DNA Testing Has Made State Secrecy Laws Obsolete

All too often Michigan adoptees are forced with a choice to try to navigate Michigan’s complex system to gain information about their origins and medical history or begin searching using the easy and affordable method of DNA testing.

DNA testing makes sealed record serecy impossible to uphold. Obtaining an Original Birth Certificate (OBC) through the state of Michigan however, is far more private for the birth parent and adopted person than DNA registries. DNA searches may involve contacting numerous biological relatives in order to figure out who the birth parent is. Once these conversations begin, they tend to spread like wildfire in families…especially if no one knew that an infant was born then relinquished. Dozens of biological relatives may be contacted, and by the time news reaches the birth parent that the adopted person is seeking information, the privacy the state believes it is ensuring is completely gone.

In legislating for open records, we have heard from opposition groups that laws can’t be enacted based on the availability of commercial products, yet - if the true intention of these laws is to protect birth parent privacy, one would think that the availability of DNA tests to the adopted population should be considered by the state when keeping this outdated system intact. We argue that the current Michigan system harms birth parents who may prefer to be contacted directly instead of through a distant family member. These laws also harm adopted people who may only want medical information, but are now faced with having to delve into a past they may not wish to visit in order to find the information that is crucial and needed in every person’s life.

DNA tests are often on sale for well under $100.00. For many adoptees, the cost of a DNA test is much prefered to the expense of hiring a state confidential intermediary (C.I.) They typically charge $300 per parent you are looking for info about. Also, in the case of the intermediary program, we have learned that you may get better results with some C.I.’s more than others. We believe that these types of inequalities are not in the best interest of adoptees as all should have equal rights to the same information. Adoptees never agreed to the situation we have found ourselves in, and we don’t believe we should be charged exorbitant amounts of money to pay for state services to gain insight into information the state already has, to then sometimes be told after paying the $300, that the parent prefers we know nothing. This also discriminates against adoptees who simply can not afford to try to obtain this information, and is why our current law encourages the use of DNA testing by adoptees. All of the largest consumer based registries tend to market especially to adopted people, with Ancestry.com advertising prices as low as $39.99 around Mothers day in the United States.

If you are an adopted person, and you would like help in finding out more information about how to do DNA testing, please consider attending one of our free monthly online workshop where our board member, Susan Christin, assists Michigan adoptees in understanding their DNA results, and also where to begin in navigating Michigan’s complex system for obtaining your birth information by clicking here.