GLADNEY VP TO TEACH ADOPTION ETHICS!

This just in and too good to keep to myself. I’m posing it without comment: Heidi Cox from Gladney is teaching a webinar on adoption ethics. Say say it isn’t so, Chuck! The National Council For Adoption is pleased to announce an important and timely Adoption Ethics Webinar on Thursday, March 25, 2010. This three hour seminar will be accredited for three hours of CEU from Catholic University School of Social Work and reviewed for three hours of accreditation from the Texas and Virginia Bar Association for attorneys. The presenters are two highly regarded attorneys who also represent the adoption community. Moderator: Chuck Johnson, National Council For Adoption · Heidi Bruegel Cox, the Executive Vice President and General Counsel for Gladney Center for Adoption · William P. Rosen III, Attorney and Co-founder of La Vida International and Chair of the International Adoption Committee, American Academy of Adoption Attorneys As of this posting the announcement isn’t posted on the NCFA page, so you’ll just have to take my word for it. Could I make this up?

HAWAI’I" BASTARD NATION THANKS LINDA LINGLE

July 4, 2007 The Honorable Linda LingleGovernor, State of Hawai`iExecutiveChambersState CapitolHonolulu, Hawai’I96813 RE: HB 1830: Safe Haven/” Safe Place for Newborns”—Please Veto Dear Governor Lingle: Thank you for placing HB1830, the so-called “safe haven” bill, on your list of potential vetoes. We know that you are under political pressure to let the bill pass into law with or without your signature, and we urge you to make good on your intent to veto. Not one adoption reform organization on the mainland supports safe haven programs. Safe Haven laws circumvent uniform best practice child surrender standards such as the collection of the child’s identifying information, social, cultural and medical history. They thwart due process for parents—especially the father. They devalue communication and ethical counseling. They refute responsible legal alternatives to baby dumping: public assistance, temporary surrender, and permanent surrender for adoption. “Safe Haven” Hawai’an-style rejects hanai: extended family and community care. Not only will Native Hawai’ians, surrendered through the anonymous system be denied their native heritage but also benefits to which the are entailed to legally since they will unable able to prove eligibility Since 1996 there has been one media-reported prosecutable newborn death and no reported cases of unsafe newborn Continue Reading →

ADOPTION CIRCLE HAWAI’I STATEMENT OPPOSING HB 1830: "WILL DISRUPT OUR RICH CULTURAL TRADITIONS…"

Letter of opposition to HB 1830 from Adoption Circle Hawai’i. I received a copy of this in pdf form and am having trouble transferring it to Blogger. The spacing may be a little off. This letter is not on ACH’s website at this time. If it goes up, I’ll add the link. ACH is here. Here is the text. *************************** Adoption Circle Hawai’iP.O. Box 61723 Honolulu, HI Voicemail: Website: adoptioncirclehawaii.com To: Governor Linda LingleSenate President Colleen HanabusaSenator Suzanne Chun-OaklandSpeaker of the House Calvin K.Y. SayRepresentative John Mizuno Re: Testimony in opposition to HB1830 HB 1830 does not effectively address the problem of child abandonment. Studies indicate that, in those states with “safe havens,” babies are still being dumped in trashcans. (1) Research indicates that women who discard or kill their newborns show they do so in a state of panic or fear, denying or concealing the pregnancy, usually experiencing labor and delivery alone. (2) Safe haven laws are not designed to affect the decisions and actions of these women because they are unlikely to be calm enough to consider dropping off their babies at a designated safe place; and they are not necessarily worried about being prosecuted. (3) Because we Continue Reading →

ABANDONING YOUR BABY: "IT’S SUCH A SIMPLE THING TO DO"

You gotta hand it to the folks in California. When they’re not busy enacting Word of Faith legislation (see “Facts Don’t Matter”), they’re complaining that not enough parents are anonymously handing over their newborns to the state’s at-a-location-near-you baby dump. The reported 33 (or 32) babies in “non-bureaucratic placement” in Los Angeles County since the state’s Safe Haven law went into effect in 2001 isn’t good enough for Safe Haven cheerleader LA County Supervisor Don Knabe (pronounced kuh NAH bee.) Quoted in the March 18, 2005 issue of the Torrance Daily Breeze, Knabe lamented that turning over a baby shouldn’t be a tortured decision for mothers. “It seems like such a simple little thing to do, but it’s such a struggle for these mothers to do this.” Perhaps Mr. Knabe should consider slerking around a fire station in the middle of the night and dropping off one of his kids anonymously. Or better yet, at his age and with California’s new designated dumper law–a grandchild. It would be such a simple gesture for a parent (or grandparent) who cares–and would certainly help with the family budget. If it saves just one…. Happily, help is on the way! The folks at Continue Reading →