Day of rejoicing for adoptees

On Saturday, families and adoption advocates across the country celebrated National Adoption Day. It is meant to celebrate the joys, the gifts and the love that come with adoption.

This year, Illinois-born adoptees have more to celebrate. On Nov. 15, we gained the right to do what we have been denied all of our lives: apply for a copy of our original birth certificates. On that day, the Illinois Department of Public Health began accepting request forms.

To many, a birth certificate may just be a scrap of paper. To adoptees, it’s the key to understanding one’s original identity. Adoptees will learn their birth name and place and the names of one or both of their birthparents.

As an adoptee, advocate and legislator, I have come to know adopted persons who have reunited with birth families and others who have sought no reunification. Some have adopted children of their own. Some have spent their entire lives seeking their identity, while others only learned of their adopted status as older adults.

I personally rejoice that I will be able to learn the answer to two questions: who I am and where I came from. I urge other Illinois adult adoptees to do the same. Visit www.NewIllinoisAdoptionLaw.com.

State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz

Chicago