Tag Archives: Illinois HB 5428

Below is Bastard Nation’s edited-down-from-testimony letter to the Illinois Senate asking members to VOTE NO. Please contact Senators and tell them to stop this travesty. Go to the BN Action Alert for more information, including contact information. HB 5428 is misleading. The bill’s stated purpose and its final product are diametrically opposed. The bill simply beefs up the current confidential intermediary/registry system that controls adoptee access to their own public records and adds penalties for so-called “misuse” of information from the registry. 1. conflates rights with reunion. It confuses OBC access with contact with a parent. It retains the Illinois Adoption Registry and Medical Exchange (IARME), and currently outsources the registry process to the privately owned Midwest Adoption Center as the OBC gateway; thus, keeping the vital records of the state’s adoptees at the mercy and whim of “confidential intermediaries” and paid “searchers” in an inherently arbitrary system accountable to no one. 2. vacates, though parental disclosure veto power (see #4) 750 ILCS 50/10) (from Ch. 40, par. 1512) FINAL AND IRREVOCABLE CONSENT TO ADOPTION 3. divides Illinois’ adopted citizens into two arbitrary classes based solely on date of birth: worthy and unworthy. Worthies are born before January 1, 1946. Continue Reading →

It’s not too late to let your voice be heard! STOP HB 5428 ! Don’t let Illinois continue to gut the rights of Illinois adoptees! TAKE ACTION THIS WEEKEND!CONTACT ILLINOIS SENATORS THE BILL IS HERE: Talking points HB 5428: conflates rights with reunion. It confuses OBC access with contact with a parent. It retains the Illinois Adoption Registry and Medical Exchange (IARME), and currently outsources the registry process to the privately owned Midwest Adoption Center as the OBC gateway; thus, keeping the vital records of the state’s adoptees at the mercy and whim of “confidential intermediaries” and paid “searchers” in an inherently arbitrary system accountable to no one. 2. vacates, though parental disclosure veto power (see #4) 750 ILCS 50/10) (from Ch. 40, par. 1512) FINAL AND IRREVOCABLE CONSENT TO ADOPTION which states in part:That I do hereby consent and agree to the adoption of such child. That I wish to and understand that by signing this consent I do irrevocably and permanently give up all custody and other parental rights I have to such child. That I understand such child will be placed for adoption and that I cannot under any circumstances, after signing this document, change my mind Continue Reading →

Mary Fuller and Triona Guidry have blogged first person accounts of Tuesday’s Illinois Judiciary show hearing for HB 5428. If HB 5428 is so damned great for adoptees, then why do sponsor Rep Sara Feigenholtz and her friends in high places want to keep us silent? Why did they not only hide the bill fro public view, but keep opponents from testsifying? Mary Fuller/Rights of AdopteesCorrupt IL HB 5428…For 30 years I’ve been an advocate for open records. I do understand that HB 5428 is a horrid bill. What I don’t understand is how any legislator who is serving the people can vote Yea. My thought is that the length of the bill was meant to confuse as many as possible. How many legislators actually sat down and read through 80 pages (67 if saved into a Word file). I was at the hearing and saw first-hand how some of the senators were talking among themselves and laughing. Of course I don’t know what they were laughing about but their minds did not seem to be totally on what was being said at the hearing. I won’t go into what all I viewed but the rudeness and disrespect did stand Continue Reading →

The Illinois Senate Judiciary Committee voted 6-3 to pass HB 5428 on to the Floor. This is one of the saddest days in adoption rights history Apparently proponents believe that something is better than nothing–and this sure is nothing. If the bill becomes law, Illinois is a dead state. Below is Bastard Nation’s submitted testimony. It’s full of facts. And we know, facts don’t count. SUBMITTED TESTIMONY IN OPPOSITION TO HB 5428ACCESS TO BIRTH CERTIFICATES FOR ADULT ADOPTEESIllinois Senate Judiciary CommitteeApril 13, 2010 Bastard Nation: the adoptee rights organization is the largest adoptee rights advocacy organization in the United States. We support full, unrestricted access for all adopted persons, upon request, of their own true, unaltered original birth certificates (OBC). We oppose HB 5428 as we have opposed similar bills introduced in the Illinois legislature over the past 15 years. HB 5428 is misleading. The bill’s stated purpose and its final product are diametrically opposed. The bill simply beefs up the current confidential intermediary/registry system that controls adoptee access to their own public records and adds penalties for so-called “misuse” of information from the registry. According to the bill’s introduction: The General Assembly recognizes that it is the basic right Continue Reading →