HAPPY MOTHERS DAY FROM A CHILD’S WAITING

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This morning I was eating breakfast on my front porch, reading our neighborhood newspaper, The Booster. Past the news of the Clintonville Area Commission elections, police reports, and way too much high school sports comes a full page Mothers’ Day ad: Thank You Mom…for Life. The ad contains a couple pictures of white newborns and a long list of Northwest Columbus Catholic Churches and individual members in each parish who “proclaim our commitment to the sanctity of Human Life” The page is paid for by Columbus Right to Life, Bethesda Post-Abortion Outreach and A CHILD’S WAITING. Yes you read that right! A Child’s Waiting. Who knew that the Skank Sisters, Jenny and Crissy (owners of ACW), were so devout? I bet they go to Mass five times a week: Give us your baybees, lest our business die! It takes real chutzpah for an adoption agency with 40 violations and a 3-week ODJFS licence revocation hearing coming up in June, not to mention the Bennett lawsuit (and here and here), to link itself to Columbus Right to Life. Have they no shame? (You don’t have to answer!) Does Columbus Right to Life have a clue to ACW’s troubles with the law? Continue Reading →

OHIO UPDATE: SEALED AND SECRET GENERATION SHAFTED AGAIN

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On April 30, the Ohio House Health Committee held another hearing on HB7. The hearing was dedicated to the testimony of the state’s “special class,” the Sealed and Secret Generation (1964-1996) of adoptees and natural and adoptive parents from that era who support the restoration of obc access language to the bill. MEA CULPA!It’s taken a long time to write this promised entry about that hearing. Perhaps because of the sheer overwhelming anger that I and the people involved on the right side of HB 7 feel right now. I originally intended to write a review of the testimony, quoting significant parts from some. (Much of the testimony is archived on the Adoption Network Cleveland HB 7 page, and quotes below comes from those documents.) But the real story lies in the dismissive behavior of prominent Health Committee members, particularly Matt Huffman (R-Lima, right). Only in office since January 2007, Huffman appears to wield an awful lot of influence, or at least acts like he does so that people hop-to at his whistle. I’ve been told, but not heard it from Huffman directly, that he’s claims if the Sealed and Secret Generation get their records, the Republicans will lose the Continue Reading →

OHIO: Stephanie Bennett Update

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Stephanie Bennett went back to court a few days ago. Musing Mother has an account. Here’s a snip: This morning Stephanie went to court. Apparently, Todd Kolarik decided that he couldn’t trust anyone who doesn’t sleep with one of the sisters, so he went too. He had the nerve in court, to call Stephanie Bennett a liar. This from the man who is the attorney for the agency that has no less than 40 violations including Child Endangerment! This from the man who can lie in court and not blink an eyelash! In a way, though, it turned out to be a good thing, since it allowed Jennifer the opportunity to mention the a)polygraph test that Stephanie passed and b) the DNA tests that they are waiting for the results from. Oddly, Todd Kolarik had forgotten to mention those things. Hmmm is there such a thing in the law as lying by omission? There was at our house. The Ohio Jobs and Family Services’ hearing on a Child’s Waiting is scheduled fr a 3-week run starting June 2. I plan to attend most if not all of them. Bobby Cutts’s murder trial didn’t take that long! I wonder what Evelyn’s Continue Reading →

LAW REVIEW ARTICLE: "THE ONLY AMERICANS LEGALLY PROHIBITED FROM KNOWING WHO THEIR BIRTH PARENTS ARE: A REJECTION OF PRIVACY RIGHTS…"

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There’s a new law review article that blasts the argument for “birthparent privacy” rights. Hughes, Susan Whittaker, “The only Americans legally prohibited from knowing who their birth parents are: A rejection of privacy rights as a bar to adult adoptees’ access to original birth and adoption records.” Cleveland State Law Review 53, 3 p. 429-461. Here’s an excerpt: Constitutional privacy has two prongs. As the Supreme Court in Whalen v Roe explained, first, it involves an individual’s freedom from governmental interference with fundamental rights such that the individual is able to make decisions surrounding important matters independently. Secondly, constitutional privacy includes an individiual’s right to be free from government’s gathering and disclosure of his or her personal information. When examined against these two prongs, birth parent privacy assertions lack sufficient weight to be afforded the protection that they have enjoyed. Privacy assertions made under the first prong, for example, do not work because open access statutes will not impede the exercise of fundamental rights and because adoption rights, as statutory creations, do not give rise to privacy protections only afforded to fundamental rights. Privacy assertions made under the second prong fail because open access statues do not violate a birth Continue Reading →

OHIO: HB 7 BEA TESTIMONY–"The deletion of records access from Sub Bill 7 deletes adoptees from the Ohio landscape."

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I attended the Sub HB 7 hearing today before the Ohio House Health Committee. I’ll write about it tomorrow. Being an academic by training, Bastardette loves footnotes. Unfortunately, Blogger does funky things with footnotes so I just cut and pasted their text at the end. I have not included the attachments since they were in chart form which Blogger definitely doesn’t like. BEA BUCKEYES FOR EQUAL [email protected]/beaohioIDENTITY RIGHTS FOR ALL OHIO ADOPTEES SUBMITTED TESTIMONYAPRIL 30, 2008HOUSE HEALTH COMMITTEESUB HB 7 IN SUPPORT OF RESTORATION OF LANGUAGE FROM ORIGINAL HB 7: UNRESTRICTED ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE ACCESS FOR ALL OHIO ADOPTEES Buckeye for Equal Access (BEA) is a voluntary group of adopted adults, birthparents, adoptive parents, and others connected to Ohio through adoption. We advocate unrestricted access to the unfalsified and unredacted original birth certificates (obc) upon request, for all Ohio adoptees. No exceptions. Our membership includes people from Akron, Columbus, Cleveland, Youngstown, Heath, Fostoria, Marion, Lakemore, Toledo, Concord and all points in between. BEA is extremely disappointed that unrestricted access to the obc included in HB 7 has been deleted from the sub bill. We ask the committee to amend the sub bill to restore records access with the exact language Continue Reading →

ILLINOIS: "73 ADOPTEE" TELLS YOU EVERYTING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT THE CI SYSTEM AND WERE AFRAID TO ASK!

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Still not decided on Illinois HB 4623? (and other entries here). Still think something is better than nothing? If so, blogger 73adoptee has a lot to tell you about the Illinois Confidential Intermediary system. You know, the one that Rep. Sara Feigenholtz and Melisha Mitchell want to beef up just for you. The one that let’s the state monitor your identity. The one that says you’re too stupid, too clumsy, too insensitive, too dangerous, too crazy to own your very own birth certificate. The one that strips you of autonomy and free association. In her excellent blog Caveat Emptor On Confidential Intermediary Programs, 73adoptee aka Triona Guidry, discusses the Illinois CI system and her own experience as a client of the state CI scam. Here’s a sample: CI programs are little more than a panacea to placate open records advocates while paying lip service to helping adoptees. There are things about the process that aren’t in the brochure. First of all, you may not be eligible to apply. Once within the program, you may have little knowledge or control over what is done on your behalf. And if concerns arise, you may have little recourse. and Just about everything is Continue Reading →

OHIO: CALLING ALL OHIO 1964-1996 FIRST MOMS–TESTIFY FOR RECORDS ACCESS!

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Betsie Norris from Adoption Network Cleveland issued the action alert (below) this afternoon. After attending yesterday’s hearing it is evident to me that the committee needs to hear the voice of first parents. This may be about OUR identity and rights, but the committee is seriously balking over first mother “privacy”–and that’s the hurdle we need to jump to get access back in the bill, passed, and on to the House floor. I was planning on contacting some moms personally, but this action alert makes it easier. If you are an Ohio mom or an adoptee or an adoptive parent from the closed black hole era of 1964 – 1996 and you support our right to recordds, please come and testify or to just show your support for us. Let them know that there was no other option but sealed and secret. Join us at the Statehouse, testimony and truth in hand. Snow them under with the truth! If you can’t testify, then submit written testimony to the committee. Kara Joseph, aide to sponsor Tom Brinkman, told me she will accept submitted testimony marked as such, duplicate it and make sure it gets to the Committee for the April 30 Continue Reading →

OHIO: KATE LIVINGSTON’S TESTIMONY TO RETURN OBC ACCESS TO AB 7

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Yesterday Columbus first mother Kate Livingston, speaking on behalf of herself, testified before the Ohio House Health Committee in support of returning unrestricted obc language to HB 7. The recently introduced sub bill removed the language. Kate blew us away. Next week more mothers will testify. I’ll be sending out an action alert on that shortly. With Kate’s permission, I’m posting her testimony below. Testimony in Support of the Reinstatement of Unrestricted Access to Original Birth CertificatesSub HB 7April 23, 2008 My name is Kate Livingston and I am a 26-year-old resident of Columbus. I am an alumna of Columbus School for Girls and Smith College and I will be starting graduate school at the University of Cincinnati in the Fall. I am here today to speak in support of the reinstatement of unrestricted access to original birth certificates in HB 7 because, for the past 21 years, my family has been profoundly impacted by adoption. I myself am a birthmother in an open adoption. My son, Andy, is 6 years old and lives in Granville, OH with his adoptive family. Notably, I am one of three birthmothers in my family. In the late 1980’s, two of my mothers’ sisters Continue Reading →

OHIO: MESSAGE FROM BUCKEYES FOR EQUAL ACCESS: RETURN ACCESS TO HB 7!

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On April 23, 2008,the Ohio House Health Committee met to take testimony on HB Sub Bill 7. The original HB 7 contained language which would have restored the right of all Ohio adoptees without restriction to access to their original birth certificates. It would have filled in the black hole and removed disclosure vetoes from the third tier. The sub bill stripped that language to maintain the YES NO and MAYBE status quo. Buckeyes for Equal Access (BEA) sent the following letter to all members of the Health Committee. It plans to add a bit more and submit it as testimony at the April 30, hearing. And no, the pictures were not part of the letter! Maybe they should have been! I attended yesterday’s hearing, and will write about it a little later today or tomorrow. ***** April 23, 2008 Buckeyes for Equal Access (BEA) is a voluntary group of adopted adults, birthparents, adoptive parents, and others connected to Ohio through adoption. We advocate unrestricted access to the unfalsified and unredacted original birth certificates (obc) upon request, for all Ohio adoptees. No exceptions. Our membership includes people from Akron, Columbus, Cleveland, Youngstown, Heath, Fostoria, Marion, Lakemore, Toledo, and all points Continue Reading →