Utah lawmaker aims to give adoptees easier access to adoption records

SALT LAKE CITY — It could soon be a lot easier for adult adoptees in Utah to access their adoption records.

HB129, a bill sponsored by Rep. Raymond Ward, R-Bountiful, aims to give adoptees the ability to obtain their original birth certificate once they’re 18, without having to appear before a judge.

“Study after study in different kinds of settings show that if we let people know about their past, they can do better in their present.”

Ward said the bill still provides protections for birth parents, who can request to keep those files sealed even after their children turn 18.

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Eleven-year-old Elena Cooper said that she would like to have a birth certificate with her birth parents’ names on it.

“My birth mom loves me, and I love her. I think it’s really unfair that it’s not on the birth certificate.”

Laura Lee Salamino said that her adoption was closed and that getting access to her biological history later in life was important to her health.

“Finding my biological mom… it gave me my medical records. Two of my sisters have had cancer before the age of 45, and my biological grandmother died at 52 as a result of an aneurysm, and having this information saved my life two years ago.”

The bill has passed through both a Senate and House vote and only needs a stamp of approval from Gov. Cox before becoming law.

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