CALIFORNIA: NEW LANGUAGE FOR AB 372

I don’t have a lot of time today, but wanted to get this out. More thoughts later. Wednesday, amendments to placeholder AB 372 were introduced by sponsor Asmb. Fiona Ma. The amended version is now online. CARE has also issued a memo, dated March 26, discussing the updates. The amended bill is clean but has problems. According to the CARE memo, CARE and the California Association of Adoption Attorneys (CAAA), which (surprise!) opposes access, met with Asmb. Ma on March 24 to hash out changes which now includes a pushback to 25, the age at which adoptees can receive their original birth certificates. It also includes a contact preference form, and an extensive medical questionnaire. How and why this age qualification developed is a mystery. I believe, however, it is related to the 1984 “birthparent” disclosure veto as well as young adult “reunification” concerns amongst paternalistic “child welfare” professionals who feel a dubious need to monitor their former charges and to protect them from reuniting with allegedly dysfunctional families at a legal, but “too early”age. Neither issues should concern the right of adopted adults to their own birth certificates, but apparently they concern the Professional Adoption Class, California Division. CARE Continue Reading →

INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW: QUESTIONS FOR CARE FROM MARYANNE COHEN

On March 16, six CARE board members sent around an email to lists announcing their involvement with CARE and AB 372. The following day, Maryanne Cohen, a member with me, on one of those lists, asked these board members some questions about AB 372. To date, there has been complete silence, although at least three of the signatories to that email are members of “our” list. Last night commenting on the entry that precedes this entry, Maryanne posted these same questions With Maryanne’s permission I’m posting her entire comment below. The only changes Ive made is the addition of *** ****** In any state where I have followed legislation and written letters of support, up until now I have always been able to understand the messages put out by the sponsoring group. Whether I agreed or not, I knew what they were proposing. I also find CalOpen and Marley, Ron, 73Adoptee quite clear about their views. Not so with CARE. I truly do not understand what CARE wants to do or what kind of legislation they want to introduce.I tried asking some questions on a list where members of CARE offered to answer questions. I am still waiting for any Continue Reading →

BLOG ALERT: READ DENI’S AB 372 INSULTS ADOPTED PERSONS

Longtime Bastard activist and Marin Maven Denise Fuller Castellucci (center) has a great blog today: AB 372 Insults Adopted Persons Deni was part of CalOpen’s AB 1349 campaign in 2001-2002. Here’s a sample: My parents were told by the system that we would get all the information when I turned 18. It was a lie. Instead, I would get non-identifying information. What was blocked out with a black pen was completely arbitrary. An adult adoptee in Marin County got her non-id info on a small index card. It is hard to describe what it is like not being trusted with the facts of my own birth. It assumes as an adult I cannot handle the truth and be trusted to be responsible with it. In the eyes of the government I am either a perpetual infant or a potential stalker. Also check out BB Church’s latest on the California Catastrophe. Note on picture: not a single doctor or social worker in the bunch.

CALIFORNIA: CARE’S PROBLEM WITH HISTORY–BASTARDS HAVE NONE

Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past…George Orwell In the last 48 hours, the California Adoption Reform Effort’s Ministry of Truth has removed two CARE documents and their links from its increasingly anorexic website: (1) a letter dated February 24, 2009, to Cal Assembly Judiciary Chair Mike Feuer, in which CARE president Jean Strauss writes bastards and adoptees out of their own rights movement and history and (2) a memo dated February 26, 2009, from CARE’s pricey lobbyist cum Executive Director Stephanie Williams “explaining” to her constituency once more why AB 372 isn’t what it seems to be… and, oh, but the way, we may just have to send some of you down shit creek without a paddle. That’s the beauty of the Internet. Shazaam! History can vanish with the hit of a button, but it can also be rescued with another. Bastards aren’t stupid. As obsessive retrievers and collectors of our own stolen history, we rescue history from the dustbin and guard our treasures with the diligence of Mr. T. You can read what CARE doesn’t want us to read here (letter to Feuer) and here (memo to membership). BASTARDS NEED NOT Continue Reading →

BLOG ALERT : 73 ADOPTEE TAKES DOWN DEFORMERS

The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity….Andre Gide 73adoptee, has a very important blog today: Compromise Legislation: Why Some Adoptees and Not Others? In fact, it is one of the most important adoptablogs I’ve ever read. If you are on the bastard battlefield, this is something to read, print out, and carry with you. Let it become part of you. Why Some Adoptees And Not Others? goes to the core of our current mess: the bastardization of bastards…by our so-called friends. 73adoptee tears the foundation out from under adopta deformers, who in their rat race to the legislature to get any piececrap law passed on their watch– tramp over the interests and rights of Joe and Jane Bastard. You know, class traitors like CARE (California) ABC (Massachusetts) and Illinois Feigenholtz do-bees. What happens when they get left behind on their own device never seems to cross their minds. Here’s a snip: Isn’t that what conditional legislation does? Pits adoptees against one another, turns us (again!) into guinea pigs racing on the experimental wheel of adoption. The facts of our origins are dangled like tasty tidbits if we only sell Continue Reading →

CALIFORNIA: I’M MAD AS HELL AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE! BAD BILL HITS THE BOARDS!

CARE’s baited breath “want and desire bill, “AB 372, was introduced in the California Legislature on February 23. Sen. Fiona Ma is the sponsor. CARE has not disappointed us, bringing forward a bad bill. No, excuse me. I’m wrong. Not bad. Atrocious. OVER UNDER SIDEWAYS DOWNThough advertised as an “open records bill,” as written now, it will do nothing to restore the right of Cal adoptees to their own birth records. It will, in fact, if passed, probably make it more difficult to retrieve an obc than it already is. To assure us illiterates (and I bet that includes its own members who hit the roof when they saw the bill), that we just don’t “understand” what the bill really says, CARE posted a disclaimer on its website a few hours ago: (a word about reading a bill: Legislative language, and the language of statutes, can be confusing. The language is based upon existing legal code which encompasses thousands of pages that are all interrelated. The chane that we are requesting will allow adult adoptees over the page of 18 access to their original record of birth. The text herein is written by the legislative counsel for the California Assembly Continue Reading →

MORE THOUGHTS ON THE COMING CALIFORNIA FIASCO

There are a lot of problems with CARE’s proposed access bill in California: elitism, compromise, rejection of rights and grassroots, and its decision to go for a bill in the midst of California’s economic dissolution.After several comments posted in my earlier blog entry regarding the so-called constitutionality issue in records access in California, I intended to a make relatively short comment, but decided that topic and some other thoughts really need a separate entry. Below I discuss the constitutionality issue and make a couple observations on the coming California Fiasco. This is not meant to be a definitive response. My comments are mine only, and do not represent CalOpen, which is perfectly capable of taking care of business itself. WHY DOES CARE BELIEVE THAT AN UNRESTRICTED ACCESS BILL WON’T FLY?The California Adoption Reform Effort (CARE) has shown little inclination to learn the history of past California records access campaigns, organize California adoptees outside the Amen Corner, build long-term relationships with leggies, or learn the lay of the Cal legislature, even with their pricey navigator…er… I mean lobbyist… at the helm. Judging from CARE’s past disinterest in constitutional studies (see BB Church) and its recent lame de facto attempt to acquire Continue Reading →

WE’VE SCREWED UP YOUR STATE, NOW WE’RE COMING TO SCREW UP YOURS: CALIFORNIA ADOPTION REFORM EFFORT–COMMENTS

A few minutes ago I posted a long blog, We’ve screwed up your state, now we’re coming to screw up yours–California Adoption Reform Effort: if you don’t like compromise, go away. After it was up for a few minutes the entry seemed too long. I have gone back and divided it into two parts: (1`) The Letter and (2) Comments. I have now posted The Letter first, followed by this. I suggest you go below and read the The Letter First. Zen fascists will control you 100% natural You will jog for the master race And always wear the happy face …California Uber Allies. Jello Biafra, Dead Kennedys For the past few weeks we’ve been watching the formation of a new “adoption reform” organization in California: California Adoption Reform Effort (CARE). CARE consists of a few Californians, lead by adoptee author/filmmaker Jean Strauss who lives in Washington State and Stephanie Williams, a pricey lobbyist formerly with the Cal Trucking Association. It’s advisory committee is cattle car Who’s Who of mostly deformers, industry hacks, and out-of-staters. According to CARE’s webpage, the organization is “dedicated to providing adult adopted citizens access to a non-certified copy of their original record of birth.” Unfortunately, Continue Reading →

WE’VE SCREWED UP YOUR STATE, NOW WE’RE COMING TO SCREW UP YOURS: CALIFORNIA ADOPTION REFORM EFFORT– THE LETTER

A few minutes ago I posted a long blog, We’ve screwed up your state, now we’re coming to screw up yours–California Adoption Reform Effort: if you don’t like compromise, go away. After it was up for a few minutes the entry seemed too long. I have gone back and divided it into two parts: (1`) The Letter) and (2) Comments. I am posting the letter first. I suggest you it first; then read the comments posted in the entry above this. ***** INTRODUCTIONFor the past few weeks we’ve been watching the formation of a new “adoption reform” organization in California: California Adoption Reform Effor (CARE). CARE consists of a few Californians, lead by adoptee author/filmmaker Jean Strauss who lives in Washington State and Stephanie Williams, a pricey lobbyist formerly with the Cal Trucking Association. It’s advisory committee is cattle car Who’s Who of mostly deformers, industry hacks, and out-of-staters. Bastard Nation has obtained a copy of an email sent by CARE “president Jean Strauss” to approximately 20 potential supporters. Theirvague but very real ideology of compromise is laidout, politically correct language ordered, “privacy” deified, compromise flogged, and experienced grassroots activists told to jump off the Santa Monica Pier. THE LETTER—– Continue Reading →