Adoptees Rights

[chloe]

So a buddy of mine who I know from work was adopted and he said his adoptive parents were sort of cruel to him when he was growing up, and he wanted to find out about his birth parents but they only told him his real dad was murdered in vegas and his mom was only 14 when she had him, they adopted him through some church adoption agency in 1980 which got shut down for fraud, he said he feels really mad because the law didnt give him any rights to know anything about his birth parents and he is not even sure what the truth is because he see's the adoptive parents as fibbers. Is it true that adopted children don't have any legal rights to there heritage? Does anyone know?

[PostmodernProphet]

my daughter met her birth parent for the first time this year....in most states birth records are open for inspection to the birth parents and the child upon reaching age 18 unless the birth parents have placed a block on the information.....the county probate court where he lived would have handled the adoption and the records of his case would include all the information he needs, even if the agency were shut down for fraud.....

[gabosaurus]

My husband and I adopted our daughter last summer. Laws vary by state (I believe), but in our case, all records are sealed until the child becomes 18 years old.
Parents who give children up for adoption have the right to have their information withheld. Many choose to do this.
Our daughter's birth mother was informed of her pending adoption and requested to meet us. My daughter did not want to do so and we honored her request.

[chloe]

Thanks for your replies Prophet & Gabo, I am out of my element on this one. It was his birthday yesterday, he was born in 1980 in nevada, but it was through a mormon adoption place he said the place doesn't exist and he said when he has tried to get his adoptions records they wont give him information, I dont know if that means they are sealed or what. I never really thought about how a person would feel about being adopted and not being allowed to know their heritage. I guess now because he seems so mad about his roghts to know being suppressed that I've been thinking about it alot. His adoptive parents were old and the way he percieved it all is that they only adopted because of the pressure to have families in utah, he said when the dad was at work the adoptive mom would get flustered alot and sometimes lock him in some room to not have to deal with him, I mean that is not like beating a kid or anything but he felt lonely alot he said. So are there any protective laws for adopted kids if by chance the adoptive parents were very abusive?