The commercial applications of DNA testing that debuted in the early 2000s have developed to uncover lineage secrets and provide important medical information that can be extremely beneficial for families formed through adoption.
Companies such as 23andMe bring biological families together through DNA matches, and adopted children gain knowledge of their genetic backgrounds that can help them prepare for their futures. Adoption as a practice is shifting under the light of open DNA searches that alter a birth parent's ability to maintain a closed adoption.
Heidi Cox, a national expert in adoption law, wrote to The Daily Pennsylvanian about how adoption has “completely changed.”
“There is a blog about opening adoption records, and because regardless of anything else, there are some legislators who think that privacy should still be guaranteed to birth parents,” Cox stated.
In an evolving time for adoption, experts like Cox are pushing for adopted adults to have easy access to their birth certificates.
“In the new age of technology and genetic testing, limiting access to birth records does not protect birth mothers,” Cox wrote in a blog post. “Giving easy access to birth certificates will not only allow adopted adults to search out and possibly connect with their birth parents, it will give birth parents the opportunity to choose their next steps in a world where privacy is not guaranteed.”
Even where legislators might be opposed to it, DNA will still allow adopted adults to find the answers if they choose to. By making the information accessible, it can help both parties involved.
Regardless of intent, DNA testing has changed adoption.
As research universities — such as Penn — continue to develop DNA research, they need to remain aware of the societal impact on fields such as adoption.
While the medical value is important, private adoptions in which the adopted child never knew his or her biological parents, which were the norm in the United States until the 1980s, are no longer considered private due to DNA testing.
