"Any woman is eligible for membership who is no less than eighteen years of age and can prove lineal, blood line descent from an ancestor who aided in achieving American independence. She must provide documentation for each statement of birth, marriage, and death."
When questions come up regarding can an adopted child join the following is the official response:
"Yes, but only through your birth parents' lineage, not that of your adopted family. All lineage for DAR membership must be bloodline descent."
Seems cruel to adoptees, I know. Maybe this should be a push to unseal those records???? Adoptees have the right to know their blood lineage!!!
Completely agree with unsealing the records — it’s important to the adoptee’s mental health frankly (even if it’s bad news - we imagine worse). And, I understand the organizations’ rules, even if I don’t like them myself...
If birth records were public records (as they started out as) then NONE of this would even be a question - regarding Obama’s eligibility, nor whether I would qualify for membership in the DAR! LOL
Besides, I don’t need a piece of paper to know that the lessons were handed down to me — through my Mom, Grandmother, and Grandfather, and I plan on continuing the tradition of strong, patriotic support of our Country and our Constitution anyway! :)
Thanks for your response! I’m hopefully going to be able to get my non-ID info. (nationality and such) within the next few months. Depending upon what I can find out (and whether my birth parents, or relatives have registered with the database in IL — which requires our health records to be submitted, or we pay $40.00), perhaps I will think about filing a request to unseal them in order to research my heritage... :)