Odds & Ends: Adoption & Dobbs Scholarship Update, West Virginia, Texas
Catching up on a few odds & ends– not big enough for separate blogs, but information we need to get out. Continue Reading →
Tag Archives: Texas
Bastardette’s speech at the Rally for Adoption Equality, Texas Statehouse, May 21, 2021
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 →
My New Town, Moody, Texas: 91 year old adoptee finds birth family
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 →
Texas: Twinkle Twinkle Little STAR
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 →
Gladney’s Adoptive Parents Bill of Rights: What does it mean for adoptee rights?
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 →
Cognitive Dissonance: Bastards, Birthers, and Bad Bills
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 →
Blank Slate 2: More Texas Shenighans for National Adoption Awareness Month!
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 →
Texas Blank Slate: Adopters Have No Right to Background Information
More tales from the wacky world of adoption. I am only going by the news article I’m using below. I’d like to think there is more to this story but since it’s Texas and the topic is adoption… WFAA-TV, Dallas-Fort Worth reports that the Texas Attorney General has told would-be adopters “Phillip” and “Sara” that they have no right to know the background of the four children they were adopting from the state’s foster care program. In 2008, already the parents of five biological children, the Arizona couple was suckered by a Texas Department of Family and Protective Services flyer advertising a sibling group. Before they knew it, instead of adopting one child as planned, they were hooked on the sibs. Although the sibs had suffered “some neglect and physical abuse,” Texas authorities, they claim, told them the kids, ages, 3, 4, 5,and 6 were healthy and not in therapy. They were assured that the children had suffered no sexual abuse. Within a couple weeks of arrival at their new home, the two oldest were molesting the younger bio kids. The Arizona placement agency the couple worked with told them to contact their Texas caseworker. The paperwork they received back Continue Reading →
CORRECTION: TEXAS HB 4470/SB 499: BASTARD NATION’S LETTER TO THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC HEALTH–DEFEAT THEM!
I mistakenly posted the BN Action Alert a second time instead of the letter. Here is the correct post. Here is the letter Bastard Nation sent to the Texas House Committee on Public Health regarding HB 4470 and SB 499. We called for instructions to submit written testimony and learned that the legislature will only take in-person testimony. In other words, if an individual or organization wants their testimony on any bill to be on the record they may have to make an 8 hour drive or fly to Austin. And forget about faxing. It clogs up their machines and takes too much time. Please email! (See previous action alert for details) HB 4470 and SB 499 appear to be the handiwork of the so-called adoption reform organization TxCare. (webpage out of date.) So don’t‘ blame it all on the adoption industry. BASTARD NATION: THE ADOPTEE RIGHTS ORGANIZATION P.O. Box 1409 Edmond, OK 73083-1409 Phone/Fax (415) 479-3741 May 4, 2009 Re: HB 4470 and SB 499 Texas State Legislature House of Representatives Committee on Public Health Honorable Representatives: Bastard Nation: The Adoptee Rights Organization, the largest adoptee rights group in North America, opposes HB 4470 AND SB 499. We advocate Continue Reading →
BASTARD NATION ACTION ALERT– NO ON TEXAS: SB 499/HB 4470
BASTARD NATION: THE ADOPTEE RIGHTS ORGANIZATION ACTION ALERT TEXAS ACTION ALERT- EMERGENCY TEXAS SENATE BILL 499 & COMPANION HOUSE BILL 4470 We have an emergency in the Texas State Legislature. Probably one of the worst combination of so-called “adoptee rights bills” in history are on their way to crushing any chance of adoptee’s ever achieving equal access to birth certificates, now and in the future. Senate Bill 499 was engrossed and passed the Senate on April 28, 2009 and was sent to the House. A companion bill, House Bill 4470, has been waiting in the wings. On April 28, 2009, testimony was taken and registrations recorded in the committee. The bill has been left pending in committee. PLEASE WRITE AND CALL THE HOUSE COMMITTEE MEMBERS TODAY. Ask them to vote NO to SB 499 and HB 4470. We must not allow this destructive bill to get any closer to the floor of the House. The bill must be killed RIGHT NOW IN COMMITTEE. Contact information appears below. SB 499 and HB 447 have some minor differences in language but they both contain the same myriad of humiliating restrictions on adoptee rights. In the Senate bill, an adopted adult can receive Continue Reading →