Don’t say we didn’t warn you!
The other day Heather Dodd from Missouri Adoptee Rights Movement (MARM) told the Senate Seniors, Families and Children Committee that MARM’ s HCS HB 1599 OBC “access bill” was a “beautiful thing” even as it moved to the southern-most part of Hell and was deformed by the Missouri House from the original clean unrestricted access bill into a hot gutted mess of compromised limited access. Elsewhere Dodd and her cronies hinted that MARM’s “collaborative effort” (with who?) and sooper secret behind-the scenes finagling would make things right. Apparently, through some sleight of hand MARM would make all the bad amendments and their Catholic Charities sponsors go away, freeing Missouri adoptees from one of the worse OBC access laws in the country. When asked by Facebook “friends” how they intended to do this MARM attacked national and state organizations such as Bastard Nation and Pennsylvania Adoptee Rights (which has no BN affiliation) for holding out for “perfection. ” “Adoptees are dyin’!” they proclaimed
But, when you stand for nothing, you get nothing. Yesterday, the Senate Seniors, Children and Families Committee gutted the gutted bill even more with new restrictions. How is MARM going to spin this “beautiful thing”– a bill that would keep some adoptees records sealed FOREVER! (But aren’t adoptees dyin’?) Even the the National Council for Adoption in its Piercian anti-adoptee heyday wasn’t that extreme.
We don’t have all the details yet, but this is what we do know from Bastard Nation partner Missouri Open. As of this writing MARM has made no statement or posted updates to its public FB page. Instead we find notices on search and support meetings. The Missouri Senate has until the end of May to move on it.
Missouri Open Statement
MISSOURI: SENATE Committee Substitute for HB 1599 ALERT!
On April 5th, HCS HB 1599 was heard in the Senate Seniors, Children and Families Committee. In opposition were: Catholic Charities/Good Shepherd Children & Family Services; Missouri Catholic Conference; and Lutheran Family & Children’s Services.
The Senate Committee did NOT like the House Committee Substitute for HB 1599, so they created a SENATE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE and on April 13 passed it unanimously.
Yes – it can and did get worse.
Two points in the amendments include: 1) The original effective date of May 1, 2017 is to extend out until January 1, 2018. The purpose of extension… to allow a full budget year to adoption agencies who intend to provide notification of the new law to every birthparent; 2) the Disclosure Veto (called a CPF in this dirty bill) filed by any birthparent will remain in effect to and BEYOND DEATH of the birthparent, unless withdrawn.
Missouri Open opposes the Senate Committee Substitute to HB 1599. The bill will now move to the Senate Floor for Perfection Calendar.
Missouri: The Won’t Show Me State!!
Missouri Open thanks our BN partner California Open for assistance in this matter.
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Those who support these compromises in the hope of future changes need only look to Minnesota to see how futile that hope is. You’re being nickeled-and-dimed into a morally bankrupt position from which you likely won’t emerge for decades.
We’ve had intermediaries and disclosure vetoes here for 39 years and medical disclosure forms for 22 years. The former may not be challenged in court and the latter were enacted as a sop to those proclaiming medical needs as grounds for equal treatment.
Despite support from many of the sister organizations of those who oppose the MO bill, we’ve once again failed to gain sufficient traction to reverse the tide. Our bill isn’t clean, largely because of the fact that vetoes have given life to the myth of promises. Don’t place yourselves in the same position and don’t provide a roadmap for opponents in other states.
On June 1, 1952, I was born to Kenneth Rayburn Johnson and Nola Jean (Burris) Johnson of Kansas City, Missouri, and given the name Steven K. Johnson. My parents divorced a year or so afterward and on May 6, 1955, my mother married Rolland Boyd Inman. Shortly thereafter, my stepfather legally adopted me and I was issued a new Missouri birth certificate showing Rolland Inman as my father and my name as Steven Kenneth Inman. My original birth certificate was sealed. The adoption took place through the 17th Judicial Circuit Court in Harrisonville, Missouri, where we were living at the time.
The fact that I had been adopted by my stepfather was never kept from me but, as the years went by, I became more and more curious about my real father, Kenneth Johnson. As a present to myself for my 30th birthday, in 1982 I found and met my real dad. We immediately hit it off, and it quickly became clear to both of us that we had much in common. We also soon realized (as did my mother) that their divorce those many years ago had been a mistake based on a misunderstanding.
Within months, my mother divorced Mr. Inman and remarried my biological father, Mr. Johnson. This time they remained married for the rest of their lives, and for the next 30 years the three of us were happy to have each other in our reunited family.
By the time my biological parents remarried in 1982, I had already received my Bachelor’s degree and established a career with the name Inman. I saw little point in changing it back to Johnson; thus it remains Inman to this day.
Kenneth Johnson died November 28, 2012. Nola Johnson died December 12, 2015. They are buried together in Worth County, Missouri, near the Guilford, Missouri farm they dearly loved and where they spent their later years.
I recently discovered through genealogical research that four of Kenneth Johnson’s ancestors came to America on the Mayflower in 1620 – both his 10th and 11th great-grandparents. I am therefore eligible to join the Mayflower Society… but only if I can show proof that Mr. Johnson was my biological father. I’m sure that Dad wasn’t aware of his Mayflower connection, but he would be so proud if he had known. According to current Missouri law, my original birth certificate and adoption decree are both sealed so proving my true genealogy appears impossible without a court order.
If passed without amendment, HB1599 would allow me to get a copy of my original birth certificate as proof that Kenneth Johnson was my biological father and enable me to stake my claim as a descendent of John Howland, the fellow who famously fell off the Mayflower mid-Atlantic. I implore the Missouri legislature to push for passage of the bill during the current session. I’m 63 years old and don’t have a lot of time left to accomplish this. Please don’t put this off any longer. Thank you.