Now, we know that the adoption industry is shrinking, making the circle jerk tighter. Nonetheless, we were surprised to read that all the awards went either to Gladney itself or close fellow travelers. (OK. One is actually set aside for a Gladney volunteer) . Continue Reading →
Unfortunately, many adoptive parents did not check citizenship status at the time of adoption or follow through on the citizenship process. Some say they were unaware of naturalization requirements and believed citizenship was automatic upon adoption finalization. Some claim to have been misled by their adoption agencies, courts, lawyers, or federal immigration authorities. Some believed that it was up to the adoptee, at the age of majority, to choose their citizenship status. In some cases, adoptive parents disrupted the adoption, and either “rehomed” the children they brought to the US or turned them over to the state foster care system where they lingered with no legal closure or permanent citizenship status. Continue Reading →
As a direct result of our hard work, your unwavering support, and the assistance of other adoptee rights activist groups we can now announce that the bill NYARC supports and assisted in drafting, A55494/S3419 is officially live on the state pages Continue Reading →
As you can see, it’s only the beginning of February, and already there are plenty of screwy bills up and running to screw over adoptees. New York A2691/S2492 (aka the Benedetto bill after House sponsor Michael Benedetto) is by far the screwiest. It mandates unrestricted certified OBC access all right, –but there’s a catch. The OBC would contain the “circumstances of the adoption,” which translated means (according to the bill’s pimps) that the name(s) of your adoptive parent(s) and the date of your adoption would appear on your ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE. This fake OBC would include the disclaimer that it could not be used for identification purposes. So, you’ll get a special second fake “Amended Birth Certificate” to add to your original fake Amended Birth Certificate instead of your genuine OBC, adding one more link to the chain of abuse. This scheme, which we are all supposed to be grateful for (again!) not only defaces the OBC, but de-centers adoptees by giving adoptive parents a documentary role in our birth, and upends one of th core principle of the adoptee rights movement–access to a clean, unaltered OBC. Continue Reading →
I first heard this no-such-thing- as-adoptee-rights hog swill two years ago at the Denver AAC, when Uhrlaub theorized that the Colorado bill that he worked on that opened records and files in that state, was accomplished without a single mention of “rights.” Legislators, you see, are scared away with terms like “rights” especially when prefixed with “adoptee” so they need to hear softer less “divisive” language.Perhaps beggary will do. Perhaps scabbery. Continue Reading →
This makes 25 national, state, and international organizations opposed and 0 (zero) organizations that support the bill unless you count the murky anonymously-operated Occupy Florida FB “group” that claims legislators want to hear “rights” connected to adoptees. Occupy, instead, spouts nonsense that the sealing of OBCs and other adoption records are just a matter of “policy” not “rights.” In a November 17, 2017 FB post* Occupy Florida got even sillier: Continue Reading →
This month, and coincidentally NA(A)M,) my friend and activist colleague Greg Luce is celebrating his bastardly birthday by setting up a DNA test kit donation initiative to help other adoptees who may not be able to afford tests
New Yorkers: When you go to the polls tomorrow Vote the Bastards In! Vote for James Lane, Akeem Browder, and Larry Sharpe. Stand up for your rights. No one else will. Continue Reading →
This is too funny! Adoptee equality is anti-adoption! Adoptee equality is the internet’s fault! At least he left out his seriously weird comment on alt.adoption that it should be illegal to look up names in the phone book. Continue Reading →
This law gives adult adoptees (age 18) AND birth parents of adult adoptees unrestricted access to the entire, unredacted court file of the adoption, including a copy of the original birth certificate contained therein, upon request. It is the only state to do so. In fact, we don’t think there is any state or even other jurisdiction (country, province, etc) that gives birthparents this kind of access. The bill goes into effect immediately. (Go to the link above to read the bill, it’s history, and mandates). Continue Reading →