Shaker Woman In Middle of New Adoption Legislation

Betsie Norris, a Shaker Heights resident, told The Plain Dealer she believes children who are adopted should have access to their adoption files.

Norris, the director of Adoption Network Cleveland and Patch blogger, is an adoptee herself and wants to change the state's current law on how that information available, the paper reports.

Read Norris' blog: Ohio Adoptee Rights Legislation

In her blog Norris talks about the pieces of legislation in Ohio that would "allow individuals – who were adopted between 1964 and 1996 and who are now adults – access their original birth certificates upon request."

"Currently these adoptees have no direct mechanism for doing so,” Norris wrote.

Because of the way the law is configured, adoptees born before 1964 and after 1996 have greater access to their records, which can be important especially when medical care is involved.

One of the leading politicians behind this movement is Representative Nickie Antonio, a democrat in Lakewood. 

"This bill is not about search, it is not about finding the other side of the coin," Antonio told The Plain Dealer. "The issue is about equity and fairness for the adoptee to get access to an original birth certificate."