Bastardette Twitter Fail- Again – Please Re-up

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I’ve had a terrible time with Twitter and have been unable to get in to it for months.  Tonight I decided to fix it and ended up starting over since Twitter thinks that Bastardette and  Marley don’t exist anymore for log-in purposes.. This is my third round with Twitter. Is this aggravation worth it? Anyway,   I had quite a few Twitter followers last time around.  If you were one or want to be one go to the left and click on “Follow” or go to “Search” on Twitter  and look for Daily Bastardette (DBastardette).  The old Bastardette link  with  Our Little Rhoda’s picture no longer works. I’m trying to get back into writing more, and with so much in the news I plan to tweet a lot. Now if I could just figure out how to fix my DB banner that Blogger decided to destroy. 

Our Future is in Our Hands: A message from Ron Morgan; support James Lane

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The recent news stories,documenting  adoptee abuse in great detail, is an opportunity for us to strike for our rights.  While I’m writing up Bastard Nation response  I’m posting a very important message from Ron Morgan. Take the fire and run with it!  Ron Morgan: Well, it’s happened again. The media reacts to a breaking story revealing the maltreatment of adoptees by interviewing a bunch of non-adoptees. PBS gave Adam Pertman of the Adoption Institute a forum to react to the bomb-shell Reuters “re-homing” series, and you know what he said? “Derp, I didn’t know!!!”This is why it is CRUCIAL for us to support candidates who understand, embrace and advocate for Adoptee Rights. James Lane is a Late Discovery Adoptee running for New York City Public Advocate. James Lane deserves our support.Don’t sit on your hands while so-called experts and self-described advocates use their positions of POWER to pontificate about our rights!This is NO JOKE, people. As adoptees our future is in our hands. Write letters, demonstrate, button-hole your legislators, but take a couple of minutes to click on the link below and DONATE to an adoptee running to be our ADVOCATE! Donate to James Lane today!https://votejameslane.nationbuilder.com/donateAnd if YOU ARE INTERESTED Continue Reading →

"Adopted in America: A Study of Stigma" by BN’s Joanne Wolf Small; popular research download

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Congratulations!   Adopted in America: A Study of Stigma, a paper by long-time adoptee rights advocate Joanne Wolf Small was recently listed on Social Science Research Network’s  Top Ten download list for  Anthropology and Archaeology Research Network: Kinship & Gender (subtopic) Anthropology and Archaeology Research Network: Kinship, Gender, the Body and Sexuality (Topic): Social & Political Philosophy eJournal. “North America (topic), Culture Area students eJournal, Philosophy Research Network: Discrimination, Oppression, Coercion, Consent to Risk or Harm (topic) Social & Political Philosophy eJournal. You can download the paper for free here.  For decades, Joanne has been a true adoptee rights warrior   and bastard goddess.  She is a member of BN’s Legislative Committee. You can read more about Joanne and her book, Adoption Mystique  (that says it all!) here  Cross-posted to Bastard Nation.

Demons of Adoption 2013: nominations now open!

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It’s that time again! Pound Pup Legacy has sent  out the call for nominations for its prestigious Demons of Adoption Award 2014.  This is the seventh year the award has been issued.  Acknowledging the large adoption bottom feeder population  from which to choose and the tough decisions ahead, Niels Hoovgeen, keeper of the pup pound writes:  It will be tough this time around. Over the last years we have dredged the cesspool named Adoptionland and condemned the practices of such agencies like: Bethany Christian Services and LDS Family Services, such trade associations of adoption service providers like the National Council for Adoption and the Joint Council on International Children’s Services, and even showed our utmost contempt for the United States Congress. No feather weights by any means. Although nominations opened only yesterday, Capobianco, Inc took the far lead already.  Other early contenders include Gladney Adoption Center, Adoption Advocates International (Washington State),  Irish Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Frances Fitzgerald, and baby broker Jennifer Potter. Go to the nomination site to nominate and support your personal “favorite” bottom feeding adoption demon. Nominations close September 30, and voting will follow shortly. Feel free to forward the news!   Cross posted to Bastard Nation

Jean Paton, The biography of the mother of the adoption reform movement to be published this fall

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I’m embarrassed to admit this, but when in the mid-1990s when I first got seriously involved in adoptee rights, I had never heard of Jean Paton. My ignorance was disabused at the Seattle AAC conference (I think it was 2000) E. Wayne Carp, who had just released his pioneering work Family Matters: Secrecy and Disclosure in the History of Adoption was  first day keynoter.  Among the special guests that day was  Jean Paton. As I remember it, some of us Bastard Nationals were running around with little homemade “nametags” with Bastards are Beautiful” handprinted on them with a magic marker–mainly as a dig at the goody-2-shoes AAC crowd and, of couse, to advertise ourselves.  Someone, and I don’t remember who, (maybe it was Jean) pointed out that this phrase  was not original with Bastard Nation. It was an original Jean Patonism. Well, who was Jean Paton?  Only the mother of the adoptee rights movement in America! That’s who! It was almost like opening your OBC and learning that you had a name and a history.  As a trained historian I was shocked to learn that I hadn’t done my homework. I knew about Joanne Wolf Small,   B J Lifton, Continue Reading →

Breaking News: SB623 signed by Kitz. Oregon continues to stand for adoptee rights

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Bastard Nation cheering squad Oregon continues to lead the way! From Ron Morgan: SB 623 is now Measure 623- it was signed by Governor Kitzhaber on Thursday, June 6, 2013 and will be effective January 1, 2014. At that time Oregon adult adoptees may access their adoption court file upon request, complementing the right to access granted by 1998’s Measure 58. More to follow…

Breaking News: Oregon Leads the Way Again– Passes SH623–opens adoption files

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Good news from Oregon! While Washington state lawmakers continue to sweep  its state’s bastards under the rug like pesky little dust bunnies dirting up the Statehouse. the Oregon House today unanimously  passed SB623.  Enacted in the spirit of Bastard Nation and Helen Hill’s Ballot Measure 58, the bill expands the right of all Oregon adoptees to acquire, upon request, the contents of their adoption file-– a right that no other state (so far!) recognizes. In other words, Oregon has swept away statutory adoption secrecy  by opening the files and trusting the parities involved to leave their axes at home. Adoptees:  the age of OBC access will be lowered from 21 to 18.   the entire adoption file, except for the Home Study, will be made available to the adoptee upon request at the age of 18 without a court order.  the Home Study may be released by court order for “good cause”.  Birthparents:  original parties to the adoption may view and copy documents in the court adoption file to which they were signatories. Under existing law birth parents must petition the courts to gain access to documents they were required to sign, and often are rejected by courts under the onerous and undefined “good Continue Reading →

Here’s a shout out for my nephew Aaron Reese….

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 This profile of Aaron appears in the latest issue of the Campus District Observer in Cleveland.  Aaron, as the profile says, is:a police officer for the Third District Community Service Unit in Cleveland. He works from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. patrolling various neighborhoods within the 3rd district, which extends from the river in the flats to Little Italy and includes the Campus District. Aaron is passionate about ensuring the safety and quality of life of Clevelanders. We share a favorite Cleveland location:  Playhouse Square. Must run in the family! Aaron is the son of my late brother Rob–and grandson of my bio dad, the remarkable and fabulous  Jack Reese.  Aaron is one of the people who need protected from me.  I’m adopted and you know how we are. Aaron Reese (right) with fellow officer and mentor Frank Sanchez, taken a day before Sanchez’s retirement. Photo provided by Aaron Reese.