Did you know that the Illinois Legislative page does not list email addys? Addys are not posted on the “contact” page and my personal sampling of leggies personal pages shows only one pol (Sara Feigenholtz, no less) who has an email contact listed. The few addys we do have don’t work. What could this possibly mean? I’ve held up posting the BN action alert due to this…er…problem. We’ve got phone numbers, faxes and mail addresses.
Due to the length this entry was becoming, the time involved in researching and writing it, and the need to get information out immediately on the abomination known as Illinois HB 5428, I am publishing this blog in parts. Depending on the finished product it will be in either two or three parts. Here, in Part 1, is an overview of the bill and its murky passage through the Illinois House. I also comment on machinations that appear to have gotten it passed under everybody’s radar when similiar bills for more than a decade have been met with loud howls from us. Illinois Open and Bastard Nation will release an Action Alert shortly. This entry and the part(s) to follow should be read in conjunction with the action alert. NOTE: In 2008 I wrote extensively on HB 5428’s predecessor look-alike, HB 4623. Two of my blogs llinois Warning! Trainwreck ahead for records rights and Illinois: That train keeps a rollin’ – more piece-a-crap legislation context the current mess. I will also reference others as we move along. ****** And I feel like I’ve been here before/Feel like I’ve been here before/And you know it does make me wonder/What’s going on Continue Reading →
New Jersey S799 has been assigned to the Assembly Human Services Committee. (click committee link) No hearing date has been scheduled. Wanna hear more? Read the guest editorial by The New Jersey Coalition to Defend Privacy in Adoption, NJ adoption reform: Protect the privacy of all parties in today’s Newark Star-Ledger. The op-ed is headed with a cute but irrelevant picture of a 3-year old waiting to be anonymized by the Middlesex County Court. It will only take a minute, honey, and it won’t hurt a bit. We doubt that 20 years from now little Faith Deuschel will be happy to learn she was pimped as an adoption secret and potential public enemy. The New Jersey Coalition to Defend Privacy in Adoption is an unholy alliance of the New Jersey ACLU, the NJ Bar Association, the National Council for Adoption, New Jersey Right to Life, the Lutheran Office of Governmental Ministry in New Jersey, and The New Jersey Catholic Council–industry hacks, panderers, shamers, and control freaks–whacking off desperately in their great big bed. I wrote about them here, and you can find their 2008 statement here, but the original link to the “organization” is gone. Here are the relevant parts: Continue Reading →
Bye Bye rights! As expected S799 passed a floor vote today in the New Jersey Senate 27-10. The bogus obc rights bill now goes to the Assembly. Even though we oppose the bill, we are galled that opponents spout protectionist drivel: Many of them may not know what we are doing here,” Sen. Gerald Cardinale (R-Bergen) said of biological mothers, adding that would not give them the opportunity to protect their identities. He suggested the bill be reworked to protect the rights of everyone involved. and proponents think this is some kind of heathcare bill:“While we heard compelling testimony when this bill was before the Health Committee, the most compelling argument to me is the importance of accurate family medical histories in making major health care decisions,” said Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), a sponsor. Under the bill, biological parents who want to remain anonymous would notify the state registrar. During the one-year allotted period, adoptees would be able to contact the agencies that handled their adoptions to get nonidentifying medical information, including a family medical history, that could alert them to any genetic predispositions they may carry for certain illnesses. We wonder what the State of Jersey will do when Continue Reading →
ILLINOIS OPENhttp://www.ilopen.org BASTARD NATION: THE ADOPTEE RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONwww.bastard.org distribute freely! ___________________________________________________________________ PRESS RELEASEMarch 22, 2010For Immediate Release CONTACT INFORMATIONAnita Walker Field, 1-847-677-0594 Marley Greiner, 1-614-571-2999Mary Lynn Fuller, 1-217-722-4814 ADOPTEE RIGHTS SQUASHED AGAIN IN NEW ILLINOIS BILL – HB 5428 On March 19, 2010, The Illinois House of Representatives passed a bill that purports to give all adopted adults access to their original birth certificates. On March 23, 2010, HB 5428 GOES TO THE SENATE, awaiting committee assignment. 1. Under HB 5428, birth mothers will be allowed to file affidavits of denial – meaning that a birth mother can veto an adoptee’s right to access his or her original birth certificate. THIS IS A DANGEROUS STEP TO TAKE. IT CREATES AND CODIFIES A NEW RIGHT THAT HAS NEVER BEFORE BEEN IN OUR ADOPTION ACT. 2. Allows the state to delete a variety of identifying information from official documents, depending upon a birth mother’s response. We believe: HB 5428 needs to be amended in the Senate so that it would restore to ALL adoptees access to their original birth certificates, without any restrictions, such as prior parental approval. If that cannot happen, then HB 5428 must be pulled or left to die Continue Reading →
Bastard Nation: the Adoptee Rights Organization, the largest adoptee civil rights organization in North America, opposes S799. We recommend that this bill be defeated on the Senate floor S799 permits some New Jersey adopted adults to receive their true and accurate original birth certificates. Others, through the compromise language of the birthparent disclosure veto, will receive only a false and mutilated government document with the name and address of the parent(s) bureaucratically excised by the Department of Health and Senior Services by order of the birthparent(s). Bastard Nation rejects the special right of birthparents to remove their names from the birth certificates of their own adult offspring. No other parent has that right. Why should birthparents have different rules? We are also troubled that the bill requires birthparents, under specific circumstances, to submit a medical and health history to the state, a requirement that is most likely illegal under HIPAA and other privacy laws. Since 1999 four states have restored to adoptees the unrestricted right to records and identity access: Oregon through ballot initiative, and Alabama, New Hampshire, and Maine through legislation. Why should New Jersey buck the tide and pass a bill that continues to treat adoptee access to Continue Reading →
BASTARD NATION ACTION ALERT Please forward freely STOP DISCLOSURE VETO/WHITE OUT LEGISLATION IN NEW JERSEY!!! ASK THE NEW JERSEY SENATE TO VOTE NO ON S799 DON’T LET PASSAGE OF BAD LEGISLATION IN NEW JERSEY THREATEN EFFORTS IN OTHER STATES FOR TRUE EQUAL ACCESS FOR ADULT ADOPTEES!! IT’S BACK! S799 , (formerlyA752) is scheduled for a floor vote in the New Jersey Senate March 22, 2010. Please contact Senate members immediately and urge them to VOTE NO ON S799. See contact information below.If you are from or in New Jersey or have a New Jersey connection, be sure to mention it in your communication. Be sure to put: “S799 Adoptee Birthright Bill – Please Vote NO” in the header S799 is: restrictive, discriminatory, creates a new, special and temporary ”right” for “birthparents,” and exempts the state’s adopted adults from equal protection and treatment regarding the release of the government-generated public record of their births. The bill: *includes a 12- month open enrollment period, starting after the Department of Health releases regs for S799 implementation, that allows “birthparents,” to file disclosure vetoes before obcs, past and future, are unsealed *authorizes the state to replace the original birth certificate, of those subjected to Continue Reading →
Long time readers will remember when They Whose Names Must Not Be Spoken, in a fit of snit, claimed that Bastard Nation and Bastaradette had been banned from the Sheraton hotel chain for life. The current AAC conference, in fact, is at the Sheraton Grand Hotel on J Street. When I entered no sirens, whistles and beeps went off, and so far I’ve not been followed around by hotel security to monitor attitude and intent. I’m only attending sessions that interest me, which naturally limit what I’m doing here. (I forgot my Klennix box!) I’ve spent a lot of time walking around town, so here are some pictures. Note, that I prefer things over people. Our CalOpen get-together at PF Chang’s drew over a dozen people.
Yesterday, I was minding my own business on the flight from Chicago to Sacramento. I’m engrossed in my book, Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin & the Great Depression. (Trust me. I escape from AdoptionLand’s dysfunctional family circus as often as I can. Besides, I’m using the book as a lesson plan in how to become a demogoue). So, I m reading and ever so gently the conversation from the row in front of me wafts back. I’m not evesdropping. But… “Adoption” No, that can’t be! I hope they are talking about adoption of the new school curriculum, or doggie adoption. Anything but the dreaded A word. Again: ” adoption” Then “relinquishment” More “adoption.” Then the baleful “birthmother.” More “adoption.” When we get off the plane I take a closer at the three women in front of me They seem vaguely familiar. I think they’re from CUB, and they are obviously in Sacramento or the AAC. No matter where I am, what I’m doing it, I am stalked. By adoption. Make it stop!
The last few days, I’ve been having difficulty writing about TeamSilsby. The subject has grown cumbersome, and any subset soon takes on a life of its own, then collapses in its own immensity. As a result. I’ve got several disjointed pieces that go together in some way, but have no logical transition, and grow more complex each time I try to de-complex them. It’s enough to give me writer’s block. So, I’ll take the easy way out for now and just throw some thoughts out. I’m still working on Part 2 of Haiti Earthquake Glorifies God; Also a piece on the Pickett family. But for now, here’s a bit on Charisa Coulter’s return. Charissa Coulter has returned to Boise (via Miami) tearful and Jesused-up. According to news reports she was met by about 30 adoring fans at the airport, including five of her six Idaho cellies (Paul Thompson went missing). Central Baptists and friends after a brief prayer huddle burst into Amazing Grace upon her arrival. Of course, the real welcome will be for Mrs. Silsby. From the looks of the comments in the Idaho Statesman, though, (any article on TeamSilsby will do), when and if she’s released, CVBC will Continue Reading →