Marley Greiner
07-14-2004, 08:59 AM
News From Bastard Nation: The Adoptee Rights Organization
July 2004 Vol. 1 No. 8
Please forward and redistribute by print or e-mail. Help spread the
word!
Bastard Nation: The Adoptee Rights Organization advocates for the
civil and human rights of adult citizens who were adopted as children.
Millions of North Americans are prohibited by law from accessing personal
records that pertain to their historical, genetic and legal identities.
Bastard Nation campaigns for the restoration of their right to
unconditionally access their birth records.
KEEP SPREADING THE NEWS
NEW HAMPSHIRE IS THE 5TH STATE TO PASS A BILL GIVING ADULT ADOPTEES
UNCONDITIONAL ACCESS TO THEIR ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATES.
Victory in New Hampshire is too important to talk about just in May
when the bill was passed, and then again down the road in January, when it
will become a law. We should be talking about it every single day!
Let's tell the world about New Hampshire. For starters, why not
"redecorate" your Email posts. Change your signature line for a while. Let
it read: NEW HAMPSHIRE IS THE 5TH STATE TO PASS A BILL GIVING ADULT ADOPTEES
UNCONDITIONAL ACCESS TO THEIR ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATES. If your Email
program doesn't give you a signature line option, then take an extra 15
seconds to type in the sentence underneath your name.
Write letters to your local newspapers. Most people all over North
America still don't know that adult adoptees are the ONLY group of citizens
whose original birth documents are being kept from them by their government.
It's your job to tell them about this inequity.
The key to victory in New Hampshire was equal rights for all citizens.
New Hampshire lawmakers were very interested to learn that foster children,
who were relinquished by their birth mothers but were never adopted, have
access to their original birth records. Only the "children of adoption" have
their records sealed in perpetuity. New Hampshire lawmakers understood this
inequity and had the wisdom and fortitude to do something about it.
Use this summer for education. Find out what the laws are in your
state and then compare them to New Hampshire, Alabama, Oregon, Alaska and
Kansas. Be prepared! Don't let anyone say, "Our State is different. It can't
be done here."
The winds of change are in the air. It's our job to help fan them
across the country.
Find out about your state's laws at:
National Adoption Information Clearinghouse
Bastard Nation Local Activism
Bastard Nation Canadian Activism
OUTREACH
Marley Greiner and Mary Zoller Co-Presentors
AAC Conference, Kansas City
"Safe Havens: Is the Solution Worse than the Problem?"
Mary Zoller
AAC Conference, Kansas City
"Change from the Inside"
Marley Greiner
Adoption Symposium
University of Akron Law School
Maryanne Cohen
AAC Conference, Kansas City
"My Thirty Years as an Activist Birthmother"
Rebecca Townsend
Hour Detroit Magazine. May, 2004 "Safe Havens"
"The law hasn't really changed anything," says Rebecca Townsend, of
Clinton Township, state director for the adoptee rights advocacy group
called Bastard Nation. "Even with the laws, we're still getting babies
dumped."
NATIONAL FREEDOM OF INFORMATION COALITION MEETS
By Marlena Villers
The 2004 annual conference of the National Freedom of Information
Coalition was held in Newark, NJ on May 21-22 at Rutgers Center for Law and
Justice. The conference, titled "Less Secrecy, More Democracy," was
co-hosted by the New Jersey Foundation for Open Government and Rutgers
School of Law. Bastard National Marlena Villers, Director of Education for
the NFOIC, coordinated the event which drew 129 journalists, attorneys,
academics, activists, and other interested parties from around the US.
Bastard Nation's Executive Chair, Marley Greiner, was one of those in
attendance.
Of particular interest to those in adoption reform was the "CPS and
Open Records" panel discussion featuring Susan Lambiase, Associate Director
of Children's Rights Inc.; Barbara White Stack, reporter for the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette; and Cecilia Zalkind, Executive Director of Association for
Children of New Jersey. Sue Livio, statehouse reporter for The (NJ)
Star-Ledger moderated the panel.
The discussion covered media access to juvenile courts, the validity
of anonymous sources, and how publicity surrounding the case of Faheem
Williams will hopefully bring about changes to the New Jersey foster care
system.
Marley Greiner commented that attending the NFOIC Conference fortified
her view that Bastard Nation is on the cutting edge in demanding
accountability and transparency in government. Bastard Nation's specific
issue, the state's refusal to grant adoptees access to their own birth
records, is linked to the larger issue of access to public records for
everyone.
Since 911 especially, there's been a clamp on access to public records
from the very top of government down to local agencies and offices that were
simply looking for an excuse to keep records "private." All Americans should
ask themselves one pertinent question. If the government won't let adoptees
have their own birth records then what about the rest of us? What
information is the government keeping from us?
Anyone who supports free access to public records should support open
records for adult adoptees.
http://www.nfoic.org
To learn if your state has an open government group, check the NFOIC
Directory at http://www.nfoic.org/Members.html
LETTER TO ABC TV
Marley Greiner, Executive Chair
Bastard Nation: The Adoptee Rights Organization
Dear Ms. Whitecroft:
Bastard Nation, the Adoptee Rights Organization, the largest adoptee
civil rights organization in North America, is deeply disturbed by the
marketing campaign for the April 30 20/20 production of "Be My Baby." While
we reserve judgement on the program itself until it is aired, we believe
that the show's promotion exploits, degrades and demeans adopted persons of
all ages, portraying us as prizes for "desperate couples" in the great
adoption duck shoot.
ABC may weasel at this point, putting the blame on some misguided and
uninformed marketing department for this public relations disaster. You
have, in fact, posted a nicer kinder promo on the 20/20 website in the wake
of universal condemnation of the original Bowling for Babies theme. . No
matter what spin is spun, however, ABC can't deny that John Stossel and
Barbara Walters joked about the program, Stossel calling it "the ultimate
reality show" and Walters "humorously" comparing it to The Bachelor and The
Bachelorette. Nobody told them to joke around. Nobody put those words in
their mouths but themselves.
If ABC really wants to do an adoption reality show, here's a
suggestion: "The Bastard." In 46 states the records of law-abiding adult
adoptees are sealed from us, locking up our identities, names, heritages,
histories and original birth certificates-things that the non-adopted take
for granted.
Watch each week as adopted persons state-by-state crawl through ever-
shrinking hoops set up by politicians, fat cat adoption industrialists and
petty bureaucrats to keep us from our own personal information:
Watch adoptees grovel before judges, argue before legislators, send
countless letters out to newspapers, picket ABC and boycott 20/20 sponsors
and Disney World.
Watch the cosmic finale: Adoptees v Birthparents; Birth parents v
Adoptive Parents; Adoptees v Adoptive Parents; and various permutations
ingeniously created by industry lobbyists and their media handmaids as bread
and circuses to sell products and deflect the real issue: equal protection
and rights for adult adoptees.
Back in 1999 after 20/20 aired Connie Chung's sensationalist
anti-adoptee "Mothers in the Shadows" featuring birth mothers in hiding
(without disclosure of Chung's status of adoptive mother), Bastard Nation
suggested to 20/20 Producer Bill McGowan just such a show, though not
couched in reality TV terms since the genre didn't exist then. McGowan
dismissed Bastard Nation's concerns over Chung's program as well as our
proposal calling us "sensationalist" and "Springer-esque." I wonder what he
thinks now.
Perhaps we shouldn't complain about 20/20s-promo campaign after all.
Perhaps some disgruntled adoptee moled himself into ABC and decided to have
some fun exposing the over-riding consumerist, competitive approach to child
acquisition that rules US adoption today-entitlements shared by politicians
that keep adult adoptees as eternal infants and justify the sealing of our
records.
LEGISLATIVE ROUND-UP
January 2004 - June, 2004
ARIZONA
Arizona Open founded in February 2004 by Bastards Jean Uhrich and
Rebecca Townsend. With an early start, Melissa Barrigar made contact with
Rep. David Bradley (D - Tucson), who has agreed to conduct legislative
research and author adoptee rights legislation in the 2005 session. To learn
more about Arizona Open, visit: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ArizonaOpen/
CALIFORNIA
California Open has risen with a new vision! While still monitoring
the California State Legislature, Cal Open launches it's new web site with
the goal of a ballot initiative in 2008. Following in the footsteps of
neighbor Oregon to the north, Cal Open is firming it's foundation and
growing in numbers every week. Regional teams are forming as they prepare
for the state-wide event RegDay 2004! To learn more about Cal Open, visit:
http://www.calopen.org
SB 1413: An expansion of the existing Safe Haven Legislation (SB 1368
in 2000) which will allow a third party to anonymously participate in the
dropping off of a newborn, with no civil liability. Bastard Nation actively
opposed this bill. Status: Passed unanimously by the California State Senate
on June 21,2004.
LOUISIANA
HB 372: "Children/Adoption" was a rewrite of the state's adoption
laws, and already contained a confidential intermediary system with
disclosure vetoes and mandatory counseling. Bastard Nation actively opposed
this bill. Status: After passing the House, the bill was killed by the
Senate Judiciary A Committee.
http://www.legis.state.la.us/leg_docs/04RS/CVT10/OUT/0000LCBT.PDF
MASSACHUSETTS
HB 4325: A bill to establish the safe placement of newborns and
infants. Status: This bill was passed by the Senate on July 1st, by a vote
of 38 - 0.
http://www.state.ma.us/legis/history/h04325.htm
NEW HAMPSHIRE
On May 11, 2004, New Hampshire passed SB 335 into law. This gives all
adopted adults the right to request and receive their original birth
certificates, unconditionally. The law will go into affect January 1, 2005.
Bastard Nation wholeheartedly endorsed this bill and actively worked for its
passage.
NEW JERSEY
S 1093: Introduced as a clean adoptee rights bill. However, it was
amended in the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee
on June 7th and now contains a *disclosure veto provision * The amended
legislation would provide a one-year period following bill passage during
which birthparents can file a veto against having their names disclosed on
the original birth certificates. Bastard Nation supported the original bill
but is opposed to this amendment. Status: Awaiting a full vote on the Senate
Floor.
A 312: Amendment to state's Safe Haven law which will provide
birthparents immunity from prosecution, rather than the current affirmative
defense. Also prohibits the state from attempting to locate or contact
birthparents if they provide identifying information. Sponsors say bill will
"encourage parents to safely surrender their infants without fear of
identifying themselves." Status: 2/24/2004 Received in the Senate, Referred
to Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee.
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/Default.asp
S 602/A 1971: Supplemental appropriation of $100,000 to DHS for public
awareness campaign concerning "New Jersey Safe Haven Protection Act."
Status: 5/17/2004 Reported and referred to Assembly Appropriations Committee
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/Default.asp (type in bill number and follow
links)
S 1577: Establishes Safe Haven Awareness Promotion Task Force. No
persons directly affected by adoption and abandonment seem to be eligible
for appointment. Members will include numerous professionals and 2 "members
of the public with a demonstrated expertise in issues relating to the work
of the task force." Status: 5/10/2004 Introduced in the Senate, Referred to
Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee.
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/Default.asp (type in bill number and
follow links)
A 2765: Requires public school districts to provide instruction on
"New Jersey Safe Haven Infant Protection Act" as part of core curriculum
content standards in grades 9-12. Status: 5/10/2004 Introduced, Referred to
Assembly Education Committee http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/Default.asp (type
in bill number and follow links).
NEW YORK
A 6238/S 2631: An open records bill. Although the actual text of the
legislation reflects a clean bill with a Contact Preference form a la
Oregon, Alabama, and New Hampshire, the legislative memo describes
legislation with a contact veto or a disclosure veto depending on which
paragraph one chooses to read. Bastard Nation has not endorsed this
legislation yet because of concerns it has with the legislative memo
attached to the bill. Committee Status: Bill has been tabled until the next
legislative session beginning January, 2005.
See: http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A06238
NEVADA
Nevada Open and coalition partners have been formally appearing all
summer long, during Interim Session, before the Nevada State Legislature's
Children, Youth and Families Committee. On June 17th, Senator Maggie Carlton
(D - Las Vegas) released her recommendations to the committee for bill
drafting in the 2005 Session. Among the senator's comments was an appeal to
allow access by adult adoptees to their own original birth certificate. The
CYF Committee convenes again on Thursday, August 12th. Nevada Open will be
present to hold firm the mission of unrestricted access. To learn more about
Nevada Open, visit: http://www.nevadaopen.org
OKLAHOMA
Oklahoma open records advocates are gearing up to present a bill for
the next legislative session. Contact OORAH - Oklahoma Open Records for more
information.
CANADA
ALBERTA
Effective November 1, 2004, adoptees 18 years and older and their
birth parents will be able to obtain identifying information about one
another, unless a veto is in place. Bastard Nation vigorously opposed this
bill last year.
http://www.gov.ab.ca/adoptionrecords
Where The Action Is
Stay tuned for updates and action alerts!
GET INVOLVED:
Nevada Open Website
OORAH - Oklahoma Open Records
Missouri Open
Florida Records Equality Effort (F.R.E.E.)
California Open
Arizona Open
Arkansas Open Needs Volunteers for Future Efforts!
Virginians for Adoption Reform and Education
Louisiana Adoption Advocates
NEWS BRIEFS
Ireland: AdoptionIreland: The Adopted People's Association is calling
for the immediate ratification of the Hague Convention on the Protection of
Children in Inter-Country Adoption.
http://www.adoptionireland.com/
Maryland: Maryland's Governor Ehrlich has vetoed HB 232 -- the sibling
bill that would have allowed adopted siblings to receive search and reunion
services via the state CI program.
http://www.gov.state.md.us/mail
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Texas: State district judge turns down request for a class action law
suit against the Gladney Center for Adoption, based in Fort Worth, TX.
http://www.talkaboutparenting.com/group/
alt.adoption/messages/424666.html
United Kingdom: The Foundling Museum, 40 Brunswick Square, WC1, opens
on 15 June, London. http://www.londontown.com/LondonInformation/
Attraction/Foundling_Museum/fa64
NEW BOOKS
BASTARD NATIONALS JOANNE SMALL AND JANINE BAER PUBLISH BOOKS
The Adoption Mystique by Joanne Wolfe Small
Joanne Wolfe Small's collection of essays on adoption, comprising a
selection of articles and talks written or revised over a period of years,
began to materialize as a book about two and a half years ago. The essays
look at adoption from a psychosocial or environmental perspective. These
essays outline the history and background of American adoption culture;
explore the hidden but powerful religious, social and economic factors that
affect adoption's collective image, and are often critical of child
welfare's adoption premises, policies, and practices.
Joanne believes that adoption is an industry that has largely gained
power from the desperation, neediness and powerlessness of the birth
parents, infertile couples, and adoptees that it serves. "Society has
invested the industry with an image comparable to that of a sacred cow.
Criticism has customarily been taboo," writes Joanne.
You'll find an abundance of compelling arguments that support the
theory that secrecy in adoption breeds shame, a theme that runs through the
entire book. Joanne dubs the current crop of open records bills, "Dirty
Little Secret" Legislation.
Any one of these essays could be an excellent starting point for a
stimulating discussion with different adoption groups. They would be
extremely valuable when talking with adoptive parents, child welfare
professionals, support groups, and people in the media.
The essays are all well documented with specific references at the end
of each chapter. http://www.amazon.com.
Growing in the Dark: Adoption Secrecy and its Consequences by Janine
Baer
Janine Baer's Growing in the Dark deals with the generations of adults
who were adopted as children and have been kept in the dark about their
original identities. The law sealing birth records, passed in 1935 in
California, swept adoption's emotional complexities under the rug and made
it possible to keep adoption itself a secret.
Growing in the Dark takes you through California's early adoption
laws, highlighting the sealing of records, and discusses the various
consequences of this policy as they unfolded throughout the 20th century.
Psychological theories, baby sellers, the views of child welfare advocates,
and attempts to reverse the sealed records laws are all part of adoption's
story. For more information, please visit Janine's website,
http://www2.xlibris.com/bookstore/
bookdisplay.asp?bookid=22848.
http://www.amazon.com
You Remind Me of Me by Dan Chaon
Dan Chaon, author of two collections of short stories, has published
his first novel which revolves around one case of adoption and its enormous
ramifications on how family ties are made or lost. Nora, a pregnant
teenager, admits herself to Mrs. Glass' Maternity Home and gives up her
first child, a boy, to adoption. Five years later Nora gives birth to a
second son, Jonah, whom she keeps. Jonah grows to be a depressed and lonely
young man who wants to change his life. He clings to the sense that his life
could have been different if one important loss had never occurred.
"After Jonah's grandfather died, when she (Nora) started taking drugs
more and more, she would occasionally grow sentimental.
"Don't you wish I'd given you up, Jonah?" Nora would say, full of
slurry self-pity, in a haze of her own angry thoughts. "I'll bet he's a lot
happier than you are."
You Remind Me of Me is not the kind of book in which a simple
revelation of brotherhood will solve all problems and lead to
happily-ever-after transformations. Dan Chaon examines questions of
identity, fate, and circumstance: Why do we become the people we become? How
do we end up stuck in lives we never wanted? And can we change the course of
what seems inevitable?
Author Elizabeth McCracken says, "You Remind Me of Me is one of the
strangest, most beautiful, most compelling books I've read in a long time.
Unnerving and real, intricately plotted, wonderfully written, it's a Chinese
box of a novel, full of hidden pleasures and surprises."
I couldn't agree more!!
Books reviewed by Anita Walker Field
THE ADOPTEE PRODUCTS CATALOG
Here it is folks: The Adoptee Products Catalog, merchandise for
the modern adoptee!! Originated by Dr. Robert Andersen, excerpts first
appeared in his 1993 book Second Choice: Growing Up Adopted.
SILVER JEWELRY: Affirm your position as an adoptee with the
metal long known for being second best. Silver jewelry cast as street
urchins, puppydogs, and non-descript globs void of historical significance.
$24.75
BEDTIME FAVORITES: Get this collector's edition of these
all-time favorite adoptee stories. Includes the beautiful CHOSEN CHILD, and
MY MOTHER LOVED ME SO MUCH SHE GAVE ME UP. Also contains the dramatic YOUR
BIRTHPARENT'S CRASHED AND BURNED, as well as the suspense thriller BE GOOD
OR WE'LL TAKE YOU BACK. These and many other stories you can read again and
again in this beautifully bound volume. $39.95
THE BUYERS GUIDE TO BLACK MARKET BABIES: Determine your self
worth by discovering your cost. This complete guide adjusts for regional
differences and compensates for inflation. Also, a supply and demand index
allows comparison between times of baby gluts and shortages. Imagine your
joy at learning you would have sold for $20,000 to $30,000 at today's
prices. A great confidence builder $17.50.
THE ILLEGITIMATE'S GUIDE TO UNWED MOTHERS HOMES: The most
comprehensive guide on the market. Over 1200 listings with addresses,
descriptions and photographs. Turn that routine vacation into a nostalgic
adventure with a visit to the very place where your mother signed you away.
$19.95
HUMBLE PIE: Basic adoptee fare. 12 inch, deep dish pies. Bland,
colorless, unappealing; but good for you. Eat anytime, but especially before
visits to government and social agencies. Generic ingredients for generic
people. Refrigeration not required. $8.50 each; 3 for $21.95
http://www.bastards.org/fun/
JOIN BASTARD NATION
Want to make a difference in how adopted people are treated and viewed
in society? Want to support the efforts of the only adoptee-led national
organization dedicated to promoting the equal treatment and dignity of
adopted citizens? Want to enjoy all the benefits of membership? Join Bastard
Nation!
Fill Out an Application now at http://www.bastards.org/members
Learn: http:// www.bastards.org
Join: http://www.bastards.org/members/
Fight: http://www.bastards.org/alert/index.html
Talk Back: e-mail us at bn@bastards.org
JOIN BN TODAY!
BASTARDS OF THE WORLD, UNITE!
YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT YOUR SHAME!
Editors: Anita Walker Field and David C. Ansardi
c. 2004 Bastard Nation: The Adoptee Rights Organization
Please share Byline: Bastard Nation with your friends and colleagues
and with your other e-mail lists. Cross-posting is encouraged. You also have
our enthusiastic permission to print out Byline: Bastard Nation and share it
with those not on the internet.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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July 2004 Vol. 1 No. 8
Please forward and redistribute by print or e-mail. Help spread the
word!
Bastard Nation: The Adoptee Rights Organization advocates for the
civil and human rights of adult citizens who were adopted as children.
Millions of North Americans are prohibited by law from accessing personal
records that pertain to their historical, genetic and legal identities.
Bastard Nation campaigns for the restoration of their right to
unconditionally access their birth records.
KEEP SPREADING THE NEWS
NEW HAMPSHIRE IS THE 5TH STATE TO PASS A BILL GIVING ADULT ADOPTEES
UNCONDITIONAL ACCESS TO THEIR ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATES.
Victory in New Hampshire is too important to talk about just in May
when the bill was passed, and then again down the road in January, when it
will become a law. We should be talking about it every single day!
Let's tell the world about New Hampshire. For starters, why not
"redecorate" your Email posts. Change your signature line for a while. Let
it read: NEW HAMPSHIRE IS THE 5TH STATE TO PASS A BILL GIVING ADULT ADOPTEES
UNCONDITIONAL ACCESS TO THEIR ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATES. If your Email
program doesn't give you a signature line option, then take an extra 15
seconds to type in the sentence underneath your name.
Write letters to your local newspapers. Most people all over North
America still don't know that adult adoptees are the ONLY group of citizens
whose original birth documents are being kept from them by their government.
It's your job to tell them about this inequity.
The key to victory in New Hampshire was equal rights for all citizens.
New Hampshire lawmakers were very interested to learn that foster children,
who were relinquished by their birth mothers but were never adopted, have
access to their original birth records. Only the "children of adoption" have
their records sealed in perpetuity. New Hampshire lawmakers understood this
inequity and had the wisdom and fortitude to do something about it.
Use this summer for education. Find out what the laws are in your
state and then compare them to New Hampshire, Alabama, Oregon, Alaska and
Kansas. Be prepared! Don't let anyone say, "Our State is different. It can't
be done here."
The winds of change are in the air. It's our job to help fan them
across the country.
Find out about your state's laws at:
National Adoption Information Clearinghouse
Bastard Nation Local Activism
Bastard Nation Canadian Activism
OUTREACH
Marley Greiner and Mary Zoller Co-Presentors
AAC Conference, Kansas City
"Safe Havens: Is the Solution Worse than the Problem?"
Mary Zoller
AAC Conference, Kansas City
"Change from the Inside"
Marley Greiner
Adoption Symposium
University of Akron Law School
Maryanne Cohen
AAC Conference, Kansas City
"My Thirty Years as an Activist Birthmother"
Rebecca Townsend
Hour Detroit Magazine. May, 2004 "Safe Havens"
"The law hasn't really changed anything," says Rebecca Townsend, of
Clinton Township, state director for the adoptee rights advocacy group
called Bastard Nation. "Even with the laws, we're still getting babies
dumped."
NATIONAL FREEDOM OF INFORMATION COALITION MEETS
By Marlena Villers
The 2004 annual conference of the National Freedom of Information
Coalition was held in Newark, NJ on May 21-22 at Rutgers Center for Law and
Justice. The conference, titled "Less Secrecy, More Democracy," was
co-hosted by the New Jersey Foundation for Open Government and Rutgers
School of Law. Bastard National Marlena Villers, Director of Education for
the NFOIC, coordinated the event which drew 129 journalists, attorneys,
academics, activists, and other interested parties from around the US.
Bastard Nation's Executive Chair, Marley Greiner, was one of those in
attendance.
Of particular interest to those in adoption reform was the "CPS and
Open Records" panel discussion featuring Susan Lambiase, Associate Director
of Children's Rights Inc.; Barbara White Stack, reporter for the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette; and Cecilia Zalkind, Executive Director of Association for
Children of New Jersey. Sue Livio, statehouse reporter for The (NJ)
Star-Ledger moderated the panel.
The discussion covered media access to juvenile courts, the validity
of anonymous sources, and how publicity surrounding the case of Faheem
Williams will hopefully bring about changes to the New Jersey foster care
system.
Marley Greiner commented that attending the NFOIC Conference fortified
her view that Bastard Nation is on the cutting edge in demanding
accountability and transparency in government. Bastard Nation's specific
issue, the state's refusal to grant adoptees access to their own birth
records, is linked to the larger issue of access to public records for
everyone.
Since 911 especially, there's been a clamp on access to public records
from the very top of government down to local agencies and offices that were
simply looking for an excuse to keep records "private." All Americans should
ask themselves one pertinent question. If the government won't let adoptees
have their own birth records then what about the rest of us? What
information is the government keeping from us?
Anyone who supports free access to public records should support open
records for adult adoptees.
http://www.nfoic.org
To learn if your state has an open government group, check the NFOIC
Directory at http://www.nfoic.org/Members.html
LETTER TO ABC TV
Marley Greiner, Executive Chair
Bastard Nation: The Adoptee Rights Organization
Dear Ms. Whitecroft:
Bastard Nation, the Adoptee Rights Organization, the largest adoptee
civil rights organization in North America, is deeply disturbed by the
marketing campaign for the April 30 20/20 production of "Be My Baby." While
we reserve judgement on the program itself until it is aired, we believe
that the show's promotion exploits, degrades and demeans adopted persons of
all ages, portraying us as prizes for "desperate couples" in the great
adoption duck shoot.
ABC may weasel at this point, putting the blame on some misguided and
uninformed marketing department for this public relations disaster. You
have, in fact, posted a nicer kinder promo on the 20/20 website in the wake
of universal condemnation of the original Bowling for Babies theme. . No
matter what spin is spun, however, ABC can't deny that John Stossel and
Barbara Walters joked about the program, Stossel calling it "the ultimate
reality show" and Walters "humorously" comparing it to The Bachelor and The
Bachelorette. Nobody told them to joke around. Nobody put those words in
their mouths but themselves.
If ABC really wants to do an adoption reality show, here's a
suggestion: "The Bastard." In 46 states the records of law-abiding adult
adoptees are sealed from us, locking up our identities, names, heritages,
histories and original birth certificates-things that the non-adopted take
for granted.
Watch each week as adopted persons state-by-state crawl through ever-
shrinking hoops set up by politicians, fat cat adoption industrialists and
petty bureaucrats to keep us from our own personal information:
Watch adoptees grovel before judges, argue before legislators, send
countless letters out to newspapers, picket ABC and boycott 20/20 sponsors
and Disney World.
Watch the cosmic finale: Adoptees v Birthparents; Birth parents v
Adoptive Parents; Adoptees v Adoptive Parents; and various permutations
ingeniously created by industry lobbyists and their media handmaids as bread
and circuses to sell products and deflect the real issue: equal protection
and rights for adult adoptees.
Back in 1999 after 20/20 aired Connie Chung's sensationalist
anti-adoptee "Mothers in the Shadows" featuring birth mothers in hiding
(without disclosure of Chung's status of adoptive mother), Bastard Nation
suggested to 20/20 Producer Bill McGowan just such a show, though not
couched in reality TV terms since the genre didn't exist then. McGowan
dismissed Bastard Nation's concerns over Chung's program as well as our
proposal calling us "sensationalist" and "Springer-esque." I wonder what he
thinks now.
Perhaps we shouldn't complain about 20/20s-promo campaign after all.
Perhaps some disgruntled adoptee moled himself into ABC and decided to have
some fun exposing the over-riding consumerist, competitive approach to child
acquisition that rules US adoption today-entitlements shared by politicians
that keep adult adoptees as eternal infants and justify the sealing of our
records.
LEGISLATIVE ROUND-UP
January 2004 - June, 2004
ARIZONA
Arizona Open founded in February 2004 by Bastards Jean Uhrich and
Rebecca Townsend. With an early start, Melissa Barrigar made contact with
Rep. David Bradley (D - Tucson), who has agreed to conduct legislative
research and author adoptee rights legislation in the 2005 session. To learn
more about Arizona Open, visit: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ArizonaOpen/
CALIFORNIA
California Open has risen with a new vision! While still monitoring
the California State Legislature, Cal Open launches it's new web site with
the goal of a ballot initiative in 2008. Following in the footsteps of
neighbor Oregon to the north, Cal Open is firming it's foundation and
growing in numbers every week. Regional teams are forming as they prepare
for the state-wide event RegDay 2004! To learn more about Cal Open, visit:
http://www.calopen.org
SB 1413: An expansion of the existing Safe Haven Legislation (SB 1368
in 2000) which will allow a third party to anonymously participate in the
dropping off of a newborn, with no civil liability. Bastard Nation actively
opposed this bill. Status: Passed unanimously by the California State Senate
on June 21,2004.
LOUISIANA
HB 372: "Children/Adoption" was a rewrite of the state's adoption
laws, and already contained a confidential intermediary system with
disclosure vetoes and mandatory counseling. Bastard Nation actively opposed
this bill. Status: After passing the House, the bill was killed by the
Senate Judiciary A Committee.
http://www.legis.state.la.us/leg_docs/04RS/CVT10/OUT/0000LCBT.PDF
MASSACHUSETTS
HB 4325: A bill to establish the safe placement of newborns and
infants. Status: This bill was passed by the Senate on July 1st, by a vote
of 38 - 0.
http://www.state.ma.us/legis/history/h04325.htm
NEW HAMPSHIRE
On May 11, 2004, New Hampshire passed SB 335 into law. This gives all
adopted adults the right to request and receive their original birth
certificates, unconditionally. The law will go into affect January 1, 2005.
Bastard Nation wholeheartedly endorsed this bill and actively worked for its
passage.
NEW JERSEY
S 1093: Introduced as a clean adoptee rights bill. However, it was
amended in the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee
on June 7th and now contains a *disclosure veto provision * The amended
legislation would provide a one-year period following bill passage during
which birthparents can file a veto against having their names disclosed on
the original birth certificates. Bastard Nation supported the original bill
but is opposed to this amendment. Status: Awaiting a full vote on the Senate
Floor.
A 312: Amendment to state's Safe Haven law which will provide
birthparents immunity from prosecution, rather than the current affirmative
defense. Also prohibits the state from attempting to locate or contact
birthparents if they provide identifying information. Sponsors say bill will
"encourage parents to safely surrender their infants without fear of
identifying themselves." Status: 2/24/2004 Received in the Senate, Referred
to Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee.
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/Default.asp
S 602/A 1971: Supplemental appropriation of $100,000 to DHS for public
awareness campaign concerning "New Jersey Safe Haven Protection Act."
Status: 5/17/2004 Reported and referred to Assembly Appropriations Committee
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/Default.asp (type in bill number and follow
links)
S 1577: Establishes Safe Haven Awareness Promotion Task Force. No
persons directly affected by adoption and abandonment seem to be eligible
for appointment. Members will include numerous professionals and 2 "members
of the public with a demonstrated expertise in issues relating to the work
of the task force." Status: 5/10/2004 Introduced in the Senate, Referred to
Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee.
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/Default.asp (type in bill number and
follow links)
A 2765: Requires public school districts to provide instruction on
"New Jersey Safe Haven Infant Protection Act" as part of core curriculum
content standards in grades 9-12. Status: 5/10/2004 Introduced, Referred to
Assembly Education Committee http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/Default.asp (type
in bill number and follow links).
NEW YORK
A 6238/S 2631: An open records bill. Although the actual text of the
legislation reflects a clean bill with a Contact Preference form a la
Oregon, Alabama, and New Hampshire, the legislative memo describes
legislation with a contact veto or a disclosure veto depending on which
paragraph one chooses to read. Bastard Nation has not endorsed this
legislation yet because of concerns it has with the legislative memo
attached to the bill. Committee Status: Bill has been tabled until the next
legislative session beginning January, 2005.
See: http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A06238
NEVADA
Nevada Open and coalition partners have been formally appearing all
summer long, during Interim Session, before the Nevada State Legislature's
Children, Youth and Families Committee. On June 17th, Senator Maggie Carlton
(D - Las Vegas) released her recommendations to the committee for bill
drafting in the 2005 Session. Among the senator's comments was an appeal to
allow access by adult adoptees to their own original birth certificate. The
CYF Committee convenes again on Thursday, August 12th. Nevada Open will be
present to hold firm the mission of unrestricted access. To learn more about
Nevada Open, visit: http://www.nevadaopen.org
OKLAHOMA
Oklahoma open records advocates are gearing up to present a bill for
the next legislative session. Contact OORAH - Oklahoma Open Records for more
information.
CANADA
ALBERTA
Effective November 1, 2004, adoptees 18 years and older and their
birth parents will be able to obtain identifying information about one
another, unless a veto is in place. Bastard Nation vigorously opposed this
bill last year.
http://www.gov.ab.ca/adoptionrecords
Where The Action Is
Stay tuned for updates and action alerts!
GET INVOLVED:
Nevada Open Website
OORAH - Oklahoma Open Records
Missouri Open
Florida Records Equality Effort (F.R.E.E.)
California Open
Arizona Open
Arkansas Open Needs Volunteers for Future Efforts!
Virginians for Adoption Reform and Education
Louisiana Adoption Advocates
NEWS BRIEFS
Ireland: AdoptionIreland: The Adopted People's Association is calling
for the immediate ratification of the Hague Convention on the Protection of
Children in Inter-Country Adoption.
http://www.adoptionireland.com/
Maryland: Maryland's Governor Ehrlich has vetoed HB 232 -- the sibling
bill that would have allowed adopted siblings to receive search and reunion
services via the state CI program.
http://www.gov.state.md.us/mail
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Texas: State district judge turns down request for a class action law
suit against the Gladney Center for Adoption, based in Fort Worth, TX.
http://www.talkaboutparenting.com/group/
alt.adoption/messages/424666.html
United Kingdom: The Foundling Museum, 40 Brunswick Square, WC1, opens
on 15 June, London. http://www.londontown.com/LondonInformation/
Attraction/Foundling_Museum/fa64
NEW BOOKS
BASTARD NATIONALS JOANNE SMALL AND JANINE BAER PUBLISH BOOKS
The Adoption Mystique by Joanne Wolfe Small
Joanne Wolfe Small's collection of essays on adoption, comprising a
selection of articles and talks written or revised over a period of years,
began to materialize as a book about two and a half years ago. The essays
look at adoption from a psychosocial or environmental perspective. These
essays outline the history and background of American adoption culture;
explore the hidden but powerful religious, social and economic factors that
affect adoption's collective image, and are often critical of child
welfare's adoption premises, policies, and practices.
Joanne believes that adoption is an industry that has largely gained
power from the desperation, neediness and powerlessness of the birth
parents, infertile couples, and adoptees that it serves. "Society has
invested the industry with an image comparable to that of a sacred cow.
Criticism has customarily been taboo," writes Joanne.
You'll find an abundance of compelling arguments that support the
theory that secrecy in adoption breeds shame, a theme that runs through the
entire book. Joanne dubs the current crop of open records bills, "Dirty
Little Secret" Legislation.
Any one of these essays could be an excellent starting point for a
stimulating discussion with different adoption groups. They would be
extremely valuable when talking with adoptive parents, child welfare
professionals, support groups, and people in the media.
The essays are all well documented with specific references at the end
of each chapter. http://www.amazon.com.
Growing in the Dark: Adoption Secrecy and its Consequences by Janine
Baer
Janine Baer's Growing in the Dark deals with the generations of adults
who were adopted as children and have been kept in the dark about their
original identities. The law sealing birth records, passed in 1935 in
California, swept adoption's emotional complexities under the rug and made
it possible to keep adoption itself a secret.
Growing in the Dark takes you through California's early adoption
laws, highlighting the sealing of records, and discusses the various
consequences of this policy as they unfolded throughout the 20th century.
Psychological theories, baby sellers, the views of child welfare advocates,
and attempts to reverse the sealed records laws are all part of adoption's
story. For more information, please visit Janine's website,
http://www2.xlibris.com/bookstore/
bookdisplay.asp?bookid=22848.
http://www.amazon.com
You Remind Me of Me by Dan Chaon
Dan Chaon, author of two collections of short stories, has published
his first novel which revolves around one case of adoption and its enormous
ramifications on how family ties are made or lost. Nora, a pregnant
teenager, admits herself to Mrs. Glass' Maternity Home and gives up her
first child, a boy, to adoption. Five years later Nora gives birth to a
second son, Jonah, whom she keeps. Jonah grows to be a depressed and lonely
young man who wants to change his life. He clings to the sense that his life
could have been different if one important loss had never occurred.
"After Jonah's grandfather died, when she (Nora) started taking drugs
more and more, she would occasionally grow sentimental.
"Don't you wish I'd given you up, Jonah?" Nora would say, full of
slurry self-pity, in a haze of her own angry thoughts. "I'll bet he's a lot
happier than you are."
You Remind Me of Me is not the kind of book in which a simple
revelation of brotherhood will solve all problems and lead to
happily-ever-after transformations. Dan Chaon examines questions of
identity, fate, and circumstance: Why do we become the people we become? How
do we end up stuck in lives we never wanted? And can we change the course of
what seems inevitable?
Author Elizabeth McCracken says, "You Remind Me of Me is one of the
strangest, most beautiful, most compelling books I've read in a long time.
Unnerving and real, intricately plotted, wonderfully written, it's a Chinese
box of a novel, full of hidden pleasures and surprises."
I couldn't agree more!!
Books reviewed by Anita Walker Field
THE ADOPTEE PRODUCTS CATALOG
Here it is folks: The Adoptee Products Catalog, merchandise for
the modern adoptee!! Originated by Dr. Robert Andersen, excerpts first
appeared in his 1993 book Second Choice: Growing Up Adopted.
SILVER JEWELRY: Affirm your position as an adoptee with the
metal long known for being second best. Silver jewelry cast as street
urchins, puppydogs, and non-descript globs void of historical significance.
$24.75
BEDTIME FAVORITES: Get this collector's edition of these
all-time favorite adoptee stories. Includes the beautiful CHOSEN CHILD, and
MY MOTHER LOVED ME SO MUCH SHE GAVE ME UP. Also contains the dramatic YOUR
BIRTHPARENT'S CRASHED AND BURNED, as well as the suspense thriller BE GOOD
OR WE'LL TAKE YOU BACK. These and many other stories you can read again and
again in this beautifully bound volume. $39.95
THE BUYERS GUIDE TO BLACK MARKET BABIES: Determine your self
worth by discovering your cost. This complete guide adjusts for regional
differences and compensates for inflation. Also, a supply and demand index
allows comparison between times of baby gluts and shortages. Imagine your
joy at learning you would have sold for $20,000 to $30,000 at today's
prices. A great confidence builder $17.50.
THE ILLEGITIMATE'S GUIDE TO UNWED MOTHERS HOMES: The most
comprehensive guide on the market. Over 1200 listings with addresses,
descriptions and photographs. Turn that routine vacation into a nostalgic
adventure with a visit to the very place where your mother signed you away.
$19.95
HUMBLE PIE: Basic adoptee fare. 12 inch, deep dish pies. Bland,
colorless, unappealing; but good for you. Eat anytime, but especially before
visits to government and social agencies. Generic ingredients for generic
people. Refrigeration not required. $8.50 each; 3 for $21.95
http://www.bastards.org/fun/
JOIN BASTARD NATION
Want to make a difference in how adopted people are treated and viewed
in society? Want to support the efforts of the only adoptee-led national
organization dedicated to promoting the equal treatment and dignity of
adopted citizens? Want to enjoy all the benefits of membership? Join Bastard
Nation!
Fill Out an Application now at http://www.bastards.org/members
Learn: http:// www.bastards.org
Join: http://www.bastards.org/members/
Fight: http://www.bastards.org/alert/index.html
Talk Back: e-mail us at bn@bastards.org
JOIN BN TODAY!
BASTARDS OF THE WORLD, UNITE!
YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT YOUR SHAME!
Editors: Anita Walker Field and David C. Ansardi
c. 2004 Bastard Nation: The Adoptee Rights Organization
Please share Byline: Bastard Nation with your friends and colleagues
and with your other e-mail lists. Cross-posting is encouraged. You also have
our enthusiastic permission to print out Byline: Bastard Nation and share it
with those not on the internet.
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