Adoption Reform and the LDS Church

Jane

First Mother Forum has gotten some flak from folks asking why we are bringing the Mormon Church into its discussion of HB 2904, the Oregon bill which would give mothers considering adoption time and information to make informed decisions.

 Most of the negative comments which we received have come from people who identified themselves as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of  Latter-Day Saints (LDS) or lived in parts of the country where many Mormons live. LDS Family Services in Portland opposes the bill. Families Supporting Adoption, sponsored by LDS Family Services, has posted inaccurate information about HB 2904 on its website. It encourages members to write to legislators opposing the bill. Interestingly, it tells its members NOT to portray themselves as part of Families Supporting Adoption. Blog sites which appear to be run by LDS members have slammed the bill for requiring that mothers have eight days in which to make one of the most important decisions of their lives. We recently wrote about an anti HB 2904 post on the R House. 

The blogger, Mrs. R, obfuscates facts about herself except for admitting that she adopted a boy over the objections of his natural father, and has apparently adopted in the state of Utah, the center of the LDS church. She does not disclose her religion, her name, or her location other than to say she lives in Utah--as we do here about ourselves. Links on the blog to LDS sites and the inclusion at one time of the Mormon hymn, Come, Come Ye Saints, strongly suggests that Mrs. R is Mormon. Mrs. R states she is merely reproducing the comments of an non practicing birth mother Mormon and adoption advocate. We have reason to believe the comments were actually made by a male Oregon adoption attorney, or one who has him as her source.

In the interests of disclosure, Jane was raised in a mainline Protestant Church and Lorraine in the Roman Catholic Church. Neither of us is affiliated with a church at this time. Furthermore, we have no issues with Mormon doctrine. 

However, for decades the LDS Church has opposed at every turn letting adopted individuals have the right to obtain their original birth certificates. Through the National Council for Adoption, LDS lobbies against such reform in states where open-records bills get a hearing; when a federal regulation opening the records to both birth mothers and adoptees was considered in the early Eighties, NCFA actively lobbied against it and brought a young weeping anonymous mother to Washington DC to testify against it. In Oregon, LDS attorneys representing six unnamed birth mothers--whom we believe surrendered through LDS Family Services--mounted legal challenges to overturn Ballot Measure 58, which allowed adult adoptees to obtain their original birth certificates and allowed birth parents add a note to the adoption file on whether they wish contact. Since the Measure went into effect in 2000, over 10,000 Oregon-born adoptees have received their original birth certificates without reported problems. Fewer than one percent of birth parents have asked not to be contacted. 

From the NCFA website today it is difficult to pinpoint the percentage of the member agencies that are LDS, although in the past it was approximately 40 percent. However, click on the state map for a list of member agencies in each state, and most come up with LDS listed at the top: there are seven LDS agencies in California alone, five in Idaho, four in Arizona, and so on. In reference to open records, the NCFA website says this: Advance the principle of mutual consent in adoption so that the rights of all parties to adoption are protected and privacy cannot be breached without consent. What this means is that they oppose anything other than passive mutual consent registries. This unequivocally strips adopted individuals of their civil right as adults to know their original identity if they so choose, and leaves the right of power of permission to the birth parents.

From various LDS websites, we read the LDS position that adoption is the responsible resolution for an out-of-wedlock pregnancy if the parents cannot marry. We believe, along with child welfare advocates, that children belong with their parents whenever feasible.

The LDS position appears to be based on theology although it bolsters its arguments with the “harsh” economic facts for “unwed mothers who choose to keep their babies.” Prominent on the LDS website is this quotation from “Guidance for Unwed Parents” published in the church’s magazine Ensign, in 1994:

“The Church has put people and programs in place to help unwed parents repent of their sin and build futures for themselves and their baby.”

The article goes on to say:

“On 1 February 1994 the First Presidency wrote a general letter on this very important subject. The letter reads, in part, as follows: ‘Priesthood and auxiliary leaders are again encouraged to renew their efforts to teach ward and stake members the importance of living chaste and virtuous lives. We note with alarm the continued decline of moral values in society and the resultant number of children being reared by unwed parents. … Every effort should be made in helping those who conceive out of wedlock to establish an eternal family relationship. When the unwed parents are unable or unwilling to marry, they should be encouraged to place the child for adoption, preferably through LDS Social Services.’” (Emphasis added.)

Some readers have written that they were not pressured to surrender. Based on the article cited above, though, it's reasonable to conclude they were the exception. It's clear that a culture of adoption permeates the church. Not only there are frequent articles in Ensign promoting adoption but wards hold meetings encouraging adoption. When Church authorities learn a single woman is pregnant, they meet with her and encourage marriage. If this is not possible, they encourage her to go to LDS Family Services to discuss adoption.

Others have pointed out that the Church endorses "free agency" meaning that it allows members to disregard the Church's own counsel and make their own decisions. This is, of course, true for most religions. With the exception of a few countries, religious authorities do not have the literal power to force their members to conform to any particular behavior. 

We encourage LDS Church members and others who support adoption reform to contact Church leaders.  Adoption is a truly wonderful gift for children who need families, but safeguards are necessary to ensure that families are not broken up needlessly and adoptees can learn their original identities.