It does not allow third parties to read adoption records that contain very sensitive, subjective information. Kansas and Alaska similarly allow adopted adults to receive copies of their original birth certificates with the names of their birth parents, but they do not allow access to adoption records. The adoption laws in all fifty states operate to terminate all rights, responsibilities and relationships between the birth family and adopted child and transfers those rights, responsibilities and relationships to the adoptive family. One of the policy reasons for the decision to seal adoption records is to send a clear message to all concerned that the child now belongs in the adoptive family for all intents and purposes. All public records, therefore, link him with the adoptive family.
Adoption also nullifies the relationship between the adopted child and the biological family.
Opening adoption records on demand creates the perception that the relationship between the biological family and the adopted person is still intact. This perception of the adopted person as 'belonging' to the biological family interferes with the bonding and privacy of the adoptive family. Adoption research is clear that the most important variable in whether an adopted person will be well adjusted is the adoptive parents' feelings of 'entitlement' to be the parents of the adopted person. The Tennessee law which transforms adoption from a state of creating a permanent family to a temporary condition until the adopted person reaches the age of 21 undermines the family's sense of security and entitlement, ultimately creating problems for adopted children. The greatest fear of adopted children when they first begin to understand the concept of adoption is that their biological parents will try to reclaim them and that their adoptive parents are not their real parents.