Bastardette accidently posted a rough draft of a blog and only learned about it this morning when a comment was posted it. The blog–about Orphan and Esther–will probably be up later today. I am pretty sure the comment can then go up with it. If not, please post it again.
From the San Gabriel Valley News: The baby was surrendered after her mother’s water broke and she called a West Covina hospital inquiring about a county program that accepts unwanted babies. The baby, a girl, was born Tuesday at the same hospital, said Deanne Tilton Durfee, executive director of the Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect. She had 9 months, and this is all she could come up with?
We are sad to learn of the passing yesterday of Tony Vilardi, co-founder with his late wife Emma May of ISRR, the International Soundex Reunion Registry. Tony is a pioneer and real adoptee rights hero who touched countless adoptees and their families with his work. Tony retired from the day-to-day oversight of ISSR in October 2001, but remained an Executive trustee until 2007. He is survived by his wife Mary Braun Vilardi. This is from the ISSR memorial page: The number of adoptees, birth parents, siblings and other family members who have been touched by Tony’s generosity and commitment is in the tens of thousands. Most will never know it was he who paid for the telephone bills or stamps that resulted in their reunion. Most will never understand how their lives are different because he quietly and consistently made sure that ISRR stayed strong and open. You can share your thoughts about Tony here ISRR is a volunteer organization. Tony paid many of the expenses himself. There is no mention on the ISRR page, but I think it would be nice to send ISRR a donation in Tony’s memory here or through planned giving/wish list or by mail: ISRRP.O. Continue Reading →
Thanks to Mirah Riben for this heads-up! Committee on Rights of the Child concludes fifty-first session Source: United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Date: 12 Jun 2009 Committee on the Rights of the ChildROUNDUP Issues Conclusions on Reports of France, Sweden, Mauritania, Slovenia, Bangladesh, Niger, Romania and Oman Excerpt from report on France regarding accouchement sous X/Born Under X/legalized baby dumping: The Committee also remained concerned that a mother giving her child up for adoption, if she wished, could conceal her identity and oppose the right of the child to know his or her origins, depriving the child of a part of his or her rights. The Committee thus reiterated its previous recommendation that France take all appropriate measures to fully enforce the child’s right to know his or her biological parents and siblings, as enshrined in article 7 of the Convention.
I’ve been MIA for the last couple weeks tied up with a couple non-adoption projects (imagine!) and some serious laziness. I’ve got a lot to write about and maybe some of it will actually get written. In the meantime, here are some pictures of the demolition of Grandma Liz’s house, destroyed by fire on May 2o. The demo happened Monday and Tuesday of this week. It was sad to watch, but there’s nothing left to mourn but memories. Repairs on the two other houses (#2 and #4) hasn’t started yet outside of clearing away indoor debris. Perhaps the owners are insured by AIG. I haven’t heard anything official on the cause of the fire, but when I wasn’t home, somebody came door-to-door from the fire department telling my neighbors that the investigation indicates the fire was caused by a smoldering cigarette in the living room,. Since nobody was staying in the house at the time, how that cigarette got there is a question. It could have come from a worker in the house earlier that day…or it could have been smoldering for some time and finally reached a flash point and basically exploded the house when the heat reached a Continue Reading →
As predicted, the fix was in, and Madonna has acquired another human accoutrement. Citing Ms. Ciccone’s “investment” in the welfare of Malawian children, the Malawi Supreme Court overrode their country’s strict adoption laws and sent Chifuno “Mercy” James on her merry way to Madonna’s lovin’ lap of luxury. Chief Justice Lovemore Munio, reading the three-judge panel decision said that Madonna’s commitment to helping Malawi’s disadvantaged children should have been taken into account in her initial petition to adopt Mercy. This is from the AP story: The appeals court said that was a narrow interpretation based on old laws “In this global village a man can have more than one place at which he resides,” Munlo said in the ruling, which took more than an hour to read in court Friday. “The matter of residence should be determined at the time of application of the adoption. In this case, Madonna was in Malawi not by chance but by intention. She is looking after several orphans whose welfare depends on her. She can therefore not be described as a sojourner. Talk about legal contortions! Madonna may not be a “sojourner” but neither is she a resident of Malawi. The court simply ignored Continue Reading →
…so why is it being treated as one? The June 11, 2009 online edition of The Packet/CentralJersey.com reports that on May 6, an unidentified woman driving on the New Jersey Turnpike took the Cranbury exit, and dropped off a 6-month old boy at the local police station. He was accompanied by a blanket, diaper bag, baby carrier, bottle, and stroller. Now, anybody who has watched COPS knows that police are a curious bunch. Not so in Cranbury, population 2,008 (2000 census). Police asked the woman no questions, and called DYFS. The abandoner stuck around long enough to “speak to their representative” when the agency picked up the infant. What she had to say is, of course, a state secret. Cranbury police chief Ed Kahler is ecstatic: “The bottom line is at least she had enough forethought to take advantage of Safe Haven and knows that the baby will be taken care of.” Hey, Chief! This is NOT a “safe haven” catch. This is a drive-by abandonment. If Mom (if she is indeed the mom) had enough forethought to dump the kid on the cops, she had enough forethought to drop by a public or private social service or adoption agency Continue Reading →
Bastardette has been remiss is writing the last few days. Some other stuff took and continues to take precedence. Some of it bastard related, some not. So, I’m running this off quickly. One of the things I intended to write about is CARE’s latest move on AB 372. You know. First CARE wanted to save the old and dying adopted. Now they say they’re changing their mission to save only the yet-to-be-born adopted. Talk about a big ball of confusion! I recommend you read BB Church’s CARE Admits its Lack Implementation Strategy as well as CARE’s apologia Keep Your Eye on the Ball (click on link on front page –“Comprehensive History…”) , written probably by CARE’s “executive director” and professional lobbyist, Stephanie Williams, for a background to CARE’s latest circus trick. Incompetent CARE’s “Eyeball” attempt to frame everybody but themselves for their defeat is laughable. And it took them nearly a week after their baby was thrown into the suspension file to come up with an explanation. Yeah, those of us who already have our information or records and “unnamed” organizations that actually promote and win equal access to records who CARE kicked to the curb on Day One, are Continue Reading →
There’s a baby dump movement growing in New Brunswick, Canada. Bill 60 has been introduced to make it a reality. Below is the official position statement of The Adoption Council of Canada in opposition to the legislation. Good to have you on board! THE ADOPTION COUNCIL OF CANADA: POSITION STATEMENT ON SAFE HAVEN LEGISLATION (May 22, 2009). The Adoption Council of Canada (ACC) strongly supports policies and practices that protect the safety and health of all children and youth, but we do not believe that safe haven legislation is an effective way to meet this goal. Studies that track abandonment show that safe haven laws have not succeeded in eliminating unsafe, illegal abandonment. Other research suggests that the laws may encourage women to abandon infants who would otherwise have been raised by relatives or placed for adoption through established means. In addition, safe haven legislation deprives one of the biological parents (often the father) of their parenting rights and precludes the abandoned infant from ever knowing his or her genealogical or medical histories. The ACC believes that children have a right to information about their identity (their birth mother, birth father, or other family members; their heritage; their culture; their Continue Reading →
Today at approximately 2:00 AM, three of my neighbors homes went up in flames. These homes are 2, 3, and 4 doors from me. The home that went up first was #3. Grandma Liz lives there. She has lived in that house for as long as anyone can remember, rearing her kids and then her grandchildren. (Her granddaughter is the obnoxious teenager I threatened to take on a road trip to Nebraska last summer). My across-the-street neighbor, 40 something Eleanor, who has returned home to live with her own mother in the house she was born in, cannot remember when Grandma wasn’t there. Grandma has been on oxygen for years and seldom leaves the house. A few months ago she had a stroke and is paralyzed on one side. She has been staying with her sister while she recovers. Eleanor told me that shortly before 2:00 AM she smelled smoke. The smell was so strong that she looked around the house for a fire and even felt the walls for heat. When she found nothing she checked outdoors. She found Grandma’s house engulfed in flames so thick that she couldn’t even see the house. Eleanor called 911, and her sister Continue Reading →