BASTARD NATION ACTION ALERT
Black Lists Adoptees!
Creates and expands special rights and disclosure veto!
On May 12, the Rhode Island House unanimously passed H7877, a bill that restricts the right of all Rhode Island adoptees to access their own birth certificates. Promoted as an “adoptee rights” and original birth certificate “access” bill, the bill, in fact, contains not only a “birthparent” disclosure veto but extends that special veto right to the parents and siblings of a deceased “birthparent.” In other words, some of the very people who may have caused the adoptee to be placed for adoption as a child are now authorized to keep the adoptee as an adult from getting his or her own birth certificate.
S2759, a companion bill, is currently in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. That bill extends the special right veto even farther to include the parents and siblings of permanently disabled/incompetent “birthparents.”
Bill promoters say they will return later to pick up the left-behinds vetoed out of their rights. In over 40 years of tiered access and disclosure vetoes, however, no legislature has ever revisited to extend unrestricted access to all. States are obligated by law to honor all vetoes on file. Legislatures cannot unilaterally rescind in-place vetoes, even if a veto provision were removed prospectively by later law.
On May 14, in an attempt to show widespread support for S2759, a letter seeking bill endorsements, under the signature of S2759 sponsor Senator Rhoda E. Perry, Chairwoman Health & Human Services Committee and Paul Schibbelhute, New England Regional Director of the American Adoption Congress, was emailed to national/professional organizations. The email solicited (1) organizational letters of support for S2759 and (2)organizational statements stating a willingness to publicize RI adoptee access legislation“when” passed. The letters are to be sent to Sen. Perrry. (The full email is at here. http://ariadnegroup.org/acone.html)
The email contained links to general obc access policy statements or endorsements for a 2004 restricted access bill in New Jersey from several national organizations,including, CWLA, AAC, North American Council on Adoptable Children, and the EB Donaldson Adoption Institute. There were no links to endorsements or testimony for the current Rhode Island bills or any indication that these organizations outside of the AAC support the the current RI bill(s).
The most disturbing claim of this letter, however, is that “…new Hampshire and Maine had recently passed similar legislation.”
S2759/HB7877, in fact, are polar opposites. Bills in New Hampshire and Maine restored the right of obc access with no restriction, to persons adopted in those states, while S2759/HB2759 restores no right to access, and restricts access through the use of an expanded disclosure veto system; thus, creating a blacklist of adoptees barred from getting their own birth certificates.
Please write to Senator Perry today (address below) and tell her why you do not support S2759. If you represent an organization, explain the significance of your organization as well. The bill was introduced on April 6, 2010 and is being fast tracked so we need your letters now!
- S2759 is not an equal access bill.
- SB2759 convolutes civil rights with interpersonal relationships
- S2759 treats adoptees differently than the not-adopted. Access to the original birth certificate is treated as a favor or privilege by the state for adoptees, not as the unquestioned right for the not-adopted.
- S2759 creates two classes of adoptees giving some adoptees access to the obc at the expense of other adoptees
- S2759 creates a special right for “birthparents” to veto access to the obc, and extends that special right to self-appointed surrogates if a parent is deceased or incapacitated.
- S2759 and H7877 are companion bills; state your opposition to both.
Senator Rhoda E. Perry
Chairwoman, Health & Human Services Committee
Room 212
83 Smith St
RI State House
Providence, RI 02903
Phone: 401-276-5567 and 401-571-7165
Fax: 401-222-4263
[email protected]
Also contact HSS committee members:
Sen Leo R. Blais
[email protected]
Phone: 401-823-4536
Sen. Charles J.Levesque
[email protected]
Phone:401-683-9194
Sen. Francis T Maher, Jr.
[email protected]
Phone: none listed
Sen. Joshua Miller
[email protected]
Phone: none listed
Sen Juan Pichardo (HSS Vice-Chair and co-sponsor of bill)
[email protected]
Phone: 401-461-2389
Sen. James C.Sheehan
[email protected]
Phone: 401-884-1077
Sen. V. Susan Sosnowski
[email protected]
Phone: 401-783-7704
Quick List:
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[email protected], [email protected],
[email protected], [email protected],
[email protected]
Testimony may be submitted in writing two ways:
Email: [email protected]
Fax: 401-222-4263
Be sure to head your testimony with the number of the bill; a brief description (ex: original birth certificates for adoptees) and that your testimony for the opposition.
