Israel Looks to Repeal Ban on Disclosing Fact of Adoption

Just when you think the U.S. rules on secrecy in adoption (closed records, amended birth certificates) are extreme, you learn that Israel's adoption law apparently makes it a criminal offense for adoptees and adoptive parents to disclose the fact of adoption! Israel's legislature is looking at lifting that ban, according to Haaretz:

The Ministerial Committee on Legislation will decide on Sunday whether to allow a bill to proceed that would permit adoptees to disclose their adoption status.

A clause in Israel’s Adoption Law makes it a criminal offense for an adoptee or an adoptive parent to reveal that fact. Obtaining permission to disclose that they were adopted or that they adopted a child means navigating a bureaucratic morass. The law was meant to protect the privacy of the adoptee’s biological and adoptive parents.

The bill would allow adoptees to decide for themselves whether to make the information public, eliminating the need to obtain a court order.