BASTARD NATION ACTION ALERT: It’s Not Too Late to Stop Illinois HB 5428!

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DISTRIBUTE FREELY! It’s not to late to ask Illinois Governor Pat Quinn to veto HB 5428. Quinn will make his decision on the bill by the end of the week. Even if you have already contacted the governor’s office, please do it again. Let the real voice of adoptees be heard. Web contact (email) form: http://www.illinois.gov/gov/contactthegovernor.cfm Springfield OfficeOffice of the Governor207 State HouseSpringfield, IL 62706Phone: 217-782-0244FAX 217-763-8710TTY: 888-261-3336 Chicago OfficeOffice of the GovernorJames R. Thompson Center100 W. Randolph, 16-100Chicago, IL 60601Phone: 312-814-2121FAX 312-867-0801 Here is Bastard Nation’s second letter to Governor Quinn: Bastard Nation: the Adoptee Rights Organization once more urges you to veto HB 5428, a so-called “adoptee rights” bill promoted as a progressive piece of legislation to correct Illinois’ long-standing Draconian treatment of its adoptees and their families of origin. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The bill’s stated purpose and its final product are diametrically opposed. The introduction to the bill reads: The General Assembly recognizes that it is the basic right of all persons to access their birth records, and, to this end, supports public policy that allows an adult adoptee to access his or her original birth certificate. The rest of the bill guts Continue Reading →

EVEN HAITI DOESN’T WANT HER: Laura Silsby to Return to Boise Today

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Laura Silsby is scheduled to return to Boise around 2:00 PM today. She was released from the Haiti Hilton yesterday after being convicted of “arranging unlawful travel” and sentenced to time served. Obviously, the Haitian government just wants this albatross off its neck and around the necks of the Idaho courts where her ever-expanding business and personal problems have roosted. Better Idaho than us. As much as I’d like Silsby to spend a lot more time in the slammer, I am not surprised at the release. After all, the Haitians have more dire things to worry about than Bible Barbie. What did surprise me was Charissa Coulter’s appearance in court with Silsby. I had to play the tape back to make sure I heard right. One of Silsby’s other partners-in-crime Jean Sainvil, a Haiti-born “pastor” in Atlanta is being tried in absentia, and his status is unknown. Silsby (showing some leg in court) told the AP “I’m praising God” and apparently made no further comment until she was interviewed at the Port au Prince airport before clearing security. Megan Mattson, spokeswoman at the U.S. State Department, told the press Silsby was looking forward to returning home to her own children. Continue Reading →

BASTARD NATION ACTION ALERT: STOP RHODE ISLAND S 2759/H7877

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BAS Distribute Freely! BASTARD NATION ACTION ALERT STOP RHODE ISLAND SB 2759/H7877 Black Lists Adoptees!Creates and expands special rights and disclosure veto! BILLSS 2759HB7877 On May 12, the Rhode Island House unanimously passed H7877, a bill that restricts the right of all Rhode Island adoptees to access their own birth certificates. Promoted as an “adoptee rights” and original birth certificate “access” bill, the bill, in fact, contains not only a “birthparent” disclosure veto but extends that special veto right to the parents and siblings of a deceased “birthparent.” In other words, some of the very people who may have caused the adoptee to be placed for adoption as a child are now authorized to keep the adoptee as an adult from getting his or her own birth certificate. S2759, a companion bill, is currently in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. That bill extends the special right veto even farther to include the parents and siblings of permanently disabled/incompetent “birthparents.” Bill promoters say they will return later to pick up the left-behinds vetoed out of their rights. In over 40 years of tiered access and disclosure vetoes, however, no legislature has ever revisited to extend unrestricted access to all. Continue Reading →

RHODE ISLAND H7877: Hen Meet Fox

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The Rhode Island House yesterday passed unanimously (and here) H 7877, a bill that curbs the right of adoptees to receive their own original birth certificates. The bill, framed in deformer NewSpeak as a records access and adoptee rights measure, creates a ” do not release” option (a nice name for disclosure veto) for families of origin–in this case not only a parent, but a parent or sibling of a deceased parent– to keep their Family Bastard de-identied and at bay. The Senate’s close companion SB2759 extends the veto to the parent or sibling of a “permanently disabled ” parent (no mention of proof or definition of “permanenty disabled”) . That is, to people who may have pressured the parent to surrender their shameful secret into the secret adoption mill to start with. Hen meet Fox. Would a Rhode Island legislator tolerate for one moment a law that would predicate release of his or her own own birth certificate on the desire, comfort zone, and permission of his or her parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles? Of course not! And certainly the not-adopted wouldn’t. Why should any self-respecting bastard be expected to roll over for this absurd bill? The key word Continue Reading →

LIAM THOMPSON/DMITRY SERGEYVICH ISLANKULOV UPDATE: LIAM’S SISTER

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In October 2003 Liam Thompson born Dmitry Sergeyvich Islankulov,was torture-murdered by his Forever Parents of six months, Gary and Amy Thompson of Galloway, Ohio. He died on his third birthday. Liam had a slightly older sister, adopted at the same time and from the same agency, Tree of Life in Portland, Oregon. We heard little about his sister then, not even her name, only that she had been placed in care and would probably be adopted by a new family. On April 26, the Columbus Dispatch published a story about Liam’s invisible sister, Ira: Russian girl survives awful first adoption to find love in a new home. Once, a long time ago, Ira was Irina Alexandrovna Pavlova. Then she was Irina Thompson, neglected, but not abused, by Gary and Amy Thompson. Now she is Irina Elizabeth Jean Palmer daughter of Don and Nadine Palmer and sister of Jessica and Cache. She lives in Powell, Ohio, just north of Columbus. Ira likes Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus, and she’s a gymnast. Pink is her favorite color. She wonders about her family in Russia. She remembers Liam. One of the key tools in the prosecution of Liam’s death was Amy Thompson’s computer Continue Reading →

ISAAC DYKSTRA UPDATE : BRIAN DYKSTRA WAIVES RIGHT TO SPEEDY TRIAL

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Due to my trip to the ASAC conference at MIT, I’ve g0t catching up to do. I’m starting with some Russian follow-ups and then on to ASAC. This is cross posted from my Nikto Ne Zabyt – Nichto Ne Zabyto blog Please go there for my complete Russian collection. ****** The trial of Brian Dykstra, charged with second degree murder in the death of his adopted sonIsaac Dykstra (original name unknown) has been held off indefinitely. The trial was scheduled to start on May 10. The prosecution and defense filed a joint motion Friday requesting a new trial date due to the complexity of the case. According to their motion more than 130 witnesses may be called. You can read about Isaac on my Summary of Cases page and a little about Brian Dykstra on my Summary of Cases – Killers page. Comments from a member of the Dyskra family are here.

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I’m heading out for Cambridge later this morning for the Alliance for the Study of Adoption and Culture conference at MIT. This theme this year is Adoption: Secret Histories, Public Policies. You can see the program here. I’m delivering a paper on “safe havens.” Here my panel: Secrecy and Openness: Legal Issues Chair: Sara Dillon, Suffolk University School of Law “Preventing Harmful Secrecy: Blood-ties, Best Interests and Veto Victims.”Alice Diver, School of Law, University of Ulster, Northern Ireland Letting the Genes Out of the Bottle: Should New Paradigms in Medicine Lead Us to NewParadigms in Adoption?Martha Satz, Southern Methodist University ‘Safe Haven’ Laws: Promoting the Culture of Secrets and Shame in an Age of Adoption Openness–Ohio Case Study.” Marley Greiner, activist, Bastard Nation, Ohio So, things will be a little quiet here, despite a lot of breaking news in the last few weeks. I’ll try to post about the conference and some pictures.

SARA SPEAKS: SARA FEIGENHOLTZ TELLS US WHAT SHE REALLY THINKS OF US

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Recently adoptee rights activist Lori Jeskie emailed a short note to Sara Feigenholtz at her listed Illinois House address stating her disappointment with the representative’s sponsorship of HB 5428, which under the guise of”records access” has eviscerated adoptee civil rights in the state. We do not know if the reply Jeske received was actually written by Feigenholtz or a staffer or her “assistant” Melisha Mitchell. We have heard stories, however, about Feigenholtz’s personalization of political criticism and attacks on those who disagree with her whom she thinks should be her friends. Until now, we have not had a written document. No matter what the source (in the past Feigenholtz has blamed staffers for SNAFUs that she clearly owns), the email was sent from Feigenholtz’s address. This response, says much about her professional demeanor and respect for the adopted people and our interests she claims to represent. Below is Feigenholtz’s response to Jeske’s email, followed by Jeske’s original email, reposted with Jeske’s permission. —- Original Message —– From: Sara To: Lori Jeske Sent: Monday, April 26, 2010 10:00 PM Subject: Re: HB 5428 Lori: Thank you so much for your kind remarks about HB 5428. We will pay for your travel Continue Reading →

CELEBRATING LAURA SILSBY

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This is cross-posted from my End Child Exportation and Trafficking in Haiti blog, a complete collection of my work on Haiti. Laura Silsby neared the three month mark this weekend, and the Central Valley Baptist Church wants to make sure you know it. Saturday afternoon they threw a We-heart-Laura rally at the Idaho Statehouse. About 100 attended, including her local gang of electric Kool-Aid (minus the acid, we think) testers. A Northwest Cable News-KBTV video of the event is posted at the bottom of this entry. Be sure to watch Nichole Lankford prostrate herself in prayer. Fellow pranksters Paul Thompson and Charisa Coulter are seen or interviewed and more TeamSilsbys were spotted. Coulter, ever loyal to her boss, declared: She is always on mind. It’s a roller coaster. You have highs and lows but our hope is not in government and officials. It is in God. But so far, God seems perfectly happy to keep Silsby in her own private Haiti Hilton. “We want people to know that there still is support for her, organizer.’”Randy Jackson said. “If you pay attention to the media, sometimes it seems like there’s a lack of support for her. There’s still la lot of Continue Reading →

PETER MOSE: WHY CANT I GET MY REAL BIRTH RECORD?

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Yesterday, the online (and today’s hardcopy) Chicago-Sun Times published an op-ed piece by Peter Mose, Why can’t I get my real birth certificate? in response to HB 5428. Peter is a member of Bastard Nation’s Executive Commitee. The piece will go into the Sun-Times paid archives soon enough. With Peter’s permission I’m giving it a permanent home here. It is a clear simple statement, written on a very personal level, Aabout why sealed birth certificates and restricted access is wrong. It deserves wide circulation. Thank you Peter! Please go to the link above and post a comment. ****** Why can’t I get my real birth record? April 25, 2010 BY PETER KRISTIAN MOSE On July 15, 1956, I was born in downtown Chicago, at Wesley Hospital, now a part of Northwestern University’s medical complex. I was delivered by a physician named Byford Heskett. It says so on my Illinois birth certificate. It also says my parents were Donald and Ellen Mose of Oak Park. But Ellen never met Dr. Heskett, and indeed she never gave birth to me. Instead, I was adopted by Ellen and Don Mose from an adoption agency in Evanston when I was 2 months old. The Continue Reading →