Massachusetts: S1114/H2045 – Submitted Testimony in Support

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Yet after months of bickering, debate and delay—little of which was made public or explained to adoptee rights activists– a compromise bill was passed that split Massachusetts adoptees into two classes The Haves: born on or before July 17, 1974 and on or after January 1, 2008 would share equal rights with the state’s not-adopted through unrestricted access to their birth certificates. The Have Nots born between those dates could not. Illogically, simply through an accident of date-of- birth, The Have Nots found themselves and their publicly held birth certificates tossed into a black hole along with their right to equal treatment and due process.

The State of Massachusetts has the opportunity now to right that grave wrong done to its adopted population nearly ten years ago. It has a chance to “level the playing field” and make the rights of all the state’s adopted citizens—not just some– equal to the not-adopted and equal within their own adoptive status. Continue Reading →

New York: S5964: Bastard Nation Letter to Acting Rules Chair Sen. John J Flanagan. Do not take up and consider.

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S5964/H2901A is not a matter of clean- up language or simple additions or subtractions. Instead it strips the original bill and adoptees of their right of OBC access, replacing it with a highly bureaucratized system of court orders, permission slips, and fiscal irresponsibility that infantilizes and restricts the rights of New York’s adopted adults. Incredibility, it mandates that judges take into consideration the “feelings” of an adopted adult’s adoptive parents when deciding to release the OBC!

Another section mandates that the state track down the birthparents of adoptees who apply for their OBC, in order to get consent for their for release. According to the bill, even birthparents whose rights were terminated by the courts for abuse and neglect would have the authority to stop the release of the OBC.

Since no fiscal note is attached to pay for these searches, which we estimate at today’s going search rate would cost over $7 million the first year alone, either NYS taxpayers are expected to pony up or adopted adults will be forced to pay the state hundreds of dollars each to get permission to receive their own birth certificates—a right every not-adopted New York-born possesses free and clear without anyone’s permission. Continue Reading →

Massachusetts: Tuesday June 23, 2015–Hearing on Clean Access Bill

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Proposed S1144 and its companion, H.2045, possibly the shortest and easiest to understand adoptee access bill ever, reads as follows:

Section 2B of chapter 46 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2008 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out, in line 3, the words “on or before July 17, 1974 or on or after January 1, 2008” and by striking out in lines 4 and 5, the words “on or after January 1, 2008.”

In other words, it would remove the” black hole” and give all adult MA adoptees their OBCs, without condition, redactions or vetoes.

Tuesday, June 23, 2015 from 1pm-5pm, these (and other) bills will be heard before the MA legislature’s Joint Committee on Public Health, Room A-2 at the MA State House. Continue Reading →

Father’s Day 2015: My Two Dads

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Adoption always seems to me to be a women’s sport. Fathers are almost always left out of the adoption equation—especially birth fathers. I never thought much about what my birthfather would be like until a few years ago, and I most certainly never thought I’d have a Bush-hating, Chinese-speaking Democrat like Jack for a dad. Charlie, unlike the stereotypical post-war distant dad that we hear about, spent a lot of time with me. I think he genuinely enjoyed being a dad. Through his example I learned generosity and fairness. He bought me Little Richard records and taught me big band music and that Republicans need not all be nutbars. I’ve been fortunate to have had not one, but two extraordinarily swell dads with kind and liberal and loving spirits. I wish they were both here today for Father’s Day so I could show them how much I love them both, how important they really are. Continue Reading →

NEW YORK: Bastard Nation Action Alert. Tell NY Senate to Vote NO on S5964-2015

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Bastard Nation OPPOSES New York Bill S5964-2015, which contains amended language that violates both the rights and dignity of New York’s adult adoptees. Bill S5964-2015 creates a robust Disclosure Veto system administered by the adoption court system, would mandate confidential intermediary searches by the state, as well as require judges to consider the wishes of the adoptive parents of adult adoptees when deliberating granting access to requests for copies of original birth certificates by adult adoptees. The amended language is an affront to all adoptees.

Both New York sponsoring organizations have issued statements in opposition to the amended bill. So, we join them in urging you to call the primary sponsors of Bill S5964-2015 and its Assembly companion bill at their Albany offices, Continue Reading →

NEW YORK: Bastard Nation’s Letter to New York Legislature. Vote NO on A2901-2015

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Unaccountably, while other states are restoring the unrestricted right to OBCs, it appears that the State of New York is bent on denying its adoptees any type of civil rights and recognition. A2901A sends the message that adoptees are dangerous and need to be monitored by the government.

I have been lobbying for adoptee rights for nearly 20 years, and I can honestly say that I have never seen such an ugly, reactionary, and dangerous bill flying under the banner of “adoptee rights.” New York adoptees are better off under the current hideous law than under A2901A’s Draconian assault that turns them into the chattel of birthparents, adoptive parents, and courts.

Continue Reading →

NEW YORK: Bastard Nation Action Alert. NY Assembly: Vote No on A2901A-2015!

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Call Assemblymember David Weprin and State Senator Andrew Lanza TODAY, NO ON NEW YORK BILL A2901A-2015!

Bastard Nation OPPOSES New York Bill A2901A-2015, which contains amended language that violates both the rights and dignity of New York’s adult adoptees. Bill A2901A-2015 creates a robust Disclosure Veto system administered by the adoption court system, would mandate confidential intermediary searches by the state, as well as require judges to consider the wishes of the adoptive parents of adult adoptees when deliberating granting access to requests for copies of original birth certificates by adult adoptees. The amended language is an affront to all adoptees.

Both New York sponsoring organizations have issued statements in opposition to the amended bill. So, we join them in urging you to call the primary sponsors of Bill A2901A-2015 and its Senate companion bill at their Albany offices. Tell him, briefly and politely, that as an adult adoptee you OPPOSE the bill as amended, and urge him to pull it. Continue Reading →

An Ohio Story: Black Boxes by Megan Collins, guest blogger

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When I opened my original birth certificate, seeing the name “Holly” was validating. I had spent years of my life wondering if that really was my birth name and now had tangible proof. When I saw “Danielle” as my middle name, I was surprised, but the sister I spoke of had a twin brother named Daniel, so I thought it could be a reference to this or maybe it was chosen randomly.

I then saw a black box where my last name should be. I expected some redaction in theory, but I wasn’t emotionally prepared to see black boxes all over my birth certificate including over my last name. It shocked me. Page after page of black boxes and missing medical information and a box checked to inform me she wanted no contact at this time. It also stated that the preference form could not be enforced…

It’s absurd that I received an original birth certificate with my last name replaced with a black box, my birth mother’s name as a row of black boxes and the birth father information as blank spaces. This is not the original birth certificate. It is a legal document that was changed to reflect the legislation currently, just as my other birth documents are.

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Bastard Nation Statement on the Defeat of Texas HB 984

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Unfortunately, it also contained a contact veto disguised as a “contact preference form” (CPF) that exchanged the traditional CPF language of “prefer” for the regressive “authorize,” If passed HB 984 would have enacted a discriminatory restraining order scheme against adoptees, based solely on their adopted status, for contacting birthparents without consent; thus violating adoptees right to due process and equal protection of the law Continue Reading →

Why I Continue to Lobby by Carolyn Evaine Shaw

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What I am fighting for at this point is not for someone to go back in time and change everything for me. That is done. Whether you consider me a victim or a volunteer, it does not matter. I have given up all hope of having a better past. But here is another truth for you: I am compassionate enough to not want anyone else to have to go through the same horrible experiences. I am caring enough to not want anyone else to have to feel “less than”. I want there to not be a need for Bastard Nation (except as a place for us to make our morbid jokes). The way I approach wanting these changes is by educating people every chance I get about how adoptees are treated differently. But I also lobby for legislation that will force people to start thinking about us differently. I do not endorse legislation that helps perpetuate NASTY TRUTH by making it seem as if adoptees might be emotionally imbalanced or inclined to illegal acts – that means any legislation with a contact veto/authorization/preference. I. WILL. NOT.

HB 984 hurts ME by telling people that I might need someone else to decide for me if I should or should not contact my birthmother, whose name I already do not put out in public because I am not stupid and can tell if it is/isn’t a good idea. If you are adopted, HB 984 hurts YOU by telling people that you cannot decide how to handle a family relationship on your own. If it says that ANY adoptee past/present/future needs help making decisions on how to handle family relationships, then it hurts ALL adoptees. If anyone who does not know much about adoption reads that statute and decides that there must be some reason why it is needed – if that is the only information they get about adoptees – then we have failed to help our very own.

Continue Reading →