It has been a long time coming, but for those who have been waiting for the province of New Brunswick to open adoption records, it is welcome news.
Moncton Northwest MLA Ernie Steeves says the bill passed third reading this week, “Now we’re moving onto Royal Dissent and we believe that will happen next Friday. It is good news for everyone who is searching for relatives, who are searching for family members or searching for their history. It is great news!”
Once the bill is officially passed…the records will officially be opened in April of 2018, “You’ll be able to make a request, find out who their family is, find out your medical history, find out if you have any brother or sisters, If you are a mom or dad, who gave up your baby for adoption, you can find out what happened, and make sure their life turned out good. You can also reconnect if you choose to,” Steeves adds.
Steeves says the only limitation to this, is if a birth parent or adoptee have placed a veto on their information, because they don’t want to have their information shared. In that case, you will be denied any information you request.
Steeves first introduced a motion to open adoption records in 2015, but it was voted down by government. It was re-introduced by the Liberals last year.
Steeves says he doesn’t know of anyone in his family who is adopted, but he has met a lot of New Brunswickers who are, and they have been eagerly waiting for this to happen.
