In particular, this memorandum supports that part of defendants' motion which urges that if judgment is stayed in any respect, such stay should be limited to the records of plaintiffs. Such a stay should be conditioned upon plaintiffs' promptly supplying identifying information in confidence to the Tennessee Department of Children's Services, so that processing of other applications is not blocked. As against the almost 300 birth parents and other birth relatives among the amici and applicants for records who need and support enforcement of the statute, plaintiffs have produced only one or at most two birth parents or adult adoptees who oppose its enforcement. As opposed to the 19 adoptive parents among the amici who support enforcement of the statute, only at most one adoptive couple, plaintiffs Russ C. and Kimberly C., have filed an affidavit or other document indicating opposition to enforcement of the statute. No such classes have been certified nor can they be because the majorities of both proposed classes oppose plaintiffs.
Plaintiffs represent only themselves.
Amici curiae respectfully request that the thousands of adoptees, birth parents and other birth relatives who seek and need access to adoption records should not further be injured by a stay or injunction on behalf of that small minority of birth parents who oppose access to their own records. Amici also call the Court's attention to a procedural problem. They were not served by hand or by fax. Plaintiffs did not attempt to serve counsel for the amici at all. The amici represent the largest group injured by stays or injunctions in this action, and those whose injury is most severe.