BASTARDS LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND: ADOPTION ETHICS AND ACCOUNTABIITY CONFERENCE

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After 4 soothing days of highbrow adoption talk at ASAIK in Pittsburgh, Bastardette will fly south on her broomstick for the 2-day Ethics and Accountability conference in Arlington, VA, thrown by Ethica and The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute. Monday afternoon (October 15) Bastardette will sit on the Adoptee Access to Records and History: Adopted People and “the ‘Right to Know” panel with records-access legal scholar Elizabeth Samuels, AAC General Counsel Fred Greenman, and moderator Pam Hasegawa. Bastardette is also a member of the informal Meet the Bloggers panel/cocktail reception Monday evening. (I’ll write about that in a separate entry). Adoption conferences preach to the choir who then return home to practice their hymns some more. While this will indeed preach to the choir, the conference is billed as a working conference with diverse ideologies and solutions (everybody is supposed to feel “uncomfortable” at least once) providing presenters and attendees the opportunity to help “shape improvements “in adoption practice. As such, traditional presentations will be replaced with (no more than) a 10 minute presentation by each panelist. Discussion will then open up to the “public.” At the end of the conference a Town Meeting will discuss ways in which to Continue Reading →

AN ANTIDOTE FOR ADOPTION POLITICAL BOREDOM SYNDROME: THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF ADOPTION, IDENTITY, AND KINSHIP CONFERENCE

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I’ll be busy the next couple weeks, but I’ll be checking in. I am, dare I admit it? Conference hopping ! Next week I’ll head out for Pittsburgh to attend the 2nd conference of the Association for the Study of Adoption, Identity and Kinship– Encountering New Worlds of Adoption. Two years ago at the first conference at the University of Tampa I presented a paper on the representation of first mothers in film–Where We Came From– which you can find in the DB November 21, 2005. (Blogger doesn’t do its own links very well.) Later it was published in the PACER Newsletter (Post Ado9ption Center for Education & Research). Speakers and presenters this year include BJ Lifton, Lorraine Dusky, Sandra Patton-Imani, Jill Deans, Emily Hipchen and Bastardette’s old friend, Craig Hickman. (I also wrote about this conference on December 15, 2006) Viewing adoption through literature and art gives a whole new perspective and meaning to just how screwed up adoption really is. I mean, one only has to read (or better yet attend) an Albee play to see that. I am especially interested in Sally Hanslanger (Philosophy and Women’s Studies, MIT), “Family, Ancestry, and Self: What is the Moral Significance Continue Reading →

ADOPTION RADIO GETS BIGGER AND BETTER

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Good news for people who love adoption radio–and who doesn’t around here! Donna Montalbano has left WSAR-AM, Fall River, and moved over to WARL-AM in Providence with a brand new show: Family Secrets. And the really good news is that it streams so everybody can hear it. Donna sees the new show as a great opportunity to expand listenership and discuss a variety of subjects including adoption and assisted repro. I’ve been a guest on her WSAR show twice and it was a great experience. Family Secrets airs noon on Thursday. Go here to listen.

MASSACHUSSETTS; SEN SPILKA HERO OF THE UNDERDOG! YEAH RIGHT!

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Prominent Massachusetts adopteephobe Senator Karen Spilka was featured in the Sept. 29 edition of the Milford Daily News. Spilka, as you may remember, has a real Jones for state identity confiscation. She and her lapdog ABC Committee (or was Spilka THEIR lapdog?) are responsible for gutting the identity rights of ungrateful adult adoptees in the state through her opposition and stonewalling of last year’s clean AB 959 and her co-sponsorship of this year’s of SB63. which blacklists thousands of adoptees by date of birth. She was also a sponsor of the state’s so-called “Baby Safe Haven” law which legalizes newborn anonymous abandonment. Spilka apparently has never met a baby who didn’t need to have another state-constructed identity. Ironically, Spilka, a former labor lawyer and “community volunteer” is considered a hero by some. Claudia Bennett, a former colleague on the Senate Committee on Education says, “Karen is someone who fights for the underdog which I think is a great quality.” It seems that Massachusetts adoptees whose rights are denied under her jackkboot don’t qualify for her largesse. For more on Spilka and the here go to: 2006:March 6March 8March 14,March 15 2007:March 16September 7Septenber 10

POUND PUP’S DEMONS IN ADOPTION AWARDS

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Decisions! Decisions! Decisions! So many demons, demons, demons, but only one to vote for! What’s a Bastardette to do! Pound Puppy forwarded the following First Annual Demons of Adoption Awards announcement this afternoon. Please feel free to forward it to all your friends in AdoptionLand. These dregs of adoption are all excellent nominees. All have gone above and beyond the call of duty to screw adoptees. Personally, I’d have added The Joint Council (facilitators and perpetuators of Masha’ Allen’s abuse) and the nameless and murky Massachusetts ABC Committee (cowards, sell-outs, government shills, and blacklisters), but they can wait. It’s not like they’re going anywhere. I’ve cast my vote (guess who!). Now you make yours. First Annual Demons of Adoption Awards On October 4th the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute will hold their annual Angels in Adoption gala, where several people will be honored with the Angels in Adoption Reward. To raise a voice against adoption propaganda and this self congratulatory practice, we are proud to introduce the first edition of the annual Demons of Adoption Awards. This year’s nominees are: First Annual Demons of Adoption AwardsAdoption.com, for systematically banning voices that oppose current adoption practices Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute Continue Reading →

CALIFORNIA: BASTARD NATION’S LETTER TO GOV. SCHWARZENEGGER–VETO AB 81!

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AB 81, which expands the age that newborns can be “legally abandoned in California fro 72 hours to 10 days,, passed the General Assembly a few days ago. Bastard Nation opposes AB 81. Below is our letter requesting that Gov. Schwarzenegger veto. September 17, 2007 Governor ArnoldSchwarzeneggerStateCapitolBuildingSacramento, CA95814Attention: Constituent Affairs Fax: 916-445-4633 RE: AB 81: Extension to Safely Surrendered Baby Act—Please Veto! Dear Governor Schwarzenegger: Bastard Nation: The Adoptee Rights Organization asks you to veto AB 81 sponsored by Assb. Alberto Toricco, which expands California‘s Safely Surrendered Baby Act, (safe haven law) to let parents “legally” abandon infants up to 10 days old. AB 81 is bad child welfare and family policy and endangers the integrity of every California family. Because infants surrendered under SSBA are expected to be placed for adoption, Bastard Nation’s objections to AB 81 focus on how the amended SSBA will affect the civil rights of adoptees, potential adoptees, their birth parents and ultimately the future of ethical adoption in California. *AB 81 increases the pool of anonymous children available for adoption through unethical and unprofessional practices. It erodes the civil right of adoptees to their identity and heritage. The SSBA establishes parallel child welfare systems, Continue Reading →

MASSACHUSETTS TIMELINE: CHRONOLOGY OF A SELL-OUT AS PUBLISHED BY THE DAILY BASTARDETTE

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Bastardette has received inquiries about the history of the Massachusetts Adoptee Blacklist aka SB63, Some have wondered how the bill got by them until now. I can’t answer the second question, but I can help with the first. Below is a list of all the action alerts, testimonies, and commentaries regarding the blacklist that have appeared on The Daily Bastardette since November 2005. While hardly a detailed history of current Massachusetts adopteephobia, (some of that will be published later) it will give you an idea of what went down in the Bay State. I did not include links, since Blogger links go flaky sometimes. It’s also time consuming to make links, and I’d rather develop a relationship with some Buffalo Wings tonight. To read a post–and learn just how hated and feared adoptees are in Massachusetts— just go to the Archives section on the right and click on the appropriate month. 2005B959 Talking Points, November 2, 2005Birth Certificate Access: Bastardette’s Testimony, November 3, 2005 2006Massachusetts Meltdown: An Eyewitness Account, March 6, 2006An Open Letter to Karen Spilka, March 8, 2006Call to Action, March 9, 2007Ground Zero, March 14, 2006Bastard Nation: Why You Should Vote for SB959 As Written, March 14, Continue Reading →

MASSACHUSETTS: WEEKEND UPDATE–A DAY LATE BUT NOT A DOLLAR SHORT

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The fallout from SB63 is still dropping on Massachusetts—and AdoptionLand. Except for the shadowy “ABC Committee” no one is popping corks, at least in plain site of the thousands of adoptees whose rights ABC flushed down the sewer. No press release. No making whoopee on the ABC webpage. An informal survey of internet adoption forums made this weekend indicates that 100% of records rights activists would string up ABC— if they could be located. The committee fortuitously removed its membership list from the ABC page, leaving only the names of organizations that supposedly supported the bill, to take the heat. One Benedict Bastard, however, was outted by Jason Millman in yesterday’s Boston Herald: Susan Hicks, described as an adoptee and head of the ABC Committee. Hicks, recalling her own experience of trying to get her original birth certificate, says “I thought it was insane, it’s such a humiliating process… Something needs to be done about this. It doesn’t even make sense in today’s society.” We can only assume that Ms Hicks believes that sealed records are humiliating and nonsensical for her, but not for anyone else. It would be interesting to know if she’s pre- or post cut-off date. Care Continue Reading →

MASSACHUSETTS: ADOPTEES BLACKLISTED BY BEACON HILL

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I’d rather vote for something I want and not get it than vote for something I don’t want, and get it.,,,Eugene V. Debs A sad day for Massachusetts adoptees: Governor Deval Patrick signed SB63. The ABC crowd couldn’t be happier. Though they have made no formal statement this was posted on their website this afternoon (September 6): We thank Governor Patrick, Senator Frederick E. Berry, Senator Karen E. Spilka, Representative John Lepper, Representative Stephen P. LeDuc, the Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities and the Massachusetts Legislative Children’s Caucus for making this bill law. We are also grateful to all the supporters in the adoption community who worked with us to get his bill signed into law. AND THEY WONDER WHY WE CALL THEM DEFORMERS!ABC* has done what no other “adoptee rights” organization has done. In its eagerness to “stop the clock” and play the hero, ABC lobbed an entire generation of adult adoptees into the great “dustbin of history.” It has (1) “legitimized” the false doctrine of ‘implied promises” promoted by NCFA et al for nearly 30 years ; and (2) acceded to the demands of blockhead politicians, adoption “professionals” and special interests to sell out the Continue Reading →

BASTARD NATION TO DEVAL PATRICK: VETO SB63!

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NOTE: Scroll down for Bastard Nation Action Alert and how you can help stop tihs bill from becoming law.September 5, 2007 His ExcellencyDeval Patrick Massachusetts StatehouseRoom 360Boston, MA02133 RE: Senate Bill 63: An Act Further Regulating Access to Birth Certificates—Please Veto Dear Governor Patrick: Bastard Nation: The Adoptee Rights Organization, the largest adoptee civil rights organization in North America, urges you to veto SB63. This bill establishes an unacceptable tiered system for adoptees to obtain their original birth certificates which are currently sealed by the state. Instead of treating all adopted adults equally, this bill doles out favors based solely on date of birth. (1) Adopted persons 18 years of age or older born in the commonwealth on or before July 17, 1974 or on or after January 1, 2008 or an adoptive parent of an adopted person under 18 years of age and born in the commonwealth on or after January 1, 2008 will be “allowed” unrestricted access to the original birth certificate. (2) Adopted persons born in Massachusetts between those dates cannot access their original birth certificates without a court order or other special procedures. (3) The bill also establishes a “subject to appropriations” voluntary state-operated “contact information Continue Reading →