Thank you for visiting our site to learn more about LASA and our legislative effort to restore to Louisiana's adult adoptees the opportunity to obtain an up-to-date biological family medical history!
The Louisiana Adoption Support Alliance (LASA) is a non-profit organization comprised of Birth Mothers, Adoptees, Adoptive Parents and Siblings, and friends. Our mission is to support and advocate for all sides of the Adoption Triad by offering education, outreach, guidance and support. Along with our sponsor Representative Clay Schexnayder, LASA has introduced a bill - HB 1028 - that will restore to Louisiana-born adult Adoptees the opportunity to obtain a current and up-to-date biological family medical history. CLICK HERE to read about how having this information can save a life!
You may have been told by HB 1028 opponents that "medical history" information is currently available to adult adoptees. At best, that is a misconception. Please CLICK HERE to see what was recently offered as a "Health and Medical History" to one of Louisiana's adult adoptees, a life-long Louisiana citizen who has had high blood pressure since the age of 18, and who recently discovered he is a carrier for Cystic Fibrosis, a disease that is hereditary and has a very high mortality rate. There is no way any doctor could ever obtain medical information from his state-supplied family medical history because there is none listed!
It has been offered too by HB 1028 opponents that one can simply "petition the court" for this information. Is it really a viable option to offer this as an alternative? At best, this clogs our legal system with requests for information that is freely available to all non-adopted citizens and it places an undue burden of legal fees on the adoptee. Also, many adoptees have petitioned the court with a compelling medical reason and have been denied. To require an adoptee to be fatally ill in order to have a chance to obtain a potentially life-saving and up-to-date family medical history does NOT promote health and life. Our current system for obtaining current and up-to-date family medical history information is ineffective at best, and at worst, can be a death sentence.
LASA opposes any and all policies that treat Louisiana's adult Adoptees differently than all other citizens born in Louisiana and our goal is to return to these adult Adoptees the same privilege and civil right enjoyed by those not adopted: access to documents that give them the opportunity to obtain accurate information about their current biological family medical history. HB 1028 will restore to Adult Adoptees over the age of 25 the opportunity to obtain a current and updated biological family medical history, after a waiting and outreach period that allows a birth parent to file a “Contact Preference” form. The Contact Preference is a provision included that protects birth parent confidentiality by allowing them to redact their identifying information if they so desire while simultaneously requiring them to provide an accurate, current and updated family medical history. This bill is a fair compromise in that it recognizes that Adult Adoptees should be given the chance to obtain a life-affirming, and sometimes life-saving, current biological family medical history and, with the Contact Preference form option, protects the confidentiality of the birth parent.
The ramifications of continued denial of current biological family medical history to adult adoptees are truly a matter of life-or-death. With no current family medical history, preventative health care for adoptees is impossible and diagnoses are lengthy and difficult. This is a life-affirming bill. Thank you for your time and attention to this very important issue and we look forward to your support of HB 1028.
The Louisiana Adoption Support Alliance (LASA) is a non-profit organization comprised of Birth Mothers, Adoptees, Adoptive Parents and Siblings, and friends. Our mission is to support and advocate for all sides of the Adoption Triad by offering education, outreach, guidance and support. Along with our sponsor Representative Clay Schexnayder, LASA has introduced a bill - HB 1028 - that will restore to Louisiana-born adult Adoptees the opportunity to obtain a current and up-to-date biological family medical history. CLICK HERE to read about how having this information can save a life!
You may have been told by HB 1028 opponents that "medical history" information is currently available to adult adoptees. At best, that is a misconception. Please CLICK HERE to see what was recently offered as a "Health and Medical History" to one of Louisiana's adult adoptees, a life-long Louisiana citizen who has had high blood pressure since the age of 18, and who recently discovered he is a carrier for Cystic Fibrosis, a disease that is hereditary and has a very high mortality rate. There is no way any doctor could ever obtain medical information from his state-supplied family medical history because there is none listed!
It has been offered too by HB 1028 opponents that one can simply "petition the court" for this information. Is it really a viable option to offer this as an alternative? At best, this clogs our legal system with requests for information that is freely available to all non-adopted citizens and it places an undue burden of legal fees on the adoptee. Also, many adoptees have petitioned the court with a compelling medical reason and have been denied. To require an adoptee to be fatally ill in order to have a chance to obtain a potentially life-saving and up-to-date family medical history does NOT promote health and life. Our current system for obtaining current and up-to-date family medical history information is ineffective at best, and at worst, can be a death sentence.
LASA opposes any and all policies that treat Louisiana's adult Adoptees differently than all other citizens born in Louisiana and our goal is to return to these adult Adoptees the same privilege and civil right enjoyed by those not adopted: access to documents that give them the opportunity to obtain accurate information about their current biological family medical history. HB 1028 will restore to Adult Adoptees over the age of 25 the opportunity to obtain a current and updated biological family medical history, after a waiting and outreach period that allows a birth parent to file a “Contact Preference” form. The Contact Preference is a provision included that protects birth parent confidentiality by allowing them to redact their identifying information if they so desire while simultaneously requiring them to provide an accurate, current and updated family medical history. This bill is a fair compromise in that it recognizes that Adult Adoptees should be given the chance to obtain a life-affirming, and sometimes life-saving, current biological family medical history and, with the Contact Preference form option, protects the confidentiality of the birth parent.
The ramifications of continued denial of current biological family medical history to adult adoptees are truly a matter of life-or-death. With no current family medical history, preventative health care for adoptees is impossible and diagnoses are lengthy and difficult. This is a life-affirming bill. Thank you for your time and attention to this very important issue and we look forward to your support of HB 1028.