Tag Archives: Sara Feigehholtz

ILLINOIS: Feigenholtz Owns It! The website, that is.

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Not that we’re surprised, but… WGIL-AM, Galesburg, Illinois has confirmed that the New Illinois Adoption Law.com, orphan webpage is being paid for by Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, sponsor of HB 5428, the bill that gutted the right of adult adopted folks there to obtain their own original birth certificates without jumping through more hoops than a hula hoop factory. On fire. We reported earlier (directly below this entry) that Feigenholz’s “assistant” Melisha Mitchell, owner of the search company White Oak Foundation and alleged author of the bill was listed by Whois as the domain owner. From WGAL: Website helps adopted adults with birth certificates: State Representative Sara Feigenholtz, sponsor of the bill, says she’s paying for the website herself, because she didn’t want the state budget mess to delay it from going up. There is certainly nothing illegal or unethical about them putting the information online. In fact, it’s sorta nice to have a one-stop place, written in their own words, to show how many ways the two have have screwed Illinois’ adopted class. What is problematic, though, is how the duo’s names are conspiculously absent from press releases and other media hype about the page. You’d think White Oak deputy Continue Reading →

ILLINOIS: RED ALERT! RED ALERT!–WE NEED YOU NOW!

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It is imperative that people show up in Springfield next Tuesday. This just in from Illinois Open: Illinois HB 5428 is on the move again. A hearing on HB 5428 will be held by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, April 13th at 2:30 pm in the Capital 400 Springfield – Springfield, IL Contact: [email protected] [email protected] An action alert is forthcoming and will be posted here as soon as I get it. Don’t let the State of Illinois create more layers of adoption bureaucracy. Don’t let the State of Illinois gut your right to unrestricted access to your birth certificate.

FIGHT BACK! ADOPTION REFORM ILLINOIS RELEASES ANALYSIS OF HB 4623!

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Adoption Reform Illinois has just released its analysis and projected effect of HB 4623. Entitled Separating Fact from Hype, [pdf] the two-page report contains little nuggets the Mitchell-Feigenholtz spin machine doesn’t want you to know about its 77-page “simple” and “adoptee friendly” bill. For example: HB 4623 allows birth parents wishing no contact to exercise an access veto. In these situations adoptees will receive a birth certificate with the names of the parents and the birth name of the adoptee removed. Yes, under this bill your own name can be removed from an original government document that is about you and belongs to you. As someone pointed out earlier, isn’t that records tampering? Sure it is! But, I guess if it’s about adoption it’s OK for apparatchiks to fold, spindle, and mutilate you. Just be grateful you were born. Be happy that friendly politicians and paternalistic adoption industrialists are here to feel your pain. Take what your unworthy infantile ass can get. Shut up! Go here to access the Green Ribbons sponsored Adoption Reform Illinois resource page. All documents are in pdf form so be sure you have Adobe to read them. Besides Separating Fact from Hype you’ll find a Continue Reading →

THE SIMPLICITY OF LANGUAGE: SUCCESSFUL RECORDS ACCESS BILLS

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Maine State Senator Paula Benoit believes that simplicity of language is the key to passage of records access bills. She is correct. Compare the simplicity of language of Oregon Ballot Measure 58, Alabama HB 690, HB New Hampshire SB 335 and Maine LB 1084 to the convoluted 77-page Illinois HB 4623 with its plethora of forms, preferences and vetoes which would confound a busload of Chicago lawyers. Would adopta-doyens Rep. Feigenholtz and Melisha Mitchell care to explain why it takes them 77 pages to write a bill that was covered in two sentences in Oregon, and only a couple pages in Alabama, New Hampshire and Maine? Where’s the pork? OREGONBallot Measure 58:Upon receipt of a written application to the state registrar, any adopted person 21 years of age and older born in the state of Oregon shall be issued a certified copy of his/her unaltered, original and unamended certificate of birth in the custody of the state registrar, with procedures, filing fees, and waiting periods identical to those imposed upon non-adopted citizens of the State of Oregon pursuant to ORS 432.120 and 432.146. Contains no exceptions. ALABAMAHB 690Rep(s). By Representatives Dolbare and Fuller HB690EngrossedUnder existing law, an adopted person born Continue Reading →

SPRINGFIELD SHENNIGHANS: Illinois Adoptees Hustled and Shuffled

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Tuesday, I wrote that Amendment 1 to HB 4623, would be heard by the Illinois House Adoption Reform Committee the next day. This amendment would add limited records access language to the CI fix-it bill which had already passed Rules. I was told by sponsor Rep. Sara Feigenholtz’s office that this hearing was for language approval only. If approved, the amended bill would be published on the Illinois legislative site probably on Friday. I posted that information in good faith, wondering how it would really play out. Now we know. Late yesterday afternoon I was forwarded the email below sent by Melisha Mitchell, the putative author of the bill, with the news that HB 4623 had passed out of the Adoption Reform Committee, 8-1. The only opposition came from Illinois Right to Life. Dear All: I am happy to report that HB 4623, Illinois’ obc access bill, waspassed out of the House Adoption Reform Committee today, 8 votes to1. We had letters of support from most of the state’s prominentadoption agencies and adoptive parents’ groups as well as the supportof the Dept. of Public Health, Dept. of Children and Family Services,NASW, and IL Psychiatrists Assn.; in addition, the Chicago Bar Continue Reading →

MEDIA SHOUT-OUTS FOR ADOPTEE RIGHTS

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Here is a (probably incomplete) compilation of blog comments and media commentary about adoptee rights and NPR that have appeared in the week since the Donaldson report was released. This list does not include the Crary or other articles which appeared upon release of the report or articles I’ve already discussed. If you know of others, please post them here in comments. Remember to check your own local newspapers and TV stations; then stir it up! NOTE: I’ll be adding new citations as they come in, so check back.BLOGSAdopteeAmy: Adoptee Foes vs Adoptee FriendsAs someone who is denied access to her original birth certificate on the basis of her birth, I honestly can’t tell you what I would do if I had that document in my hands. I couldn’t tell you if I would make contact. Still no matter what, it is my right. Baby Love Child: Adam Pertman, please shut up.The crux of his argument was ’see, our RESEARCH shows, open records don’t hurt anybody’. NCFA will be more than glad to provide an ENDLESS parade of those ‘hurt by openness’, in response, I assure you.)…The crux of our argument is the demand that what the government robbed us Continue Reading →