The New York State Adoption Registry

Along the way, I registered with the New York State Adoption Registry, a passive reunion registry. Similar to other Mutual Consent Voluntary Registries (MCVRs) in other states, the registry collects information from adoptees, birth parents and birth siblings and houses them in a large database. These registries don't have a stellar success rate, between 1.5 and 10% in states that have them, as they only work if all parties register, and if the agency that monitors them has an adequate matching algorithm.


I didn't hold out much hope that the bureaucrats in Albany would be the agents of my reunion, but I did receive information from them that my birth mother had had no other live births at the time of my birth. Not much new news, I know, but it was something!

The Registry is a good faith effort on the part of NYS,but it is a futile one. In my opinion, only active registries, which generally have an 80% success rate, are worthwhile efforts, but that is not what the legislators of New York have deemed acceptable. For years, open records laws have languished in Albany, despite overwhelming support in public polls in the state.