The practice of adoption has been a positive opportunity for infertile couples to raise a child, for a child to be offered the chance at a better lifestyle, and for biological mothers to "start over" their lives.
The purpose of the first adoptions was to serve the adoptive parents and give them a child. There were no laws that made it mandatory to sign documents that gave legal custody to adoptive parents (Goodman, 1993). In 1851, Massachusetts was the first state to pass a law that required written consent by birth parents, a joint petition by both adoptive parents, and an adoption decree by a judge that stated there was a legal and permanent separation between child and birth parents (Loomer, 1985). Massachusetts" adoption law set the stage for what became the standard practice of handling adoptions in the United States. The required legal documents were placed in records that were public knowledge until sometime between the 1930s and 1950s (Loomer, 1985). The records were closed after that and will remain closed, unless there is a change in legislation and records become legally open.
The reason for closing adoption records was to protect the interests of all parties involved. The biological parents were promised confidentiality, and the only way to ensure that that was done was to close the records from access to the public. For the adoptive parents, it was a means of "keeping the secret" and "protecting" adoptive parents from the stigma of infertility (Loomer, 1985). Finally, sealing the records was done to "protect adoptees from shame of their illegitimate status" (Grimm, n.d.). Sealing the records was an attempt to protect the biological parents from being ashamed that they gave up a child for adoption, the adoptive parents from being ashamed that they were infertile, and the adoptees from being ashamed that they were "illegitimate." "In reality there shouldn't be anything shameful about adoption" (Grimm, n.
