Adopted Californians cannot access their original birth certificates

These maps categorize US states into three primary groups: Unrestricted, Compromised, and Restricted, with definitions and numbers below.  A list of states and restrictions is also available, as well as a changelog to the map over time. 

Opinion 

By Jennifer Wallig Special to The Sacramento Bee 

June 27, 2025 

 California denies adult adoptees access to original birth certificates. 

Explore the fight for equality and identity restoration in adoption laws. 

California has long been a leader in civil rights, but there is one glaring exception: adult adoptees in our state are still denied the right to obtain their own original birth certificates. This injustice affects thousands of Californians who, unlike their non-adopted peers, are blocked from accessing a document that speaks to their identity, their origins and their truth. 

Currently, adult adoptees in California receive only an amended birth certificate — one that lists their adoptive parents as if they were their birth parents. The original document, created at birth, is sealed by the state and kept from the very person it’s about.  This practice not only erases history; it reinforces shame and secrecy in adoption.  It says to adoptees: “You don’t have the same rights as everyone else.” 

This isn’t the case everywhere. As of 2025, 15 states have passed laws granting adult adoptees the right to request their unredacted original birth certificates.  States like Oregon, New York, Colorado, Alabama, Kansas and Alaska already recognize that adoptees deserve equality when it comes to their records. These states have shown that restoring access doesn’t cause chaos, it brings healing. California nearly joined them: In 2023, Assembly Bill 1302 offered hope.  In 2024, Senate Bill 1274 tried again. Both died before reaching the governor’s desk.  Why?  Misinformation, fear and an outdated belief that adoptees shouldn’t “stir up the past.” 

But this is not about digging up drama. It’s about restoring dignity.  Access to an original birth certificate isn’t about reunions, it’s about rights.  Whether or not an adoptee ever contacts a birth parent is irrelevant.  What matters is that they are allowed to know the truth about their own beginnings.  As the daughter of an adoptee, I watched firsthand how frustrating and painful it was for my father to be treated like his identity must be kept secret from him.  

I’m not asking for special treatment, I’m asking for equal treatment.  It’s time for California to stop lagging behind. We should not be a state that preaches equality but denies it to adopted adults.  Lawmakers must reintroduce and pass legislation that grants adult adoptees unrestricted access to their original, unaltered birth certificates.  No vetoes, no redactions and no hoops.  To California’s elected officials and others who have the power to lead on this issue: We are counting on you to act.  In the end, this is not just an adoptee issue.  It’s a human rights issue.  Let’s make California the next state to get it right.

Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/article309324380.html#storylink=cpy

Adult adopted people in fifteen states currently have an unrestricted right to obtain copies of their own pre-adoption original birth records without discriminatory restrictions.  MORE: https://adopteerightslaw.com/maps/

Birthright Citizenship?

 

Drumph/Trump's ancestors are from Germany

EXCERPT:

The history of birthright citizenship in the US

That exception has traditionally been interpreted to exclude foreign diplomats’ children, foreign enemies in hostile occupation or Native American children subject to tribal laws. But some say the children of noncitizens fall under that umbrella, too.

The 14th Amendment reads: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.”  It didn’t, however, always apply to everyone.  It wasn’t until 1924, for example, that Congress granted citizenship to all Native Americans born in the U.S.

https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/immigration/border-coverage/supreme-court-birthright-citizenship-decision/

Tobacco workshop embraces controversial Native practice

 Healing through traditions

Navajo-Hopi Observer, Alexandra Wittenberg

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Native Americans for Community Actions (NACA) chief executive officer Christopher David led a workshop on tobacco cessation, “Healing Through Traditions” on May 27 at the Fourth Street center.

Participants got to make their own leather medicine bags at the end of the presentation, which offered insight into the difference between hand-prepared tobacco versus commercial, the history of the substance, and how to honor tobacco as a relative.

 

Participants make leather tobacco bags at the Native Americans for Community Action “Healing Through Traditions” workshop May 27. (Alexandra Wittenberg/NHO)

“It was actually illegal for us to practice any of this not too long ago,” David said, noting that even during his father’s generation, Native Americans partook in tobacco ceremonies secretly.

In 1978 the American Indian Religious Freedom Act was passed, recognizing the right of American Indians to practice their religion without interference from the government.

However, many health consequences have also been suffered by tribal members who have overused the substance commercially. It is now widely-known that smoking can cause cancer, heart disease and diabetes if abused. Even if you are not partaking, first-hand, second-hand and third-hand smoke from others is also harmful. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Indians have the highest smoking rates as well as lowest quit rates among all U.S. ethnic groups.

Dził Nat’oh is a form of tobacco used in traditional Navajo healing ceremonies. Grown and collected in its natural environment, it is far more pure than commercial tobacco that is laced with addictive chemicals.

If used appropriately within ceremonies, the health risks are minimal, David said.

There is also a lot of commercial tobacco, which is mass-produced by tobacco industries for profit, that is marketed to look like traditional tobacco. American Spirit cigarettes and other chewing tobacco that have Indian chiefs on the design.

 

Some medicine bags on display at the Native Americans for Community Action “Healing Through Traditions” workshop May 27. (Alexandra Wittenberg/NHO)

“People kind of wonder, ‘is that real tobacco?’ You have to be really careful,” he said.

In 2021, the Navajo Nation enacted the Air is Life Act, banning commercial tobacco products on American Indian tribal lands.

David, who grew up in Ganado, lived in Utah for over 20 years and moved to Flagstaff four years ago, said he was first offered tobacco at the age of 5 or 6.

He collected ceremonial tobacco with his family in the mountains from tobacco plants.

“On Navajo there is four sacred mountains, and each of the mountains had different medicines on them,” David said.

In Utah, he did sweat lodge ceremonies with elders from Lakota and Southern Paiute Tribes that he said really helped him grow as an individual.

During the sweat lodge ceremonies, he would go out in nature with his tobacco bags to make tobacco offerings to the stones he felt connections with, called grandfathers. Usually 28 stones are offered altogether.

Returning to Flagstaff, he learned more about the Navajo language and ceremonies with his own tribe. He also said he went to a lot of peyote ceremonies where peyote readings were done.

Another free “Healing Through Traditions” tobacco workshop will occur June 24 at 5:30 p.m. at NACA, with more monthly throughout the summer. Register and find out more at nacainc.org.

SOURCE: 

www.nhonews.com /news/healing-through-traditions-tobacco-workshop-embraces-controversial-native-practice/article_a6600f88-891d-4221-a5c4-87ce39fdec7b.html