WHAT IS DEFORMED: A Response to the Passage of Illinois HB 5428 by Maryanne Cohen, guest blogger

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Maryanne Cohen sent the following as a comment to Bad Day in Illinois, regarding the passage of HB 5428. I posted it there, but thought it was so good, and voices what many of us feel right now, I am posting it, with Maryanne’s permission, as a separate guest blog. I am working on a long piece on Illinois and not sure when it will be finished. There is much to say about this travesty. ****** I am so disgusted over IL signing a terribly deformed bill into law, and all these other bad bills popping up like warts all over the country. This has really made me understand the term “Adoption Deformer” used by some to describe the people who push these bills. What is deformed? The notion that convoluted compromise bills are “fair” and consider the “conflicting rights” of adoptees and birhparents. This ignores the fact that birthparents gave up ALL rights around the adoptee when they signed a surrender. There are no “conflicting rights” until deformed bills with vetoes write them into law. Some Deformers have the nerve to say bad bills are “better” than clean ones, and to eagerly offer to advertise them far and wide Continue Reading →

BAD DAY IN ILLINOIS: Quinn to Sign Anti-Adoptee Bill

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The Chicago Tribune announced this morning that Governor Pat Quinn, over the protest of adoptee rights activists (aka “ungrateful bastards”) throughout the US, will sign Sneaky Sara Feigenholtz’s Adoption Industry Cash Cow and Corporate Welfare Act of 2010, HB 5428, (NOTE: The Trib has since published an longer version of this story, which I will hold back on an include in later commentary. We are expected to jubalize because Under the legislation, adopted people born in 1945 or earlier could get their birth certificates right away. Adopted people born after 1945 would have to wait until November of next year — after their birth parents have had a chance to file an objection if they want. Note the absence of the actual Draconian restrictions on post-1946 bastards and their obc access that the bill codifies. Feigenholtz has never mentioned, much less taken responsibility for the ugly post that came from her published email account last month to adoptee Lori Jeske that included: Would you consider giving Representative Feigenholtz the key to your (delusional) Eutopian world where all ungrateful bastards think it’s easy to pass a bill that makes everyone happy AND CAN ACTUALLY PASS ? Pass a law? what a Continue Reading →

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.