Ten years ago, we witnessed history in the making as we celebrated Opening Day – the day 400,000 Ohio-born adoptees finally had the legal right to apply for their original birth certificates.
Adoption Network Cleveland led the charge for this law for the full 25 years it took to make it a reality. Beginning in the 1980s, we initiated bill after bill, navigating the complexities of legislative advocacy and demonstrating persistence in the face of repeated setbacks.
By 2013, our diligence paid off. A dream team of sponsors fell into place—a bipartisan group representing all aspects of lived experience in the adoption constellation (Representatives Bill Beagle and Dorothy Pelanda, and Senators Dave Burke and Nickie Antonio). They were just the powerful champions we needed. The legislation passed in late 2013.
15 months later, on March 20, 2015, the law was fully implemented.
As the new law called for records to be sent through the mail, we anticipated that only a handful of people might travel to Columbus to take part in our Opening Day celebration. We arranged for a hotel in Columbus with a small block of rooms and a space where we could gather the night before to celebrate with the 50 or so people we expected, and we put word out to see who would come.
Well, word spread, and the floodgates opened.
Hundreds of calls poured in, media inquiries flooded our office, and phone lines rang off the hook. Journalists from local papers, TV stations across the state, and major outlets like the Associated Press, Reuters, and Al Jazeera covered the story. Adoptees and birth parents from across the country made plans to join us in Columbus.
We pivoted quickly to accommodate the overwhelming response. Our team facilitated and participated in nearly 250 electronic and print news stories. Instead of the dozens we anticipated, we welcomed hundreds of people over two unforgettable days. Events included a gathering in the Vital Statistics office lobby in the morning, followed by a large press conference in the afternoon, where the Director of the Department of Health personally presented four adoptees with the first records released.
One of the most powerful moments of that day was standing at the entrance of the Ohio Department of Health, Division of Vital Statistics, greeting the long line of adoptees who had waited outside all night to be among the first to submit their applications. The staff at the Department of Health rose to the occasion, celebrating alongside us as this historic moment unfolded.
A decade later, the impact of this law is undeniable. We recently checked in with our colleagues at the Department of Health, and they shared that 18,434 original birth certificates have been released over the past ten years.
