…and yes, Helen Keller was a Wob! I was, too, and I need to rejoin the One Big Union. I owe much to those wonderful women of the Industrial Workers of the World– those I knew in person and others only historically who inspired me to fight state oppression: Sophie Cohen, Esther Dolgoff, Gurley Flynn, Lucy Parsons, Nina Spies and so many more. (I’ll save the men for another day)
I’m posting this on both sites because of the national implications of the on-going investigation. Congratulations to the Dayton Daily News for the bang-up reporting it’s doing in the Kenneth Brandt child rape investigation. I was concerned that coverage would be superficial, but he Daily News has has stayed on top of things. (I’ve long been a fan of the Daily News’s dedication to actual journalism). Today’s Child-rape case shows safeguards failed. is an important read. The long feature contains new information on ACTION, Inc., child shuffling between Texas and Dayton, and Brandt himself. It brings up the yet-to-be-answered question of whether Brandt was living off foster/adoption subsidies. (I’d love to know how the unlicensed insurance agent Brandt convinced ACTION, Inc that he actually had a job.) I’m writing another project today that was due last week, and don’t’ have time today to comment much, but I wanted to get something up with a couple comments. There’s one disturbing piece from the piece I’ll point out here before I go for the day. According to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, in the last seven years “28 adopted children from the state (Texas) have been placed in homes Continue Reading →
I won’t be posting all of my blogs on the sexual assault cases against the adopted boys in Troy, Ohio, but I’m including this one here. Go to Ohio Adoptee Searches for the whole collection. Well, it’s official! The name of the Dayton, Ohio agency that handled the adoption of four children by accused adopta pedophile and trafficker Kenneth Brant has been published–ACTION, Inc; full name: Adopting Children Today Information/Option Network with the tagline. “dreams can come true,” A few days ago I heard that ACTION, Inc was involved in the adoptions but had no documentation and held back until there was verification.. It has now been reported by the Dayton Daily News.(Man used private Dayton adoption agency in alleged child rape, prostitution case) The Ohio Secretary of State’s business services section verifies that ACTION, Inc. is incorporated as a non-profit child placing agency in Ohio. It’s director is identified as Patricia A. Hill from New Lebanon, a Dayton suburb. The agency itself is located in a single family home at 6000 Philadelphia Drive, Dayton. Hill’s name and home address in SOS documents matches a list of Ohio independent licensed social workers. (I am researching Hill and the agency’s staff Continue Reading →
I‘ve been covering this story on my Ohio Adoptee Searches blog. Since the story has become a national and international story now,I thought I’d bring it over here as well. Go over to OAS to see earlier blogs on the case. The pedo adoption story in Troy has hit the national media. UPI, CBS News, and Huffington Post and even the London Daily Mail has picked it up, and I suspect more will follow. The Dayton Daily News, however, offers the most detailed coverage . This morning we have FBI to pursue charges against the men in child sex case. I won’t post the entire article here, but these are the highlights: —Kenneth Brandt, the adoptive father of the boys, is the former president of the Foster Parent Association of Miami County. —Brandt has a history of “bringing children from Texas to Troy as supposed ‘foster children,’”(No details; currently under investigation.) — Quote “We will be looking at the process (Brandt) was using to get the children into his custody,” said [Tim] Ferguson, [supervisory senior resident agent at the FBI’s Dayton office].adding that the FBI has not determined why the children were adopted or removed from Texas. —the fourth child Continue Reading →
Gee, I go away for a day and find adoption annoyances multiplying like bunnies. I’d originality planned to write a little analysis about each post, but at the rate it’s going, if I do that I won’t have time to write my own annoyances. So, instead Ill just put down links with a brief quote from each. Trace DeMeyer has issued a second annoyance with some excerpts from Katheryn Joyce’s “Shotgun Adoption,” which appeared in the September 4, 2009 issue ofThe Nation. QUOTE: CPCs (Crisis Pregnancy Centers) might persuade reluctant women by casting adoption as redemption for unwed mothers’ “past failures” and a triumph over “selfishness, an ‘evil’ within themselves. Barbara McArtney guesting on Reformtalk writes about the corruption of international adoption. QUOTE: Every country the Industry enters has been dirtied and only created problems and anger in its wake. If this is such wonderful, helpful work, where’s the accolades from countries, HR groups and ANYONE outside the industry? It faces nothing but criticism from all but its insiders. There has been a lack of any meaningful enforcement or improvement. Just the same rush to country to make as much money as possible before it closes due to their own illegal Continue Reading →
The second entry in Why the Adoption Establishment Annoys the Heck Out Me blog week is Adoption Echos blogger Joy Lieberthal (Song Eun Hee). Joy is a Korean adoptee and clinical social worker specializing in issues of adoption. Her primary work is with children and young adults helping them to understand how adoption fits into their identity. She also works with adoptive parents. In her entry Joy’s discusses the over arching validity of pap and adoptive parent desire and privilege over the devalued and suspect adoptee experience and voice. QUOTE: Sitting in my seat though, spending hours and hours with adopted people opposite me, I keep getting dumbstruck by how little our experience is viewed with the same amount of merit, outrage and pursuits for change. For those of us who continue to dare to change the system, it seems our reputation as someone with an axe to grind precedes us.
Welcome to the unofficial “Why the Adoption Establishment Annoys the Heck out of Us” blog week. Organized by Kevin Ost-Vollmers and Shelise Gieseke from Land of a Gazillion Adoptess, adoptabloggers will sketch out their own annoyances regarding that most sacred of cows. I don’t know who all is posting and when they will post, but whenever one arrives I’ll be sending out a link here. My own won’t be up until the end of the week. Today we kick off the fun with Native American journalist and memoirist Trace DeMeyer keeper of American Indian Adoptees: Lost Children, Lost Ones, Lost Birds. Trace writes up the Top 5 Reasons the Adoption Establishment Bugs the Heck Out of Me. Starting with (Lack of ) Disclosure and ending with Gratitude, Trace covers the gamut of adoption paternalism and interference that should be read out loud to every legislator in the remaining 43 closed states. QUOTE: I can hear the lobbyist pounding on their tables, “adoptees should be grateful they were adopted.” The adoption industry is a billion dollar business and they don’t want to lose a single dollar in profits. It’s about money. Even now, the adoption industry does not appreciate adoptees or Continue Reading →
On February 8 a newborn was discovered in the front yard of a home on Kathleen Street in Phoenix. Baby Kathleen (yes they named her that!) was transported to the hospital and seems to be all right. Neighbors reported seeing a young pregnant woman in the area shortly before the discovery: Witnesses from the area told detectives they saw a young woman walking around the neighborhood and at a nearby elementary school. She was described as “very pregnant” and appeared to be in “distress.” She is described as: Hispanic female, 17 to 24 years old, 5’3″, slender, dark hair in a ponytail, white spaghetti strap shirt, blue or gray pants, with a noticeable tattoo on her right bicep area that could possibly be a red floral design. Actually yard babies are fairly common, though they tend to be found in backyards. I”ll leave the logistics of this pop and drop to the authorities. Comments on the story are typical, ranging from complaints about anchor babies (how abandoning an anchor baby helps a parent isn’t addressed) to “at least shed didn’t throw it in a dumpster” appear at the bottom of the story. And then there’s this, the most blatant pitch Continue Reading →
I want to preface this blog by saying that I am no expert on the South Carolina situation. I am pretty sure, though, that I have interpreted the law correctly. I’m posting this entry as a smaller part of the big picture of sealed adoption records in the age of the national security state. While our battle is always about equal treatment under law and due process, in the restoration of our right to our original birth certificates, there are serous practical and political consequences that grow out of our lack of access. Last night, Anne Piper Boyd, one of Bastard Nation’s Facebook friends posted a section from the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles homepage regarding application identification requirements to obtain a driver’s license in the state. It seems if you are adopted, the BMV–at least in theory– demands proof! The following is an identification requirement posted on the BMV website for residents (native-born and new) to obtain a South Carolina driver’s license (my emphasis) If your name has changed since birth, you must provide all legal documents (adoption records, marriage certificate, certificate of naturalization, court ordered name change) supporting all name changes from birth to present. For more information Continue Reading →
It’s official. As we reported Saturday Washington SUB HB 2211 is dead for this session. Although it’s still in the hopper, perennial bill killer, and bastard baiter Sen. Jim Hargrove, told 2211’s sponsor Rep. Tina Orwall that he has no plan to bring it forward this year. Naturally, Hargrove is not available for comment, a convenience that enables him to sidestep the question even the most incurious reporter must wonder: what’s your problem with bastards? But never fear! Tina Ovrwall intends to bring the bill back next year. Don’t get too excited, though. According to the Tacoma News Tribune, her comrade in compromise, birthmother Rep Ann Rivers, who is currently under the impression (we hope she wakes up) that she speaks for voiceless cowering first mothers: I think it will give us the direction that Sen. Hargrove might have perceived was lacking,” Rivers said. “We’ll make sure all the bases are covered, and we’ll proceed. And just what might that direction be? Hargrove supported the 1993 law that opened OBCs for October 1, 1993 adoptions and beyond unless a disclosure veto has been filed. According to Wa-Care no vetoes have been filed; Laurie Lippold from the Washington Children’s Home Society Continue Reading →