document can fly while one that has not been tampered with might not.

Adoptees being denied passports have been one argument for open records. Is The U.S. Census Bureau stepping up to help legislators who oppose open records? Or has The U.S. Census Bureau stepped up to cash in like others have from records being closed in the majority of the states? There could be non-adopted U.S. citizens in need of this new service.

But I say it is far better to restore the civil right taken from adoptees. During these bad economical times why not let them obtain a copy of their OBC for the same amount as others pay for an OBC? I bet it would not cost $65 in any one of the states. I have to wonder too if a question will come up about an adoptee's age on their drivers' license or state ID matching that with what The U.S. Census Bureau finds on the census. Census errors are rather common and we must remember that not all adoptees join their adoptive families immediately after birth.

Will we learn at some point that this new service can't help all adoptees? It could become a gamble as to if it will or not while a government agency is still profiting.