Election Day 2010: Adoptee Wins and Losses

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Well, the votes are in and the ballots are counted. We have mostly bad news, but a little bit of good news, too. Good News: Our friend Bobbi Beavers, in her third try, was elected to the Maine House (Dem: Elliot, South Berwick) Congratulations Bobbi! Bobbi who led OBC for ME to victory can be contacted at [email protected] Bad News: Unfortunately, our other Maine friend, Craig Hickman (Dem: Reidfield, Winthrop) lost his race, but created a positive people-centered campaign. You can read Craig gracious statement on the race on his Hickman in the House blog: …I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your support, your well-wishes, and your votes. I couldn’t have made such an impression on the people of this district without your help. We ran the best campaign this district has ever seen and we have done a big part to change the conversation… Contact Craig at [email protected] Dave Lenkowski (Rep Chicago) went down in a good and honorable fight. Sneaky Sara, apparently scared of even having an opponent, much less an honest one, pulled out some dirty tricks. I hope to write about this later this month, but am working on Continue Reading →

Columbus Issue 12: Secrets = "More Information" (Not about adoption, but it is)

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Yesterday at rush hour, I stood at the corner of Broad and Front Streets holding a sign Nobody knows what goes on behind closed doors. No, this was not about adoption, but it was about secrecy in government. No government can thrive without it. Yesterday was about keeping Columbus City Council meetings open to the public. Ohio’s Open Records and Open Meetings Law, collectively known as the Sunshine Law, is one of the best in the country. You can read about it and download here. It has numerous loopholes, most so tiny a gnat can barely fly through. That is, except for the dinosaur-sized adoptee birth certificate exemption, which even the most bleeding heart liberal thinks is hunky dory if it saves just one brave mother from being exposed to her neighbors by her thoughtless bastard. Another big loophole is the executive session where City Council is allowed to go behind closed doors to discuss “sensitive issues” away from public eyes and ears. Sensitive issues like personnel, property purchase, litigation, collective bargaining, security matters–that is, where money deals are cut. political appointments made. and tax payer money is squandered on privilege. In theory these meetings are rare. But in practice… Continue Reading →

Happy Anniversary Alt. Adoption Facebook!

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November 1 marks the first anniversary of the Facebook version of the infamous alt adoption: the birthplace of Bastard Nation and adoption meanness. If you haven’t signed on to AAFB go here. No moderation, no censorship, no lockdown. Thanks to Deer Watson for making it happen. And of course, a very special thanks to Christopher Walken who is always there when we need him.

It’s That Time Again: National Adoption Awareness Month – Day One. Reading Adoption

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Welcome to National Adoption Awareness Month 2010! I’m sure you’ve been as eagerly awaiting the November lollipops and roses, cotton candy and angel wings, and back patting, and pious press clips celebration as much as the Bad Kitties and I have. This year’s emphasis, we’re told, is on “adoption of children currently in foster care.” Bastardette may (or may not) write about the theme, but if I don’t somebody else will. We all know the code. Interestingly, what seems to be the official NAAM page (Mardie Cardwell’s Lifetime Adoptions over-linked page linked above), celebrates newborn relinquishment and includes a queasy video of happy “birth mothers” (one a 2fer adoptee/mom) and adoptive parents grateful for the gifts of other people’s children God has bestowed on them. There is also a crash course in “positive adoption language.” All is moderated by wide-eyed Cardwell. There’s more I could say about this, but I don’t want to encourage her. We’ve always wondered just who needs to be made aware of adoption during “our” month. Certainly not adopted people who lost the right to our birth certificates decades ago and are now treated like ungrateful brats when we demand the return of our obcs. Certainly Continue Reading →

Demons of Adoption 2010: And the winner is…

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DEMONS OF ADOPTION 2010 The votes are in. Your voice has been heard. Pound Pup Legacy is proud to announce the winner of its coveted Demons of Adoption 2010 Award: The Joint Council for International Childrens Services. (JCICS) In each case of widespread corruption in sending countries, JCICS has promoted an agenda to keep the gravy train running. Despite knowledge of child trafficking in countries like Romania, Guatemala, Peru and Vietnam, JCICS maintained the position that closing corrupt programs was not in the best interest of the child. As per item #1 of their own bullet list, this can be translated as: closing corrupt programs was not in the self-interest of the adoption service providers, forming the members of JCICS. In a neck-and-neck race, the runner up is: L-d-S Social Services It is also one of the least transparent agencies operating in the US. It is the only American adoption agency recognized as a church and as a result doesn’t have to file a financial statement with the IRS. The agency is notoriously secretive and little information about its workings reaches the outside world because they only provide services to members of the Mormon church. Please go to the PPL Continue Reading →

Natoinal Adoption Awareness Month is Just Around the Corner!

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Are you gearing up for AdoptionLand’s favorite month, November? I am. I’ll be NaBloPoMoing, that is, blogging every day in November about our favorite subject. I need to do this, not only because I did it last year, but to make up for my Summer of Sloth. It’s fun in a grueling sort of way. Like running a marathon. Please do your part to make official and officious AdoptionLand miserable. Blog (sign up for NaBloPoMo yourself.) write letters, make comments, go on TV and radio march in front of your statehouse, talk to leggies. Remember, folks, this is YOUR month! The rest of the year nobody cares what you have to say. And beware of cotton candy, rainbows, and unicorns!

Election Update: Illinois and Maine

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ILLINOISDave Lenkowski continues to run a clean and apparently scary-to-Feigenholtz campaign. Chicago Business reports in Heavy hitters hit Illinois, mayoral news, and an election omen? Finally, with Democratic candidates all over the state running scared, some are taking notable steps to protect themselves. Like my state rep, North Side Democrat Sara Feigenholtz, who in some years doesn’t even have an opponent. Ms. Feigenholtz is one of Springfield’s experts on social-welfare spending and chairs the House Human Services Appropriations Committee. But she has a flyer out talking about how, as a former small-business owner, she “knows we need to create more business opportunities and put a stop to business as usual in Springfield.” The back side of the flyer pictures a bunch of boys, giggling and gossiping about a girl in the foreground. The caption: “Sara Feigenholtz didn’t go to Springfield to make friends. She’s there taking on the old boys’ club.” (Bastardette Note: Sara has been in Springfield for 16 years. She IS “business as usual!”) Right. For whatever it’s worth, Ms. Feigenholtz’s opponent is a fresh-faced history teacher named Dave Lenkowski. He actually has a campaign going, stressing that he’ll be “fiscally responsible and socially moderate.” But nowhere on Continue Reading →

Ann Landers Returns from the Dead: Touts NCFA Reunion Registry!

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Back in the old days when Dr. Pierce was still with us, I’d often have dreams about the National Council for Adoption. The real NCFA, not what passes for it today. One of my favorite dreams was about the NCFA porch sale where original birth certificates were neatly packaged in plastic envelopes like the kind old sheet music is sold in, stacked upright in cardboard boxes, and sold for 50 cents or a dollar each. In my dream the weather was overcast and drizzling. Several people were on the porch, including Bastard National Diana Inch, rifling damp-fingered through the cartons for their obcs. If the documents weren’t on the porch, they were probably in the foyer of the old Dupont Circle rowhouse. In my dream I wasn’t surprised that the obcs were there; only that it had never occurred to me to look there. Creator’s republishes old Ann Landers columns on Sundays. Yesterday an astounding column, originally published in 1999, made it back in print. The letter writer, Alison in Utica, New York, details the plight of the kicked-to-the-curb adoptee, not only rejected by her first mother and father when located, but even by a bio cousin. Unable to catch Continue Reading →

REMINDER: Demons of Adoption Voting Ends October 30

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Voting for Pound Pup’s Fourth Annual Demons of Adoptions Awards is still open. The deadline is October 30. We know! There are so many choices, but there should be at least one nominee to fit your personal or political adoption trauma. The nominees are: LDS Family Services: for being the most secretive of all adoption agencies, using coercive tactics in obtaining infants for adoption and having no respect for father’s rights; Gladney center for adoption: for being one of the most profit-centered agencies around and blocking open record efforts in Texas; Christian World Adoption: for their involvement in “harvesting” practices in Ethiopia and their blind ambition to “save” each and every “orphan” in this world; Larry S. Jenkins: for his involvement in nearly every case where father’s rights were violated; Joint Council on International Children’s Services: for promoting the interest of adoption agencies at the expense of children, and pushing agency friendly legislation in Congress; Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute for giving their seal of approval to persons and organizations that promote the interests of the adoption industry and pushing agency friendly legislation in Congress; Council on Accreditation: for their lack of research done on inter-country adoption agency histories prior Continue Reading →