Jerry Brown on Adoption

 

“Current law allows the courts in cases of necessity and good and compelling cause to make available information regarding the birth of children who have been adopted.

“This bill would radically change the law to require when both an adopted person and the natural parent each request from the Department of Health information with respect to identity of the other that a meeting will be arranged between the two without any requirement of just cause, without any notification to the adoptive parents and without any judicial review.

“By bypassing both the protection that the courts now provide all parties in this sensitive area and by ignoring the rights of adoptive parents, this bill would have a chilling effect on adoptions and a disruptive effect on family relationships.”

Veto Message, AB 4200 by then Assemblyman Bill Campbell, a Hacienda Heights Republican.

September 22, 1976

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