Attention adoptees: You will soon have rights to your birth certificate 

ALBANY - New York ended a decades-long debate late Thursday when Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law a bill that will for the first time allow adoptees to receive a certified copy of their birth certificate when they turn age 18.

The law, which takes effect Jan. 15, will stop what has long been viewed as legal impediments for adopted children to have the right to information about their birth and biological parents.

"Where you came from informs who you are, and every New Yorker deserves access to the same birth records — it's a basic human right," Cuomo said in a statement. 

New York sealed most adoption records in 1935 as a way to limit disclosure about children born out of wedlock.

Adoptees have long argued they have a right to their birth certificates, but measures to change the law failed for years in Albany. That changed in June when the Legislature passed the bill, and Cuomo vowed to sign it.

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