It would appear, however, that birth parents need the adult adoptee’s consent to obtain information about their child. Secrecy is still part of adoption in Switzerland.
The adoptee is anonymous (or “lost in the woods”) to the birth parents absent consent. The difference, it seems, is that denying access to original birth certificates withholds information about the adoptee’s own identity, while the adoptee is withholding his identity from strangers, albeit related.
Correction: the State is withholding the adoptee’s identity from her parents, absent the adoptee’s consent. The difference is that the adoptee may not even know that consent is necessary.
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