A New Jersey law set to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2017, gives adopted people like Hasegawa access to their original birth certificates.
For Pam Hasegawa, the reunion was personal. And it was profound.
"I was so relieved to know where I came from, whom I came from - just relieved I have a place on the human continuum," she said.
The Morristown resident, a founder of the N.J. Coalition for Adoption Reform and Education (NJCARE) was talking about meeting her birth mother for the first time - an experience that is on the verge of becoming reality for countess others.
A state law set to go into effect on Jan. 1 gives adopted people like Hasegawa access to their original birth certificates.
The New Jersey Birthright Act pertains to anyone age 18 and over who was born in the state and adopted here or elsewhere, and anyone born out-of-state and adopted in New Jersey.
Long sought and hard won, the measure provides them the means to learn about their medical conditions and ethnic heritages, a right most people have the luxury to take for granted.
Adopted people can start getting birth records Jan. 1
Gov. Chris Christie signed the law in March of 2014, building in a 2-and-a-half year grace period while the move was publicized and birth parents could request anonymity if they desired.
Becoming a reality after more than three decades of lobbying, the final version of the bill was designed as a compromise to please both adoption advocates and organizations such as New Jersey Right to Life, the New Jersey Catholic Conference and the ACLU of New Jersey, which argued for birth parents' right to privacy.
In a statement last week, state Health Commissioner Cathleen Bennett reminded birth parents who wish to have their names redacted from the original birth certificate they have until Dec. 31 to make their wishes known.
Birth parents can also request to be contacted through an intermediary, such as an adoption agency.
Many adoptees who have reunited with a birth parent describe the encounters as healing and fulfilling, helping them fill huge gaps in their lives.
They often express joy at finally meeting someone who is related to them by blood. They recall marveling at a mother who reflects their coloring and their gait, a father who shares their passion for math or hiking.
It's difficult to tell how many requests will come in from adoptees as the law takes effect. Earlier this month, the health department said it had received fewer than 500 applications thus far.
About 300,000 birth records of adoptees have been sealed since 1940. Bennett said her department will conduct a careful search to match them against adoption decrees and redaction requests before any application is answered.
The people who worked hard to see the N.J. Birthright Act through to fruition - and the people who will benefit from it - have a lot to celebrate in the new year.
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