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This is an appeal under the Freedom of Information Act. On 25 June 1999, I requested documents under the Freedom of Information Act. My request was assigned the following identification number: __99-754mb______. On 26 June 2000, I received a response to my request in a letter signed by Rosario Cirrincione. I appeal the denial of my request.

The documents that were withheld must be disclosed under the FOIA because . . . . Under our federalist system, certain areas of regulation are within the province of the states. If, however, the state has enacted regulation that is contrary to the United States Constitution, the federal government may intervene and protect the rights of citizens. When a violation of any provision of the Federal Constitution occurs, it is a Federal matter. The treatment of adopted individuals by the states which deprive them of their own information classifies adopted individuals based on their birth status contrary not only to 14th Amendment, but Supreme Court precedent on the matter of legitimate state classifications. Further, denying adopted individuals access to their own information is an impermissable content-neutral speech regulation. As United States citizens, adopted individuals have the right to receive information, just as non-adopted citizens do.

What the states are doing is keeping secret files on its own citizens absent their consent and refuses to release them to the individuals whose information is contained therein. It is in the public's best interest to know that over six million United States Citizens are denied access to their own records by the various State Governments. I also appeal because the agency failed to conduct an adequate search for the documents that were requested. Since the State Governments receive federal subsidies for the operation of State Departments of Health and Human Services offices, the states governments are required to comply with the FOIA request also and an adequate search of the state records in states with sealed records laws affecting adopted individuals would be necessary to determine if adoptee's civil rights have been violated. Private agencies adoption files may also contain evidence of civil rights violations against United States Citizens who have been adopted.

(1) final opinions made in the adjudication of cases in which adopted individuals have requested that their sealed records be "Unsealed" for good cause.

(2) statements of policy and interpretations adopted by the Department of Health and Human Services , and affiliated adoption agencies, and post adoption units, but not published in the Federal Register.

(3)Administrative staff manuals that affect the public; and adopted individuals specifically.

(4) Copies of records released in response to FOIA requests by individual adoptees who made an FOIA request for information on their biological families, that an agency determines have been or will likely be the subject of additional requests.

(5) A general index of released records determined to have been or likely to be the subject of additional requests.

Adopted individuals have suffered due process violations by the state governments due to the sealed records laws. If the records are sealed to the adopted individual there is no possible way an adoptee can seek due process if the adoptee is unaware for example that a birth parent they are legally entitled to inherit from , has died., since the adopted individual is denied the right to know "who" their "parents" are. This type of due process violation could potentially be filling state coffers with inheritance funds rightfully belonging to adopted individuals.

Adoptee have also been denied their right to life due to sealed records laws in some cases .There is a database available on the internet of adopted individuals who have died , because the courts have refused to unseal their records to locate a biological family member for bone marrow transplants and other donor organs needed to maintain their lives. http://www.geocities.com/orphanvoyage1953/jean.html

When records are maintained in a computer, an agency is required to retrieve information in response to a FOIA request. The process of retrieving the information may result in the creation of a new document when the data is printed out on paper or written on computer tape or disk. Since this may be the only way computerized data can be disclosed, agencies are required to provide the data even if it means a new document must be created

. And knowing that most state and federal agencies which deal with adoption issues are computerized ,

I also request that a new document be created if necessary to provide the requested data.

Also I am enclosing a printout of an article published in USA TODAY on 17 July 2000 titled, "National adoption site delayed" in which the author, Marilyn Elias states that your department The Federal Department of Health and Human Services has signed a two year contract with the National adoption Center in Philadelphia Pa,

( A state trying to pass the Uniform Adoption Act, which in essence seals records to all adoptees and their biological familes for

99 years) to build a web site on which adoptable children will be advertised on the internet, with the imput of 1.5 Million dollars of federal tax dollars for the website start-up and another 1.25 Million dollars is appropriated for the first year of operation of the website.

Is it not a conflict of interest to have my FOIA request handled by the same division which is contracted for a two year term with an agency who facilitates adoptions to advertise potential adoptees on the internet?