A call to action: For lawmakers & stakeholders

We urge lawmakers to establish a dedicated task force with real authority, substantial funding, and a clear mandate to actively locate stolen individuals and reunite families. It is imperative that sealed records are opened. For many, records simply do not exist—their identities were completely erased, leaving no paper trail, no adoption record, nothing. Washington State can lead the nation by taking decisive action now.

Washington State Bill Framework
Working Title: The Washington Displaced Reunification Act

Purpose
To establish a state-funded, independently operating task force with full records authority to identify, locate, and reunite Washington-connected individuals who were displaced through black market adoption, gray market placement, informal removal, Indigenous child separation, human trafficking, or any other non-court-sanctioned means, from 1940 to present.

 

Section 1: Legislative Findings

The State of Washington acknowledges that between 1940 and the 1980s, a documented pattern of child displacement occurred through black market and gray market networks, unregistered facilities, coerced surrenders, and fraudulent placements affecting children of all backgrounds including Indigenous children. Washington State retains jurisdictional interest in any child who was a resident of Washington at the time of removal, regardless of where that child was taken. Current records access laws create an insurmountable barrier for displaced persons who do not possess their original birth name or original date of birth, rendering all other legal remedies effectively inaccessible. An unknown but significant number of Washington-connected displaced children remain unaccounted for, with conservative documented figures suggesting hundreds from even narrow time windows. The burden of investigation has fallen entirely on survivors, which is an unjust inversion of state responsibility. This gap extends to present-day displacement through human trafficking and other means.

 

Section 2: Establishment of the Task Force

There is hereby established the Washington Displaced Reunification Task Force, operating as an independent state body with dedicated state funding, subpoena authority and mandatory compliance power, a protected sealed records repository, and a survivor-centered reunification mandate.

 

Section 3: Mandatory Records Transfer

Upon passage, the following entities shall be compelled to transfer all relevant records to the Task Force within a defined compliance window: all county courthouses statewide, all hospitals, clinics, and medical facilities both active and defunct successor entities, all religious institutions and faith-based organizations that operated placement or residential care functions, all private adoption agencies both active and defunct, all maternity homes and residential facilities, tribal nations on a voluntary and sovereign consultation basis only, and any private individual or estate holding records relevant to placement activities. Records transfer is a one-time mandatory action. Once transferred, those institutions have no further role or access.

"This internal purge is why Section 3 of our proposed Act is non-negotiable; we must secure all remaining records before the agency can use the shredders again."

 

Section 4: Task Force Composition

Members shall include survivors of black market, gray market, and informal displacement with majority voice, geneticists and forensic genealogists, tribal representatives reflecting Washington's tribal nations appointed in consultation with those nations, child welfare policy advocates, legal advocates with records and identity law expertise, investigators with background in trafficking or covert removal networks, and representatives from communities disproportionately impacted across racial, cultural, and economic lines. No member may have current institutional ties to any entity that held records subject to mandatory transfer.

 

Section 5: Task Force Authority and Function

The Task Force shall serve as the sole repository for all transferred records, accept intake from displaced individuals regardless of how much identifying information they possess including those with no birth name or verified birth date, use DNA analysis, genealogical investigation, and cross-referencing of transferred records to establish identity and origin, actively work to reunite displaced individuals with biological family, tribal community, and cultural heritage, publish aggregate data and findings with individual privacy protections, and refer criminal findings to the Attorney General. The Task Force shall not require an original birth name or original birth date as a precondition for intake or investigation. This is explicit and non-negotiable language in the bill.

 

Section 6: Washington Jurisdictional Claim

The State of Washington asserts jurisdiction over the displacement of any individual who was a Washington resident at the time of removal, regardless of where that individual was subsequently taken, placed, or relocated. This jurisdictional claim is not limited by the state where records are held.

 

Section 7: Funding

The Task Force shall be funded through a dedicated state appropriation with a mandate to pursue federal grant supplementation where available without federal oversight conditions attached.