Baltimore University Law Professor Elizabeth Samuels Is Inaugural Lecturer in Pittsburgh Consortium for Adoption Studies’ Forum

PITTSBURGH—University of Baltimore School of Law Professor Elizabeth Samuels will present a lecture titled “Adoption, Identity, and Confidentiality: The History of Closed Records” at 12:30 p.m. Sept. 30 in the University of Pittsburgh’s Barco Law Building, Room G-20, 3900 Forbes Ave., Oakland. 

The lecture—sponsored by Pitt’s School of Arts and Sciences, School of Law, and Women’s Studies Program as well as the Pittsburgh Consortium for Adoption Studies—is the first event of a four-part series designed to provide a forum for students, faculty, and the general public to gain a better understanding of the adoption process. 

Samuels has written extensively on adoption rights. Her current research involves the surrender documents birth mothers are required to sign during the adoption process. Her career-long research efforts include investigations of adult adoptee access to original birth records and government rulings regarding mothers’ consents to the adoption of their newborn infants. 

An expert in constitutional and child and family law, Samuels has testified in state legislative hearings about adoption law bills and has lectured at national conferences on adoption. She is also the recipient of the U.S. Congress Coalition on Adoption’s Angel in Adoption award and recently was interviewed by ABCNews.com on the history of the laws that prevent U.S. adult adoptees from gaining access to their original birth certificates. 

The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information on the lecture or the series, contact Pitt professors Marianne Novy at mnovy@pitt.edu or Rhonda Wasserman at wasserma@pitt.edu.  

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