Florida HB357/SB576: Adoptee Equality: As slow as fleas falling off a dead dog,

I ‘m posting this tonight for those of you unfamiliar with Florida HB357 (and its companion SB 576)–a deformed bill that moves the rights of Florida adoptees as slow as fleas falling off a dead dog. In fact, that’s a perfect metaphor for Florida. The state and adoption industrialists dancing merrily on Class Bastard’s would be corpse. Continue Reading →

Blast from the Past: Adoptee equality is anti-adoption

This is too funny! Adoptee equality is anti-adoption! Adoptee equality is the internet’s fault! At least he left out his seriously weird comment on alt.adoption that it should be illegal to look up names in the phone book. Continue Reading →

Another one bites the dust! Unredacted court files without restriction opened to all Hawai’i adoptees.

This law gives adult adoptees (age 18) AND birth parents of adult adoptees unrestricted access to the entire, unredacted court file of the adoption, including a copy of the original birth certificate contained therein, upon request. It is the only state to do so. In fact, we don’t think there is any state or even other jurisdiction (country, province, etc) that gives birthparents this kind of access. The bill goes into effect immediately. (Go to the link above to read the bill, it’s history, and mandates). Continue Reading →

Missouri Update and Action Alert

As most of you know, Missouri’s dirty zombie veto bill passed the House today with a vote of 127-28.

As previously noted this bill creates veto and redaction rights for Missouri birthparents for the very first time. As amended and now passed, those vetoes/redaction demands extend beyond a birthparent’s death. And they will now moving forward be presented to birthparents to be signed at the time of relinquishment/adoption. Access to OBCs for adoptee…s will be delayed until January 1, 2018 to allow the agencies to embark on a full public information campaign to notify and secure vetoes/redaction demands from birthparents.
Continue Reading →

Missouri HB 1599. MARM: Your silence will not protect you

Missouri Adoptee Rights Movement (MARM), continues to stonewall its members, friends, and adoptee rights activists in general on the status of HB 1599, you, know, the “beautiful thing” bill that if passed would strip Missouri adoptees, in the name of “adoptee rights,” of even more rights. As I asked in the lead-up to this debacle, what would Orwell do?

After Bastard Nation partner Missouri Open (MO) published its preliminary report on the Wednesday April 13, 2016 Seniors, Families and Children committee decision to gut more of the already gutted-but-once-clean bill with adoption agency sponsored amendments, MARM remained silent. Although MO posted its statement on the amendments on April 14, 2015 at 12:08 AM MARM did not post theirs until nearly 12 hours later (11:24 AM), and then with a big back pat and a horn toot: Continue Reading →

MISSOURI: Adoptees shafted again. HSC HB 1599 deforms even more.

But, when you stand for nothing, you get nothing. Yesterday, the Senate Seniors, Children and Families Committee gutted the gutted bill even more with new restrictions. How is MARM going to spin this “beautiful thing”– a bill that would keep some adoptees records sealed FOREVER! (But aren’t adoptees dyin’?) Even the the National Council for Adoption in its Piercian anti-adoptee heyday wasn’t that extreme. Continue Reading →

Louisiana HB 391: My letter to the LA Civil Law & Procedure Committee

At a time when other states are unsealing the OBC and other documents to adoptees to which they pertain, (Alabama, for instance, restored access in 2000 without incident) Louisiana inexplicably has HB 391 before it, The bill infantilizes adoptees and sends the message that they are not mature or even safe enough to hold a copy of their own birth certificate. The bill suggests that adoptees and adoption are something shameful to be hidden away locked in a government vault. Please do not support HB 391. Vote NO! Continue Reading →