The Last Invisible Continent Redux

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A different review written by me of Michael Allen Potter’s The Last Invisible Continent:  Essays on Adoption and Identity  has been published in the Columbus Free Press. There is one error in it–my fault.  The number of sealed OBCs in Ohio is now estimated to be 400,000 not 100,000. Read Mike’s blog,  icartographer TWITTER:   Twitter fried my account and I was forced to start a new one.  Besides tweeting The Daily Bastardette I tweet  (and retweet) about adoption issues, civil rights, freedom of the press,  the corporate state,  Depeche Mode,  literature and books, plus some local stuff.  I retweet generously.  Join me there! Daily Bastardette @DBastardette.

CHIFF Blocks Bastardette from Following Its Twitter Feed

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Oh the shame!

Whoever runs the Children and Families First 2013 (CHIFF ) Twitter account has blocked Bastardette from following their tweets.. Earlier I and an array of adoptee right advocates and adoption reformers were blocked from posting on the CHIFF FB page when one-by-one we posted simple polite statements that we opposed the bill and, were working to defeat it. Continue Reading →

The War on ICWA: Forces growing to dismantle ICWA and Indian sovereignty

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Last night Daily Bastardette received this comment on Bloody but Unbowed: Dusten Brown Shows His Stuff.  regarding the new attempt to dismantle the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA).  I believe it is too important to leave in comments and am giving it its own space to receive more attention.. The only change I have made is the addition of links. Hi. I really like your editorial. I found this about the Capobianco’s PR team and its head Jessica Munday. Munday is apparently on the anti-ICWA campaign trail:“Jessica Munday is owner of Trio Solutions in Mt Pleasant, SC, the PR firm that launched an anti-ICWA campaign on behalf of adoptive Baby Veronica parents Melanie Duncan and Matthew Capobianco. Munday recently sent an email to all Capobianco supporters who signed a petition to abolish ICWA. Here’s what she said,While Congress has yet to amend the ICWA, our collective effort surrounding Veronica’s case will indeed help ensure this situation will not happen to another child. As a matter of fact, it already has. We have been informed her case has already been used in several cases to block similar travesties from occurring…. If anyone would like to continue advocating for children being hurt Continue Reading →

Bloody but Unbowed: Dusten Brown Shows His Stuff

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This morning  Dusten Brown showed his stuff as a father and a man.  In a press conference in Tulsa he announced that he and the Cherokee Nation will no longer pursue custody of  his 4-year daughter Veronica Brown:. His sad surrender was done not as a sign of defeat but of love for Veronica. He surrendered to save her from further confusion, pain, and public intrusion:.  Veronica is only 4 years old, but her entire life has been lived in front of the media and the entire world, and I cannot bear for that to continue any longer. I love her too much to continue to have the spotlight on her. It is not fair for her to be in front of the media at all times. And her safety, happiness and well-being have always been my number one priority.  Brown, said in his statement:  The most difficult decision of all was to let Veronica go with Matt and Melanie Capobianco last month. But it was no longer fair for Veronica to be in the middle of this battle. It was the love for my daughter that kept me going all this time. But it was also the love for Continue Reading →

This is Not Adoption Reform: ORTL says, Let’s make adoption easier and cheaper in Ohio

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Bad news in Ohio.  Ohio Right to Life is ready to launch a new easy adoption  legislative project:   The bill isn’t filed yet, but  it gained traction Monday when the Columbus Dispatch  published:  Abortion foes focus on easing Ohio adoptions Since the bill isn’t up  yet, we can’t say what it says exactly, so I’m going by the Dispatch report only.  Here, is a  rundown from Mike Gonidakis,  adoptive father of two and President of Ohio Right to Life:.  . Decrease the waiting time for adoption finalization from 1 year to 60 days (Note: this seems to be a mistake.  Under the ORC, adoption finalization can currently take place no less that 6 months after placement.) Decrease the eligibility time a man can file with the Ohio Putative Father’s Registry (PFR) from 30 days  to 7. Require adoption agencies and adoption lawyers to inform fetal fathers (before the birth of the child)  that an adoption plan is being made; thus, giving them more time to file with the PRF (if they can find it) Increase the Ohio adoption tax credit from $1500 to $10,000 to be spread out over four years,  substantially offsetting the cost  of the adoption  Decrease Continue Reading →

Truly Stupid PAPs: I’m adopting from where?

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I spent a good part of yesterday trying to repopulate my Twitter account that’s been fried for probably a year. In the process Twitter gave me a continual feed of “Similar to Daily Bastardette” accounts which I dutifully checked out.  I found  new people I’d never heard of and old one’s I’d forgotten. Amongst the forgotten was Reunited Cricket  known for her infamous yet deserving Hall of Shame Blog Awards highlighting the blogs of truly stupid paps and adoptive parents. The irony, of course is that the awardees have no idea why they’ve been inducted into the Hall of Shame. I mean, these are the type of folks who upon the arrival of Baybee Bumble would hang a Kinko’s-generated GOT’CHA banner across their porch, with balloons and rainbow unicorns floating over it.  I thought I’d seen it all through the years, but Cricket this week has uncovered a blog so inane, so stupid that its author makes Melanie Capabianco look like Saint Clare of Assisi.  The award-winning entry is entitled Azer-by–wha?  It recounts the blogger’s attempt to adopt from Azerbaijan though she’s not sure if it’s in Asia or Europe. In the process, this rube manages to insult the entire Continue Reading →

Book Review: The Last Invisible Continent: Essays on Adoption and Identity by Michael Allen Potter. A superb and elegantly written mixing of the personal and the political.

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Although I am an adoptee rights activist I seldom read adoption books outside of history or other topics I have a specific interest in. I almost always avoid memoirs. To be honest most are awful. It may be good therapy to write your adoption story, but please leave it in your desk drawer!  Michael Allen Potter’s The Last Invisible Continent: Essays on Adoption and Identity is quite a different story. I’ve been familiar with Mike’s work for several years. I knew part of his story. I knew this book would be important. I was thrilled when he emailed me a few days ago and told me the book was finished and on Kindle. I downloaded it immediately.  And holy moley! What a book it is! Unlike the typical weepy adoption memoir this one is hard and gritty. It’s of the street, but also of the heart. Mike doesn’t pull any punches about his mother’s mental illness, his battle with alcohol, or his rotten adoption, which he discusses almost in passing, though it it obviously the core of the essays.  My personal favorites are the essays “The Re-education of Michael Allen Potter” and “Checking the Bastard Box.”  In “Re-education”, Mike recounts Continue Reading →

Call for Papers: 8th Biennial Adoption Initiative Conference, May 2014

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Call for Papers On behalf of the Planning Committee for the 8th Biennial Adoption Conference at St. John’s University, we invite proposal submissions for papers and research manuscripts that address issues likely to impact individuals and families touched by adoption. This Call for Papers specifically targets adoption professionals, researchers, scholars, practitioners, and graduate students. We are especially interested in receiving proposals that address the 2014 conference theme, “Sleeping Giants in Adoption: Power, Privilege, Politics, and Class.” In keeping with our ongoing goal to present thought-provoking themes relevant to the training of mental health professionals as well as to the personal growth and deeper understanding of adoption triad members, our 2014 conference will consider the intersections between the “sleeping giants” in adoption. The Committee welcomes proposals that tie directly to the conference theme, especially proposals that illustrate the ways that adoption (as it is typically practiced) tends to privilege certain voices and perspectives while downplaying those of marginalized groups. The history of U.S. adoption is rooted in social reform movements led by individuals and groups with greater access to power and privilege that set about to design child welfare interventions and social engineering plans for the children of families with less access Continue Reading →

Deconstructing the Baby Veronica Case: Implications for working with fathers in Indian child welfare practice

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I’m really impressed that this has come together so fast.  And what an array of panelists and presenters!   If I were in the Minneapolis/St Paul area at the end of this month I know where I’d be. If anyone attends I’d love to get a report. Deconstructing the Baby Veronica Case: Implications for Working with Fathers in Indian Child Welfare PracticeTuesday, October 29th, 20138:30am – 4:00pmMcNamara Alumni Center, UMN Federal and state laws, as well as agency policies and practice, play a significant role in how we work with fathers in Indian child welfare practice. In this forum, speakers and panelists with differing viewpoints will analyze the legal context of the “Baby Veronica” case for a closer look at father involvement. Practice strategies and policy recommendations will be a focal point. Read more about the event here. Breakfast and lunch will be served and light snacks will be available throughout the day. 6 Board of Social Work CEUs will be available. CLEs have been applied for. PresentersJudge William ThorneUtah Court of AppealsChrissi NimmoAssistant Attorney General of  the Cherokee NationMark FiddlerAttorney representing the Capobianco FamilyErma J. VizenorChairwoman, White Earth NationPanelistsTerry CrossExecutive DirectorNational Indian Child Welfare AssociationEssie Leoso-CorbineSocial Services Director for Bad Continue Reading →

AdoptionLand Incest Continues: Craig Juntunen from Both Ends Burning shills for Gladney

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Craig Juntunen, the most dangerous man nin Adopton Land Speaking of Gladney., as I did the other day… …guess who’s shilling for Dame Edna!. None other than the most dangerous man in AdoptionLand today, Craig Juntunen, founder and president of Both Ends Burning.and producer of Stuck, a  film  on the “orphan crisis” constructed to make your heart bleed and fill BEB’s  pockets full.of sob story money for child harvesting.. On  Wednesday October 9, Juntunen  will keynote the annual New York Metropolitan  Gladney Family Association fundraiser/cocktail party at the University Club in midtown. . (Gladneyators drink?  WWHSD? What would the home studier do?) This pairing should be no surprise, of course. Gladney and Juntunen have been up each other’s pants for quite some time now.  Gladney CEO Frank Garrott sits on BEB’s board (and the JCICS board).  In fact, the  board is mobbed up with  Texas oil,/petroleum, big insurance,  well-to-do adopters, and christian jocks–an incestuous  subject I’ll save for a later date. Earlier this year Garrott  could barely control his enthusiasm over Stuck, a Kleenix-wringer designed around the idea that “orphans”  (and the term is up for grabs) are “stuck,”– that is, held hostage in their own countries (mostly of color), away Continue Reading →