Adoptee Rights Quotes

“We don't have adoption issues, we have an issue with adoption.”
― Janine Myung-Ja, Adoptionland: From Orphans to Activists

“What matters most is not 'what' you are, but 'who' you are.”
― DaShanne Stokes

“People think that LGBTs adopting children will hurt them, but it's not being in loving homes that hurts children most.”
― DaShanne Stokes

“Adoption isn't just a childhood experience, it's a life-long experience.”
― DaShanne Stokes

“Adoptees deserve open records because deception and partial truths do not set us free.”
― DaShanne Stokes

“Laws forbidding adoptees from accessing their original birth certificates are outdated and need to be changed today.”
― DaShanne Stokes

“Adoptee rights are everyone's rights, and they deserve to be protected.”
― DaShanne Stokes

“If the system were designed to protect adoptees, why do so many have to fight for their rights?”
― DaShanne Stokes

“It's illegal to deny people their records due to race or gender. Adoptees deserve the same rights and protections.”
― DaShanne Stokes

“Being denied their original birth certificates isn't just a problem for adoptees. It's a social problem, requiring social change.”
― DaShanne Stokes

“Most Michigan residents can get a copy of their birth certificates within weeks by simply placing an order online.

But for Detroit native Rudy Owens, attempts to obtain his birth records took decades of legal battles.

Why? Because he is an adoptee.

Owens is the author of a new book You Don’t Know How Lucky You are: An Adoptee’s Journey Through the American Adoption Experience.

(From, Michigan Radio, Stateside, June 11, 2018)”
― Rudy Owens

“Whatever the Struggle/Continue the Climb/It May Be Only One Step to the Summit”
― Alicia Kay Lanier, My Unspeakable Loss: A Birthmother's Memoir About Adoption Secrecy