MEET #25, #26, AND #27–AND THAT PESKY 18- YEAR OLD: THE NEBRASKA FIASCO CONTINUES

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This is a little re-written from this morning’s entry since there is new information now. This morning we welcome #25 #26 and #27 to the slag heap known as Nebraska’s “safe haven.” According to Todd Landry, spokesperson for Nebraska DHHS, Sunday afternoon a 16-year old girl was dropped off by her mother at Midlands Hospital in Papillion. Landry says that details are still being gathered, but here’s the story the state has released so far. WARNING: We have now entered the Land of the Surreal. The girl was a ward of the State of Nebraska from September 2007 to March 2008. In March 2008, the Sarpy County juvenile court dismissed the wardship based in part on the mother’s desire to relocate to Arizona, where they had extended family. While in Arizona, the girl was made a ward of the State of Arizona from August 2008 to October 2008. Based on information available so far, DHHS’ understanding is that in October, the Arizona court agreed to dismiss the case at the request of the mother, who desired to return to Nebraska in order to have more support from family and friends located here. The mother and daughter appear to have returned Continue Reading →

OLD KING–NEW KING: TOM ATWOOD RESIGNS FROM NCFA; CHUCK JOHNSON NAMED INTERIM PREZ

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Big news out of Washington this morning! Tom Atwood has resigned as president and CEO of the National Council of Adoption “to pursue other professional opportunities.” No details given. The reigns of command, at least temporarily, have been turned over to Chuck “Gomer” Johnson who will act as interim Adoption Honcho. Dr. Pierce must be stomping through heaven’s floor. Johnson is a proponent of open adoption. The good news: as the director of an Alabama adoption agency, he was part of what he calls “the Alabama compromise” that restored the right of that state’s adoptees to unrestricted access to their original birth certificates upon request. The bad news: he supports “mutual consent” and is “open” to the idea of confidential intermediaries. Johnson also believes in working together and getting along with diverse groups. He doesn’t do name-calling. That’s a shame because NCFA is always so much fun to kick around when they call us commies, anarchists, and election thieves. It’s gonna be real interesting to see what this non-traditional appointment means. Maybe we can bring Gomer over to the Dark Side. Here’s the text of the press release: Thomas C. Atwood Resigns from the National Council For Adoption Alexandria, VA Continue Reading →

CHILDREN OF THE CORN: NEBRASKA’S DUMPED GENERATION

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November 24, 2008: I will be be double checking these stats in the next day or so. I am still trying to piece together some serious writing on the Nebraska Fiasco. In front of me right now is a crate of documents that I’ve managed to file into some sense.It’s giving me a big headache. I’ve been able to ID by name about half of the Big Kids, along with the names of their parents and guardians and other personal information. I am not posting that personal information here. Some of the Big Kids are adopted and I suspect more are adopted that we don’t know about. At least one is a state ward, and some are former state wards. (It’s a little difficult to determine past and current state care status, so I’m not including that right now.) Two people have attempted to safe haven themselves (one with her 10 month old son), but self dumping isn’t allowed because the law is about “whether an adult will be criminally prosecuted for the act of leaving a child.” (I’m sure the state would have eagerly removed the 10-month from the mom, though, if she insist otherwise). I thought AB 157 Continue Reading →

AND YOU THOUGHT SARAH PALIN WAS BAD! MEET NCFA’S FRIEND MICHELLE BACHMANN

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Max Blumenthal wrote a great piece in Tuesday’s Daily Beast (now repost all over the net) about Minnesota Cong. Michelle Bachman How a Minnesota congresswoman became a poster child for the GOP crack-up. Who? That’s just what I said when the National Council for Adoption announced that Bachman would be a keynote lunch speaker at its annual conference in Washington last month. (Go here and click on link to “conference” in the right sidebar. This is a pdf link with no dedicated URL). I quickly looked her up. Outside of having impeccable credentials as a fundamentalist GOP nut job, I learned that she’d sponsored the Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act, to repeal the nationwide phase-out of conventional lightbulbs by 2012. I was impressed. I honestly don’t remember much of what Bachmann said at the NCFA lunch. Her subject was mostly foster care, which she is apparently qualified to speak on since she was a foster parent of 23 (mostly teenage) girls, as well as popping out a few kids of her own. According to her Wiki profile she believes that the troubles that her foster charges had were the fault of the public schools: I began to realize as Continue Reading →

OHIO ELECTION-TIME ADOPTION BLATHER

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Adoption blather is a vital part of a candidate’s bonifides to office. Here in Ohio we’ve been subjected to two especially pernicious ads. Here’s one that raises PAP entitlement and US neo-imperialism to new heights of arrogance. It features a local PAP couple who whined long distance to Cong. Pat Tiberi’s office when…oh, dear… an Uzbek court “opposed” their adoption plan. Within 24 hours of Pat’s call to the FSU hinterlands, “their child” was safely home in the US. So much for Uzbek sovereignty and the country’s right to their own children. What size are those jackboots, Pat? And here is Ohio Supreme Court Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton running for re-election on an “adoption reform” platform. Don’t get too excited. Her idea of adoption reform is to make it easier for parental rights to be terminated. I know who I WON’T vote for. Thanks to my homie Dawn Friedman for reminding me of Tiberi’s ad

ON NO! ANOTHER ONE! NEBRASKA FIASCO AD NAUSEAUM

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According to the AP, a father dropped off his 15-year old daughter at Omaha’s Immanuel Medical Center tonight. No details until tomorrow. I guess poor Todd Landry, spokesperson for HHS wants to get a full night’s sleep. I’ll keep you updated. The race is on now. Anybody want to start a parlay sheet? Earlier tonight my local Fox News affiliate ran a story on the Fiasco. Sen. Arnie Struthman, father of this monster, was on saying..get this…we never dreamed this would happen! bwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

NEBRASKA SAFE HAVEN: HERDING CATS

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Herding cats! That’s what the Nebraska Big Kid Dump has turned in to. Just a few minutes ago, Nebraska HHS announced that a 15-year old girl was dumped off at Creighton University MC. There are no details yet, and news reports don’t say any more than the state-issued press release here. I intended to blog today about the Georgia case. There’s some pretty amazing reporting on it in the Atlanta media. Hopefully, that will go up later today. And honestly, I’d like to write about other things, but this it’s important to get this stuff out. Everything we said would happen has come home to roost.

GEORGIA ON MY MIND MORNING UPDATE

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There’s a little more information today on Nebraska’s latest Big Kid dump. This morning’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution identifies the “desperate mother” as Tysheema Brown, 33, of Smyrna. No details, though, on how she managed to drive an allegedly uncontrollable kid 1000 miles all by herself. Did she handcuff him? Lock him in the trunk? OD him on Dramamine? Did he arrive in a straight jacket?According to Lincoln Police Chief Thomas Casady, who has been less than happy with the Nebraska Fiasco, the county attorney’s office will file a petition in juvenile court and a judge will decide whether to keep the boy under state protection or reunite him with his family. No word if DHHS intends to contact Georgia authorities. It’s a sure bet, though, that Georgia officials will get involved as have Iowa and Michigan agencies in those out-of-state cases. Finally, you’ll really enjoy this: a quote from Tim Jaccard, founder of New York’s AMT-Children of Hope Foundation and now the president of the National Safe Haven Alliance (I guess Tom Atwood bailed): When children are older they have the ability to understand what’s going on, and they’re thinking, “Mommy and Daddy don’t want me anymore, so they’re throwing me Continue Reading →