Rep. Cody Vasut, R-Angleton filed 2 bills to trap people in miserable marriages…House Bill 931, allows for loved-by-evangelicals covenant marriage to be enacted in Texas…Vasut also filed, House Bill 732, aka forced marriage by impotence. The bill would repeal a section of the Texas family code that allows for marriages to be annulled because of impotence. Continue Reading →
According to the Houston Chronicle, several months ago a pregnant Juniper Bryson, 21, attempted to sell her up-and-coming-baby for $150, allegedly to keep him out of fostercare. This paltry amount, she said would enable her to “move into an apartment so I can work a job and get (my daughter) back, or a cheap down payment, or [sic] any car to get to different places to DoorDash. Nothing crazy at all,” Even though the baby was due in a few days, she said she was willing to travel to meet potential adopters. Continue Reading →
As adopted people, of course, we are accustomed to the God tropes assigned to us, especially during NAM/NAAM/NAD. We are: “God’s gift,” “God’s Plan” or “an answer to prayer”–all of which pust a load on us, especially when we get older, turn into Satan’s ungrateful spawn, and want answers and paperwork. Then there is Rosie O’Donnell, back in her adoption facilitation days, telling a little adoptee on national television that she (Rosie, that is) superseded God. “God made a mistake and put you in the wrong tummy, and I had to fix it.” Continue Reading →
Catching up on a few odds & ends– not big enough for separate blogs, but information we need to get out. Continue Reading →
We are here today to support SB1877/HB1386. The House version passed with only 1 dissenting vote. We need to get the Senate to unstick the bill, currently stuck in the Jurisprudence Committee, and get on to the floor for a vote. We have the votes there that will free nearly 1 million original birth certificates to the adopted people they belong to when it goes up for a vote. Continue Reading →
Phil Ratliff is an LD,A. He learned by accident, at the age of 21, on what he calls a “bad day,” that he is adopted. He then buried it to avoid hurting his adoptive parents. When he finally confronted them, 20 years later, they apparently refused to discuss the adoption, Continue Reading →
STAR has gone dark. Its leaders have been contacted privately and asked publicly where they stand on HB2725. They have refused to respond. No Facebook, no Twitter, no web page updates. We hope STAR’s members and social media followers get their news elsewhere; otherwise, they are still wondering what happened. Continue Reading →
This brings up a couple of questions:Is Gladney saying, with the save-face caveat (or warning?) that disclosure “may” be dependent on state laws–which of course, Gladney can influence in Texas and perhaps in other states?While making adoptive parents the domestic gatekeeper, is Gladney saying that it is OK for adoptees (usually) 18 and over to get access to the OBC, court records, and other recordsIs Gladney back-door endorsing the QuadA endorsement of record access?Then there is this weird statement: Continue Reading →
Adopted adults, especially since 9/11, have increasingly been denied passports, drivers licenses, pensions, Social Security benefits, professional certifications, and security clearances due to discrepancies on their fictive amended birth certificates produced by the state, and their inability to produce a true original birth certificate to respond to those discrepancies. Now, due to our lack of an OBC, we may not be allowed to run for president or vice president (or other offices) if some states have their way. Currently, 11 state legislatures are looking at bills to force presidential/vp candidates to divvy up their birth certificates to prove citizenship and that they are who they say they are. If these measures pass, the birth certificate requirement will no doubt seep down to all elective offices from city council and county commission to state and federal legislatures and courts. Although voters are already required to show proof of citizenship when they register to vote, I don’t think it’s beyond reason that more stringent requirements will be mandated; thus potentially disenfranchising millions of the country’s adopted adults due to lack of their “real” birth certificates. The highly unpopular Real ID,which about two dozen states have refused to implement. and other Draconian “security Continue Reading →
Sunday I reported that the Texas Attorney General’s office claims that paps and adopters have no legal right to know the background of the children they intend to adopt. This isn’t the end of of the story! After WFAA broke the initial story of ‘Phillip” and “Lisa’s” fight with Texas authorities to get background information on the four children they were trying to adopt, the station says it received numerous emails “detailing similar problems.” Today, right in the middle of National Adoption Awareness Month, WFAA broadcast another case of Texas Department of Family and Protective Services shenanigans. This time it’s the story of “Michelle” and “Dave” who seven months ago tried to adopt two brothers, 5 and 7, from the state system. Records sent by the Department indicated the boys had no history of abuse or disturbing or disruptive behavior outside of “tantrums.” Soon after placement, however, the older boy began to rage for hours, punch himself in the face until his nose bled, and continually screamed that he would kill his new family. Knives and scissors were locked up. The article fails to mention if the couple contacted DFPS. We assume they did, but it looks like they didn’t Continue Reading →