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Tyson Perry of Cherry Hill (center) sits with his two sisters-in-law Carol Dowlen of Jackson County, PA (left) and Jo Pierson of Red Bank (right) as they listen to testimony during a meeting of the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee at the State House in opposition to a bill that would grant adopted people their original birth certificates to learn the identity of their biological parents. Tyson's wife, Susan Perry, was adopted and was reunited with her sisters Carol and Jo.

(Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-Ledger)

TRENTON — A state Senate committee with a long history of supporting adoption rights overwhelmingly approved a bill Monday that would allow adopted people to obtain their original birth certificates that reveal their parents' names.

Winning support from the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee was never in doubt: the panel supported similar versions of the bill eight times since 1996, Chairman Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex) said.

But pressure from Catholic church leaders, anti-abortion rights advocates, the ACLU and the State Bar Association, who argue that birth parents surrendered babies believing they would remain anonymous, have successfully killed the measure since it was introduced 34 years ago.

Vitale said he is more optimistic the bill will be passed this time. He sees an opportunity in Gov. Chris Christie’s conditional veto of the bill in 2011, in which the governor said he would support a compromise that allowed a confidential intermediary to search for natural parents. Vitale said he does not support this idea but believes it could lead to other options.

"We will work with the administration to address their concerns. I think it will be different this time," Vitale said after the hearing. "There is some room for negotiation."

The bill (S873) would allow an adopted adult to contact the state registrar to obtain his or her birth certificate, and receive any available information regarding contact preferences with their biological parent and family history.

Birth parents would be allowed to file documents with the state registrar indicating whether they want to be contacted directly, through an intermediary or not at all, according to the bill. The birth parent who does not want to be contacted will be required to update the family history information every 10 years until the birth parent reaches the age of 40, and every five years thereafter.

Lynn Nowak, an attorney representing the America Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, said the bill "fails to adequately appreciate and account for the rights of birth parents" who had "an understanding that such information would remain confidential."

Sen. Diane Allen (R-Burlington), a bill sponsor, said the ACLU’s position "confounded" her.

"The ACLU is a group that stands up for civil rights, and here they are saying these basic rights (to adopted people) are not important," Allen said. "On what basis are you saying (the rights of birth parents) is more important than the needs and desire of the group of adoptees who appear to me to have every right on their side?"

Nowak said the ACLU does not value one group’s rights more than the other. "There are procedural ways you could get to this information, such as through a confidential intermediary," she said.

RELATED COVERAGE

• Gov. Christie conditionally vetoes adoptee birth certificate bill, insisting anonymity for mothers

• Birth mothers tell their stories to fight for N.J. adoption bill







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