Back in the old days when Dr. Pierce was still with us, I’d often have dreams about the National Council for Adoption. The real NCFA, not what passes for it today. One of my favorite dreams was about the NCFA porch sale where original birth certificates were neatly packaged in plastic envelopes like the kind old sheet music is sold in, stacked upright in cardboard boxes, and sold for 50 cents or a dollar each. In my dream the weather was overcast and drizzling. Several people were on the porch, including Bastard National Diana Inch, rifling damp-fingered through the cartons for their obcs. If the documents weren’t on the porch, they were probably in the foyer of the old Dupont Circle rowhouse. In my dream I wasn’t surprised that the obcs were there; only that it had never occurred to me to look there.
I have long urged adopted children not to try to find their birth mother, saying, “The woman who raised you is your mother. Accept that fact, and don’t go around disrupting lives.
No surprise there. But she closes with the most astonishing revelation:
“A search, however, is OK if both parties are agreeable. The National Council for in Washington, D.C., has a national registry for such searches, for cases where a medical history needs to be checked out. But to those who are simply inquisitive, I say leave things alone.
The National Council for Adoption Family Reunion and Medical Registry!
That’s mind boggling.
Simply Inquisitive.
The problem with putting Lander’s old columns into print is that her opinions really are a reflection of the time and are not compatible with current views on any number of topics. But people will read them and get all nostaglic for the common sense of Ann and “the good old days.” I wish they would dig up some opionion pieces from the 1950s that would explain to us that the only reason for a women to go to college is to find a suitable husband. Print them right next to Ann’s old-fashioned ideas.
I left this comment:
Even after death, Ms. Landers has her mis-information printed.
The NCFA does NOT have a reunion registry. It is oppossed to adoptees and natural parents reuniting. It is funded by people who makes huge sums of money in the 6 billion dollar/year adoption industry.
Alison from New York has endured what many adult adoptees have to endure their whole lives. Discrimination, disenfranchisement, disassociation, disconnection and then BAD advice from someone who has no idea what she is talking about.
Adopted persons are NOT skeletons in the closet. We are human beings just like the rest of you non-adopted ones. We’ve had our birth certificates sealed by a government who only sees us as a commodity as the rest of the adoption industry does. Our rights under the US Constitution are violated throughout our lives. It is time for the discrimination to stop. No more sealed/amended birth certificates. No more falsified documents that claim our adopters are our natural parents. No more secrets. No more lies. No more excuses to treat people like commodities and then throw them away like trash.
Alison…A movement has begun to fight this civil rights battle. Google “adoptee rights” and come join “Adult Adoptees Advocating For Change”. We will not be thrown scraps anymore and we certainly wont be grateful for them.
I need to clarify maybe. I was being facetious in my blog. NCFA certainly has no reunion registry and never has. AAAFC is an internet forum and has not put forward or otherwise worked officially for adoptee acecss bills or other aspects of adoptee rights, though individual members certainly support them.
Well now, that’s certainly real “classy” anon, coming over to the Executive Director of Bastard Nation’s personal blog to post your attempt to essentially poach those perhaps completely unaware of the political landscape of those actually working for adoptees’ rights.
Maybe Marley is far too polite to say it, but I certainly will, have a little respect.
Considering the past history in terms of personal attacks Joy and other AAAFC leadership has directed at Marley personally and BN more generally, coming here to advertise such is pretty darn crass.
And if AAAFC is an “adoptee rights” “movement”, I’m the Queen of England.
Joy has certainly clarified that it’s not about adoptee rights.
Quoting myself from this older train wreck here on a Bastardette comment thread,
“Joy said, of the AAAFC forum/Adult Adoptees forum:
“Our forum is not focused on adoptee rights but adoptee well-being,…”
Thanks for clarifying publicly that your practices contradict your own welcome page…
I’ve gotten several responses on this. I’m in the middle of writing a long piece on Grayson, and when that is finished, I’ll post them and a response.