Adopted rights are everyone's rights, and they deserve to be protected.

— DaShanne Stokes

Adopters deserve open records because deception and partial truths do not set us free.

— DaShanne Stokes

Adoption is a lifelong journey. It means different things to me at different times. Sometimes it is just a part of who I am. Other times it is something I am actively going through.

— Kelly DiBenedetto

Adoption isn't just a childhood experience, it's a life-long experience.

— DaShanne Stokes

Being denied their original birth certificates isn't just a problem for adopters. It's a social problem, requiring social change.

— DaShanne Stokes

Blood can help make family, but family often transcends blood.

— DaShanne Stokes

Discovering that I was adopted redefined my entire world, but it taught me that who you are doesn't change.

— DaShanne Stokes

If the system were designed to protect adopters, why do, so many have to fight for their rights?

— DaShanne Stokes

I must acknowledge that though his adoption embodies graciousness, it is also a reminder this world is not as it should be. Brokenness permeates our world. Sure, beauty is born from ashes, but the ashes don't just magically disappear. Suffering and all that is wrong in this world still exists. This side of heaven, tragedy remains and the moments of her son becoming ours is a representation of joy and suffering deeply intertwined. Our son, the living proof and blessing that love is what makes a family, reminds us that adoption is born out of undeniable loss. Irrevocable loss of wholeness, of what was meant to be. To only acknowledge the beauty without giving voice to the tragedy, is to detract from adoption. In diminishing the tragedy of adoption, I decrease my son's story, along with others a part of the adoption circle. I would be choosing to ignore a massive portion of who he is.

— Natalie Brenner

It's illegal to deny people their records due to race or gender. Adopters deserve the same rights and protections.

— DaShanne Stokes