News You Can Use

Colorado bans future anonymous sperm and egg donations

June 1, 2022

Though a few states have enacted fertility fraud bills, SB 22-224 is a landmark shift in policy that advocates hope will spread nationwide.

VT Governor Scott Signs OBC Access Bill into Law

May 6, 2022

Vermont, which had previously allowed adoptees born after 1986 to obtain copies of their original birth certificate, has taken the next incremental step to provide the same access for all adult adoptees and descendants

Irish mother-and-baby homes redress plan announced

November 16, 2021

After a January 2021 public apology offered by the Irish government to women who suffered abuse and coercive practices in mother-and-baby homes, government officials have gone a step further in providing financial reparations.

Birth Certificate Bill Championed by Cassano Becomes Law

June 8, 2021

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed a bill June 7, 2021 restoring direct, unrestricted access to original birth certificates for adult adoptees and their descendants. The measure was approved 115-28 by the House and 27-8 by the Senate.

How a new Iowa law will help adult adoptees get birth certificates

May 24, 2021

On Wednesday, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bipartisan bill into law that will allow adult adoptees to more easily get the original copy of their birth certificate. Rep. Marti Anderson, D-Des Moines, who gave up her daughter for adoption when she got pregnant at age 19, gave an emotional speech on the House floor in support of the measure.

TN Legislature Unanimously Repeals Contact Veto Registry

April 12, 2021

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed into law a bill repealing the state's Contact Veto Registry on 4/7/21, after it passed through the state legislature unanimously and unamended. Tennessee was the first state to retrospectively unseal original birth certificates to adult adoptees in 1995.

Corruption Watch

Think corruption and unethical practices in relinquishment, adoption, assisted reproduction and foster care are a thing of the past? Think again. Help us shine a light in the dark places by sharing news that comes your way.

Over 20,000 babies estimated stolen from Chilean mothers (USA Today 8/22/23)

Adoption Fraud (Findlaw, 3/20/2023)

Illegal adoptions: Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children (United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner)

Spanish babies stolen by network of Catholic nuns and doctors under Franco (NYT 9/27/22)

When an Ancestry search reveals fertility fraud (NYT 2/28/22)

Ex-Strongsville adoption agency owner sentenced for fraudulent adoption of Polish girl, who was brutally raped (Cleveland.com 5/20/22)

Former Executive Director of international adoption agency pleads guilty to fraudulent adoption scheme (USDOJ 2/4/22)

Jury awards nearly $9 million to families in fertility fraud case (AP 4/29/22)

A former fertility doctor who used his own sperm is somehow not the first (ENews: 4/14/22)

FBI Warns the Public About Domestic Adoption Fraud Schemes (FBI.gov: 11/9/21)

Texas woman pleads guilty in international adoption fraud scheme (Justice News: 11/17/21)

How an adoption broker cashed in on prospective parents' dreams (The New Yorker: 10/25/21)