Tag Archives: Evan B Donaldson Adoption Institute

Hard Rock Manifesto: Whose side are you on?

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We have proven that focused, energized civil rights campaigns can win. Yet, today we are sitting in the midst of corporate America–the Hard Rock Cafe– amongst a sea of adoption tweakers, self-defeaters, self- promoters, and neocons, who have never passed a “clean bill,” having a bizarre discussion over what we can learn about adoption (or open records?) from Oprah Winfrey–or so it was billed. This is the most bizarre adopta meeting since Ron Morgan, Bill Pierce, and Troy Dunn hooked up in LA to go on the Dr. Laura Show. We know how to restore adoptee access to our OBCs.. The only question now should be: why isn’t everybody following the model? Continue Reading →

April 1 News Flash: National Council for Adoption Disbands, Regroups as National Council for Adoption Abolition. Will Unseal all OBCs Immediately!

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This just in! The National Council for Adoption has announced that it has ceased its 31-year promotion of adoption. As of April 1, the organization will be known as NCFAA: the National Council for Adoption Abolition. It’s first act will be to order states to open immediately, the original birth certificates of all adoptees with no condition. “It’s the least we can do. Our shameful acts have destroyed the lives of millions” says NCFAA president and CEO, Chuck Johnson. “We need to make amends. Whether they want them or not, we’re going to make sure that every adoptee in the United States receives ASAP a certified copy of their OBC.” Johnson says that NCFAA is so excited about its new mission that it will pay the cost of reproduction, certification, and FedExing of all documents. In addition to unsealing OBCs, within six weeks of April 1, NCFAA plans to open regional adoption abolition re-education camps for adoption agents, lawyers, and facilitators as well as Catholic Bishops, Mormons, civil libertarians, and coerced-pregnancy advocates. Special adoption abolition intensives for politicians are planned in each state starting with New Jersey, Missouri, Texas, California, Utah, and Florida. Utah politicians will receive special instruction on Continue Reading →

A Modest Proposal: Guest Blogger Maryanne Cohen

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Long-time activist Maryanne Cohen was with Bastard Nation at the Hard Rock last week (see below).After the event, she sent A “Modest Proposal” to Adam Pertman, director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute and posted the same on a couple lists. Her proposal is simple: clean up the mess you’ve made with your bad bills that leave people behind before you lecture the rest of us about the uselessness of working on good bills that don’t. As she reminds them, “In contrast to the fact of some clean bills being passed, no bad adoption legislation has ever been successfully revisited and “fixed” to make it unconditional access legislation.” I liked what Maryanne wrote and asked if I could post it here. Maryanne agreed, but first expanded her thoughts, which you’ll find below. Please feel free to forward. I recently attended an “Adoptee Rights” event where it was said over and over that while we would really rather support clean adoptee rights legislation, clean bills cannot get passed so we must support compromised bills. Never fear though, we will go back and fix those bad bills soon so it’s all good. Smiley faces and applause all around. My challenge to Continue Reading →

Hard Rock "Event:" Bastard Nation’s Four Point Flyer, NJ A1406

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On March 10, the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute held a 3-hour “event,” Learning the RIGHT Lessons about Adoption: What the Oprah Winfrey Reunion Story Teaches Us” Seven Bastard Nationals and friends attended the “event”–witnesses to the truth as it turned out, in a room full of adoption deformist contortionists weaned on NewSpeak. I am publishing Bastard Nation documents, commentary, and video from the Hard Rock on the BN blog and the Daily Bastardette. I will also post the documented words and actions of deformers at the event backslapping and trading off the rights of Class Bastard for permission and privilege for some. You know, the vetoed, the ‘safe havened,” the tiered–maybe YOU–tossed in the black hole. Below is the Bastard Nation flyer we distributed before the “event.” We wanted to document the “event” and hold the feet of the sheep to the fire, so flyer distribution was limited. We did, however, manage to give out a larger number of buttons and stickers. During the Q&A with the “panel of experts,” (no promised scholar showed up) two of us brought up points from the flyer. The “experts” denied and dismissed our questions as someplace not to go. Below our flyer Continue Reading →

Actions Speak Louder than Words: The Evan B. Donaldson Strikes Out on HuffPo

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Wednesday (January 12) the Huffington Post published a blog, A Civil Right: Adoptees Have a Right to Access Their Own Birth Certificates by Adam Pertman, director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute. In it, Mr. Pertman calls for the restoration of the right of adoptees to their own original birth certificates. Or does he? Only after 3 1/2 paragraphs, in which Mr. Pertman discusses slavery, suffrage and DADT, does he get around to adoptees (not bastards) and our obcs. To the casual reader, with little or no background on deformist history, the piece may make a good read. Unfortunately it isn’t. Mr. Pertman simply continues the Donaldson’s spurious claim to support obc access for all, while it happily works for passage of bills that restrict access for some, leaving classes of bastards behind to float in a black hole. For instance, last year Mr. Pertman delivered eloquent testimony before a New Jersey House committee hearing declaring the right of all adoptees, without restriction, to their original birth certificates Unfortunately, he was testifying in support of A1406, a deform bill that contains disclosure and contact vetoes (even worse, used interchangeably; that is, a poor bastard with a contact veto slapped Continue Reading →

RIP ILLINOIS: HB 5428 PASSES:. Adoptee Rights Die

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That pernicious piece of crap passed. Tentative vote: 36 yea16 nay2 No vote Senators waxed poetic over the “robust” debate in Judiciary a few days ago!Were they there? Others praised the bill as “brilliantly crafted.”Did they read it? Supporters said, “We are being balanced” by not going “far enough.”Why do they promote “special rights” Supporters spoke eloquently about the “restoral of a right”What about the vetoed left behind? The EB Donaldson “pledged support” for registry/CI “educational” campaign.When did EBD become NCFA? On to Pat Quinn’s office…action alert shortly!

"ORPHAN," ESTHER, AND US: ADOPTION MUCKETY-MUCKS LOOK STUPID AGAIN

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Bastardette has really been remiss this month. The truth is, sometimes AdoptionLand is just too tiresome to write about. But along came Esther! I’ve written about Esther and the film Orphan before. From early reactions I knew the PC adopta muckety-mucks would pull on their jackboots and hup 2-3-4 us around their mulberry bush to the tune of Adoption Uber Alles. Orphan’s tagline alone is shocking, I tell you shocking: It must be hard to love an adopted child as much as your own. Why, what adoptee would ever come up with that insidious thought on their own? If adoptees aren’t happy and don’t feel uber loved, then it must be Hollywood’s fault! We’re waiting for an Esther video game to measure the full extent of the damage. Kerry and Neils over on Pound Pup Legacy have a good discussion on what this squawking and flapping is really about, and I recommend you hit it.FOR THE CHILLUN’As much as the adoption PC muckety-mucks would like to, they can’t exactly stop the film’s release on July 24. They can turn up the heat though, and demand that Warner Brothers wholesome it up. For the chillun.’ If it saves just one… According Continue Reading →

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE EVAN B. DONALDSON ADOPTION INSTITUTE FROM BASTARD NATION

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In December 2007, members of Bastard Nation attended the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute’s “For the Records–National Conclave” in New York City. At the end of the day, nearly everyone agreed that compromise legislation to restore the right of birth certificate access to some adoptees and not others, is unacceptable. Participants never heard back from the Donaldson– until June 25, that is, when we received an email from Susan Hicks, recently hired project administrator of the Donaldson’s open records project. Ms. Hicks, self-described as the lead advocate for the Massachusetts “access” bill, sold a generation of Massachusetts adoptees down the river to get access for some. Continue Reading →