| The first four adoptees to get their original birth certificates today in Ohio. |
Today, thousands of native Ohioans who were adopted as kids can get a copy of their original birth certificate for the first time.
The state’s Department of Health adopted a new law allowing persons adopted in Ohio between 1964 and 1996 to obtain their birth records from the state. Until now, persons adopted in Ohio between those years needed a court order to receive a copy of their birth certificate, thanks to a 1963 law that tried to stop the public from seeing adoption records too easily.
When the doors opened at the vital statistics offices today, about 250 people crowded in to request their original birth records, a department spokeswoman confirmed.
In 2013, the Ohio legislators voted to make the records available on request.
At a news conference in Columbus, state Senator Dave Burke who is an adoptee himself and sponsored the bill said it was an “uphill battle” to change state law but a worthwhile one.
“Unless you’re an adoptee, you don’t have a whole understanding of how important this is to you,” Burke said.
The state has had a patchwork of inconsistent laws for years and today over 400,000 are free to uncover more about their past and history.