BURN BABY BURN

Not all of us share my same photographic dread of family snapshots stuffed in drawers, crammed in albums, or framed and forgotten, collecting dust.

When I was in India, I was often invited to look at family photo albums. Their love of family was so encompassing it spilled beyond the threshold of their own homes. Time and again, people I had just met were eager to share their pictures with a total stranger. What I view as a curse, others view as a blessing.

And in the case of adoptees, it can be a blessing denied.

Thinking of family photography, I contemplated the plight of my friend who soon turns 40. Trish has struggled for decades to frame her own identity in the absence of family history and Kodak pictures.

It was not until she was in her mid-teens that she learned from Roy, a schoolmate, that she was adopted.

Roy himself was adopted, a fact that did little to mitigate Trish's consternation after suddenly learning she was not the biological daughter of the Foleys. Simultaneously explosively angry and excitedly optimistic, Trish confronted her "parents", pressing them for information about her birth mother.

Trish pressed and pleaded again and again. She got nowhere.

Almost thirty-five years have past. Trish still knows nothing about her birth, her mother, her father, her relatives. Her father, now in his 70's, keeps her adoption papers secure under lock and key.

It is hard to imagine what it is like not to know your own nationality. When others talk proudly of their ancestry, she is left to question, "Am I Irish, Italian, Scottish, Russian? Who am I?"

How does it feel to be unable to fill out health forms? What goes through your head when you unable to answer questions about your family's history of breast cancer, diabetes, or other potentially fatal diseases? How do you deal with the fact that this lack of data puts you at greater risk while wondering if you could possibly obtain that information if you were not denied access to it? How do you deal with the anger and frustration?

And, what is life like without pictures of your biological family? I have heard Trish ponder aloud if she has her biological father to blame for her chin and her mother to blame for her breasts. What is it like to look in a mirror every day and never have an answer? Although I rail against clinging to pictures of unknown ancestors, Trish would treasure such images.

What is it like to always question but never know one's roots simply because others legally have the power to withhold that information from you?

Trish knows only one fact. She was adopted in Ohio.

Thinking about her plight, I googled to discover if she could legally access her adoption records in Ohio. Unfortunately, in yet another cruel twist of fate, individuals adopted in Ohio after 1964 are barred from accessing their personal adoption records. A recent Ohio bill to open adoption records was squashed in the legislature.

Unless her father reneges, Trish has no way to learn more.

Bastard Nation "advocates for the civil and human rights of adult citizens who were adopted as children. Millions are prohibited by law from accessing personal records that pertain to their historical, genetic and legal identities. Such records are held by their governments in secret and without accountability, due solely to the fact they were adopted. Bastard Nation campaigns for the restoration of their right to access their records."

Across the nation and around the world there are many individuals and organizations lobbying for open access to adoption records. Australia, the U.K, and some provinces in Canada have opened their records. In France, Finland, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Norway, and Israel adoption records have never been closed. Isn't it time the United States follow suit?

What can be done?

Get involved. Join the campaign. Sign online petitions. Lobby on behalf of adoption rights.