New law allows New York adoptees to gain access to their birth certificate

A new state law will help adoptees learn the answers behind questions of their medical history -- something that has been a mystery to them for decades.
When Kira Davenport was born on Jan. 20, 1968 at Sloan's Hospital for Women in New York City, her name was actually Rosemarie Wofford. Her named changed to Kira Lynne Pomeroy six months later when she was adopted.
Davenport, a New City resident who is now married with two kids, got in touch with her birth mother several years ago, yet she says she still has many questions left unanswered as to what happened leading up to and after her birth.
She filed an application to get her original birth certificate in hopes of some clarity. It's a step that she and other New Yorkers can now take because of a law that kicked in Wednesday.
Davenport went to the Congers post office Thursday, smiling as she mailed her papers.
"Putting that envelope in at the Congers post office was one of the best feelings I've had in a while," says Davenport.
When Davenport mailed her request, she became on of the first adoptees to act under the legislation. The state says it has thousands of sealed records dating back to the 1930s. More than 3,600 adopted New York residents have already filed for their birth certificates.
"It's not about the birth family, or the birth parent for me. It's more of the point of the principle that I should, just as a New Yorker, have access to something that everyone else has access to," says Davenport.
Her certificates are due to come back in a few months. She can't wait to share them with her family.
"It's something I've never had and it's something that's rightfully mine," says Davenport. "And it kinda just seals the deal that I was born on Jan. 20, 1968."