Tag Archives: OBC access

Happy Day in Massachusetts: Black Hole is Gone! OBCs Unsealed for All!

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Today, HB 2284/S1146 the bill that restores the right of all Massachusetts-born adoptees to obtain their Original Birth Certificates without the restriction, goes into effect. Until today Massachusetts adoptees born between July 17, 1974, and January 1, 2008, were tossed in a black hole by a series of archaic laws that kept their records sealed except by court order. Those born before and after those dates enjoyed full and unrestricted access to them.No reasonable explanation was ever given for this nonsense… Continue Reading →

What Would Orwell Do? Who’s confused in Missouri? (HB 1599 and HB 1822)

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The idea that bills are some kind of state secret–or should be– is silly. Bills are public information, posted on webpages, and open for discussion and lobbying by anyone. Any attempt to tamp down discussion, especially of opposition efforts, makes MARM, especially among serious OBC activists, look politicaly naive. The general public could care less about our issue. Catholic Charities and Lutheran Family Services does care. A lot. And they make sure that the people they need to support their vile, reactionary bill know about it. Trying to make the bill invisible makes no sense. I’m betting a lot of people who would have opposed it didn’t know about it until it was too late. If there was no need to publicly dennounce the Bad Bill, then how did it pass? Continue Reading →

Repost from Access Connecticut: Action Alert – Support introduction and hearing of OBC access bill

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We have received the following Action Alert from Access Connecticut. Bastard Nation is not involved in this legislative action and has no relationship with the organiztion, but we support its effort to equalize unrestricted OBC access for all Connecticut adoptees. The bill in question will be a clean bill to close the current gap in Connecticut law that deprives those adopted before October 1, 1983 from unrestricted OBC access. It deserves a hearing. Access Connecticut 2016 Position Statement

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I urge all of you contact your legislators IMMEDIATELY and ask them to contact the Co-Chairs of the Public Health Committee and urge them to RAISE our proposed bill.

The bill must be introduced by the Public Health Committee or it will not be considered in the 2016 legislative session. We have received feedback that the bill may not be introduced. (In short sessions like this one only Committees can raise bills, not individual legislators.)

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An Ohio Story: Black Boxes by Megan Collins, guest blogger

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When I opened my original birth certificate, seeing the name “Holly” was validating. I had spent years of my life wondering if that really was my birth name and now had tangible proof. When I saw “Danielle” as my middle name, I was surprised, but the sister I spoke of had a twin brother named Daniel, so I thought it could be a reference to this or maybe it was chosen randomly.

I then saw a black box where my last name should be. I expected some redaction in theory, but I wasn’t emotionally prepared to see black boxes all over my birth certificate including over my last name. It shocked me. Page after page of black boxes and missing medical information and a box checked to inform me she wanted no contact at this time. It also stated that the preference form could not be enforced…

It’s absurd that I received an original birth certificate with my last name replaced with a black box, my birth mother’s name as a row of black boxes and the birth father information as blank spaces. This is not the original birth certificate. It is a legal document that was changed to reflect the legislation currently, just as my other birth documents are.

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