Another Dead Russian Adoptee: Maksim Kuzmin/Max Alan Shatto

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Russian media reports that another Russian adoptee has been murdered by his forever family. Best coverage so far comes from RT (Russian Television) and the Siberian Times.  A few minutes ago, The Dallas Observer’s Eric Nicholson picked up the story in his blog.  Although I’m seeing accounts from  the Australian , British, and Israeli press,  US media is so far silent, but I suspect that will change in a few hours. RT reports that on January 21, a Russian adoptee identified as Maksim Kuzmin, 3,  living in Texas, died after a brutal beating at the hands of his adoptive mother. An autopsy showed that he suffered from severe trauma to his head, limbs, abdomen, and internal organs.  The autopsy also indicated that he was full of Risperdal, a  controversial anti psychotic drug approved by the USDA for treatment  for schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder in children over the age of 10,  but it has recently been used in the treatment of autism. The  English-language Siberian Times identifies the boy by his adoptive name Max Alan Shatto.  The article (no byline) says that Maksim was born in the Komi Republic in the far north of Russia, west of the Urals.  Natalya Vishnevskaya, chief doctor at the Pechor Orphanage, identified the boy as coming from her children’s home, but did Continue Reading →

Below and Beyond Offensive: Gotcha Day book review

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Gotcha Day, the perverse label given by clueless adopters to the day they received their Bundle of Joy, is universally considered offensive by all but the most blindly entitled inhabitants of AdoptionLand..  Now there’s a book by the same name:  Gotcha Day: a Celebration of Adoption. Some of us have been posting 1-star ratings of the book on amazon.com.  I just posted mine:  This book is below and beyond offensive.  Gotcha is something you say when you catch a pesky mouse or stomp on a cockroach that been running across your kitchen floor for the past week..  It is not a term that should be used to “celebrate” adoption or the “gotten” adoptee. I understand why people would want to commemorate the day, but Gotcha is obscene. If I could give it less than one star, I would.Full disclosure.  My adoptive parents used to commemorate the day I was placed with them.  It was known as Betsy Day (that’s the name I went by most of my life–nothing wrong with the name, but it’s not me, and I reverted to Marley, derived from my original name, Marlene). Betsy Day was  low key-not  Gotcha!  I cannot imagine either of my parents (or my Mama Dot who Continue Reading →

Indiana: Anonymous Medical Records – Not Rights

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Excuse my impatience, but just give Hoosier Bastards their goddamned OBCs and be done with it! The  newest trick pony spinning  on the Indiana merry-go-round  is HB 1029 sponsored by freshman Rep. Sharon Engle (R-Attica).  The bill, if passed, according to the Lafayette Journal Courier,  would allow the relatives of adoptees and pre-adoptive siblings  access to birthparent medical histories. Current law permits adoptees birthparents, adoptive parents, relatives of an adoptive parent, state or country child and family services-related officials, adoption agencies, and courts to petition for the release of medical information.   (I have no idea why a court would have to petition  itself  to get the records.  Maybe it’s an Indiana thing ,A similar bill was stuck in committee last session. Here’s the synopsis of the bill taken from the Indiana Leg page.  Scroll down the bill page page and you’ll see the entire bill.  Notice that there is only a minimal change in current language. Synopsis: Adoption history information. Adds a relative of an adoptee and a pre-adoptive sibling to the list of interested persons who may obtain medical history information and file a petition with an appropriate court to request the release of medical information, nonidentifying information, or identifying information. Requires that a petition requesting release of medical, nonidentifying, or identifying information Continue Reading →

Presentation to Adoption Lawyers on OBC Access in Ohio

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On January 17 I delivered a semi-formal presentation before a  group of mostly Columbus, Ohio adoption lawyers on the subject of adoptee rights,  OBC access, and a bill that is scheduled to be introduced in the Ohio legislature later this year that would  equalize (I hope) access for all Ohio’s adopted citizens. That is, pull back to  pre-1964 unrestricted access.I want to make clear here (and did there) that this is not a Bastard Nation bill.  It  is brought by Adoption Equity Ohio and at this time none of us know what the final language will be. Consequently, neither BN nor myself  currently supports or opposes it..  We are particularly concerned with the status of the 1996  disclosure veto, which can legally muck up unrestricted access in any state unfortunate enough to be saddled with it.  As chair and co-founder of Bastard Nation, I was  invited to present to the group. This invitation was an opportunity to meet local adoption lawyers to discuss adoptee rights. Discussion afterwards indicted  a lack of hostility to the repeal of the current black hole. My observation over the years, in fact,  has been that OBC access with few exceptions has become no  big deal..  I hope it stays that way. Below is  formal version of my talk.  Ohio Continue Reading →

Reuben Pannor, 1922-2012

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Pioneer adoption reformer and adoptee rights advocate Dr. Reuben Pannor died yesterday at the age of 90.  I never had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Pannor but am familiar with his work and the great honor he bears in the reform movement. Below is is Reuben’s obituary, written by his son Jonathan and posted on the CUB list by Karen Vedder. I had no idea what an interesting man he was inside and outside of adoption). Reuben “Ruby” Pannor, a social worker and pioneer in the field of open adoption, died on December 22nd, 2012, at the age of 90. A man overflowing with kindness and empathy, Reuben was universally loved by family, friends, colleagues, and all of those in the “adoption triangle” (birthparents, adopted persons, and adoptive parents). Reuben and his twin brother Harry were born on July 4th, 1922, to Rose and Isidor Pannor in the small village of Slobodka, in Lithuania.  The twins and their younger sister Esther spent their early childhood surrounded by generations of extended family. In response to growing anti-Jewish sentiment prior to World War II, Reuben’s immediate family immigrated to America when Reuben was eight years old. Reuben grew up in Poughkeepsie, New York, where his Continue Reading →

International Adoption: In Who’s Best Interest? A Video by Peter Dodds

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Oh crap!    I was just called into work at short notice and won’t have any time to write today  it looks to be (from past experience at this location) a 15 hour job including travel So, I’m positng a video that Peter Dodds has put together on International Adoption:  In Who’s Best Interest?  .I will add to this entry later, but I’m out the door now.

Who Got the Vote in AdoptionLand Poll: Results are in!

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The results are in on Bastaradette’s Unscientific Who Got the Vote in AdoptionLand  Poll.  Not surprisingly Romney lost  to Obama by a landslide of  37-1. Due to the Blogger poll set-up, I had to do three separate “ballots” for  Bastards, Bio Parents of Bastards and Adoptive Parents of Bastards. Forty-seven Bastardette readers replied.  Here are the results: Bastards  (Total votes:  33) Obama 27 (81%) Romney 0 Stein 1  (3%) Johnson 3 (9%) Vermin Supreme 0 Other 0 Nobody 2 (6%) Biological Parents of Bastards  (Total votes: 10) Obama: 8 (80%) Romney 0 Stein 1 (10%) Johnson 0 Vermin Supreme  1 (10%)Other 0 Nobody 0 Adoptive Parents of Bastards (Total vote: 4) Obama 1 (25%) Romney 1 (25%) Stein 1 (25%) Johnson 1 (25%) Vermin Supreme 0 Other 0 Nobody 0 Totals:  47 votes (rounded off) Obama: 36 (72%) Romney 1 (4%) Stein 3 (6%) Johnson  4 (8%) Vermin Supreme 1 (4%) Other 0 Nobody (4%) Interesting how Bastards and their Bios voted so closely.  The one adoptive parent vote for Romney skewed the percentages, but Obama still came out with a 72%  victory,  which I suppose means that adoptee rights advocates think Obama and  Democrats in their state legislatures are Continue Reading →

The Bad Seed: Give Me My Shoes!

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I got a really late start, so Ill just post a clip tonight from everybody’s favorite adoption film The Bad Seed.  This is one of my favorite scenes:  Our Rhoda figures out the jig is up.  One of Bastard Nation’s Founding Foundlings knew  this scene so well that she could perform it at the drop of a shoe. I’ve written about mp personal experience with Mrs Daigle here. RIP Clyde

Demons of Adoption 2012: And the winner is….

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The US House of Representatives! Now that’s a big chunk of Adoption, Inc to chew on.  While we were pulling for our own nominee (Adam Pertman) we couldn’t  be more pleased with this august body of hacks, crooks, sycophants, boodlers, and hypocrites has taken the grand prize this year. I mean, is there anybody who likes these people?  The House-Session 112 was Demonized ostensibly for its overwhelming support and promotion of HR   1464 popularly known as tne North Korean Refugee Adoption Act of 2011.    I admit I’ve not followed this bill as closely as I should, so  I’m going to nick some information from Pound Pup Legacy: (from link above). In a devastating analysis of this bill, Catherine Hong makes the following observation: Modeled on a failed series of North Korean human rights bills that stretch back to 2003, the North Korean Refugee Adoption Act of 2011 proceeds from an outdated portrait of on-the-ground conditions and distorted premises. Empirically speaking, the bill misrepresents the reality of the children whom it purports to help. As a placeholder for children who are, by and large, not North Korean, not refugees, and not orphans, the “North Korean refugee orphan” is a Continue Reading →

Dreaming Scorsese

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As some of you  know I’ve been forced  in old age to take a job as an  :”inventory associate.”–that is, I count inventory at  mostly chain  stores– Penney’s ,Victoria’s Secret, Party City,,  Tractor Supply, Hollisters.  For the last two days  I’ve worked at the Lowe’s in Mount Vernon, Ohio. . Today I counted over 16,000 pieces of merchandise, everything from screws and  light bulbs to planks of lumber. It’s tiring.  Afterwards, I trudged  back home, and after nursing my decrepitude with a bag of White Castle double cheese sliders I promptly fell asleep There. in Dreamland, I dreamed  the most interesting message:  Martin Scorsese hired me to write a screenplay on  the history of adoption reform..  I envisioned it as a bourgeois Gangs of New York with Bill Pierce as Bill  the Butcher, and me as Amsterdam Vallon. –but  probably less compelling.  Thankfully this screenplay will never make it to Marty’s mailbox. This dream however, reminded  me of other adoption- related dreams I’ve had  through years. Theyonly stopped when I  (for you pop psych fans) I integrated my adoptive and non-adoptive  self. ***** I come home from school and find my amother has been “sent away.” Nobody , including my Continue Reading →