Facing DNA Reality: Why Restoring Rights To Adoptees is Actually the Most Private Option

With today's consumer DNA market, restricting access to original birth certificates actually compromises privacy. The data is indisputable proving updated legislation is urgently needed.

DNA Reality Demands Dignified Access

Adult adoptees will seek answers about their origins with or without legal access because it is a basic human right to act on the need to know who you are and where you come from. This issue is about ensuring they can exercise their rights through dignified channels rather than being forced to surrender their genetic data and their own privacy to commercial companies.

$2.4B
Current size of the consumer DNA testing market
Projected to reach $10 billion by 2030
26M+
People have taken consumer DNA tests
Expected to grow to be one-third of America
92%
Of adoptees find a half-second cousin or closer when first testing
Allowing identification of close family members

The Contradiction in Current Policy

In an era where genetic anonymity no longer exists, our outdated laws force adoptees to use consumer DNA testing—a far more invasive method of discovering their identity than simply accessing their own birth records. When we deny adoptees access to their original birth certificates, we don't protect privacy; we compromise it by forcing them into public DNA databases where entire family trees are exposed.

Current System: Forced DNA Testing

  • × Distant relatives may be contacted first, creating awkward situations
  • × Private genetic data becomes property of commercial companies
  • × Birth parents have no control over how or when they're identified
  • × Hundreds of thousands of members in online groups help solve adoption searches in hours

Proposed System: Direct Access

  • ✓ Allows for direct, dignified contact rather than through relatives
  • ✓ Keeps personal information within government systems, not corporate databases
  • ✓ Birth mothers prefer direct contact to being discovered through distant relatives
  • ✓ Restores equal treatment under the law for all citizens

Human Dignity

All citizens deserve equal access to their own vital records. Denying this fundamental right to adult adoptees creates a discriminatory system that violates human dignity.

Evidence-Based Policy

With genetic anonymity effectively over, legislation should reflect current technological realities rather than outdated promises that can no longer be kept.

True Privacy Protection

Ironically, restoring access to original birth certificates now offers the most private option for all parties compared to the alternative of DNA testing.

The Legislative Opportunity

In today's DNA-driven world, restricting access to original birth certificates doesn't protect anyone's privacy—it compromises it by forcing adoptees to use more invasive methods. Legislators now have a unique opportunity to create policy that both respects adoptees' rights AND provides better and actual privacy protection for all involved.

Genetic Anonymity Is Over: Why Restoring Equality To Adoptees Is More Critical Than Ever

Written by Mothers of Adoption Loss at Concerned United Birth Parents

The consumer DNA industry has brought an end to the era of genetic and adoption secrecy. The irony is that it has also created a very public way to identify relatives. When we listen to adult adoptees they tell us they feel forced to use consumer DNA to circumvent discriminatory policy that denies them their original birth certificates. They tell us if they had their original birth certificates, they could initiate private and direct communication which is what we prefer too.