ILLINOIS OPEN ORGANIZATION

GRAND OPENING
PLEASE FORWARD FREELY
ILLINOIS OPEN
http://www.ilopen.org
obc@ilopen.org

MISSION STATEMENT
Illinois Open advocates the issuing to all Illinois adult adoptees, upon request and unconditionally, a copy of their unaltered original birth certificate

GOALS
Illinois Open is an informational organization. Its goals are to educate the public about sealed records as well as locate grassroots supporters of equal access to the original birth certificate for all adopted men and women in Illinois.

Currently, the only way adopted adults in Illinois can receive a copy of their original birth certificate is by petitioning the court and showing good cause, a lengthy, costly, and time consuming process .

Illinois Open is asking the State of Illinois to repeal or amend its Adoption Act so that all adopted adults can get their original birth certificate in the same manner as all non-adopted citizens.

We want to hear from you. Please write to us at obc@ilopen.org
.

"Adoption Mystique"is finalist for USA Book News 2007 National Books Award

Grannie Annie agrees! This is a wonderful book!

PRESS RELEASE
November 2007

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RES Marketing Alliance
Request a Review Copy
ontact: Reina Santana863-427-4848

The Adoption Mystique Award Winning Finalist In the USA Book News 2007 National Best Books Award

Kissimmee, Fl - November 2007 - On November 1, 2007, USABookNews.com, the premiere online magazine and review website for mainstream and independent publishing houses, announced the winners and finalist of the 2007 National Best Books Awards. Winners and finalists traversed the publishing landscape. They included publishing houses like Simon & Schuster, Penguin-Putnam, HarperCollins, Random House, and McGraw-Hill. Amongst the winners, The Adoption Mystique: A Hard-hitting Exposé of the Powerful Negative Social Stigma that Permeates Child Adoption in the United States was a finalist in the social change category.

Listed as recommended reading by The American Adoption Congress (AAC), The Adoption Mystique, written by Joanne Wolf Small, M. S. W., is a well researched book that questions and challenges the stigma that permeates the many readily accepted and rarely questioned social norms and myths that continue to support adoptee and adoptive family intolerance, and hinder efforts to make positive and healthy changes that would help to bring adoption policy and practice into the 21st century.

Midwest Book Review says, "The Adoption Mystique is not a general book about adoption, but rather a focused, politically-minded call for the civil rights of adoptees" as it "examines bias against adoptees in the media and society." Carrie Craft from About.com Adoption writes, "author Joanne Wolf Small, M.S.W. just doesn't break the adoption myth, she shatters it with her compilation of various research studies, essays, and personal knowledge on the subject of adoption...The Adoption Mystique is respectful and not at all anti-adoption, just pro-truth and openness." It is a useful proven resource for all whose lives have been touched by adoption.

"Your essays are so thoughtful - and so rich in conveying the historical context for adoption in general and the policies and practices surrounding information sharing, in particular, and in conveying the critical psychosocial issues that lie at the heart of adoption. I am certain that your book will be viewed as a critical resource for policy makers and practitioners seeking to better understand adoption." - Madelyn Freundlich, Senior Policy Analyst, and former Executive Director, Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Joanne W. Small, M.S.W is an adopted adult, adoption rights activist, author, and psychotherapist. She was executive director of Adoptees in Search (AIS) and served as the first and only adopted person on the Model Adoption Legislative Procedures and Advisory Panel. Her 30 year professional experience includes a post-adoption clinical practice, clinical supervision, in-service training and seminars, lectures, publications, and interviews with over a thousand adoptive family members. Visit her website at http://www.jwsmall.com/.###


The Adoption Mystique: A Hard-hitting Exposé of the Powerful Negative Social Stigma that Permeates Child Adoption in the United States, Hardcover, $28.95, is available via Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and Ingram. To request a review copy please contact Reina Santana at rsantana@resmarketingalliance.com

AN ADOPTED WOMAN TALKS BACK

Adopted adults are fighting for the right to request and receive our original birth certificates with no conditions or falsifications. In a free society, states cannot hold on to their power to withhold our identity information from us. We are adopted men and women – not enemies of the state.

The state governments must get out of the search and reunion business. They must also get out of the business of gathering our medical information. If we wish, we can do all of these things on our own.

§ We are not asking for anyone in the government or private sector to help us find our first parents.

§ We are not asking for anyone in the government or private sector to plan or mediate reunions between us and any other person on this planet.

§ We are not asking for anyone in the government or private sector to secure medical information for us.

§ We are not asking for anyone in the government or private sector to tell us which relatives are okay and which are not okay to associate with.

The states should be and indeed they are in the ADOPTION business, because it is important to find permanent homes for children who need them. That’s good. But once we homeless children reach the age of majority, the states should wish us a good life and say goodbye. They really must stop interfering in our lives forever!

The only way to accomplish this change is for the legislatures to repeal the antiquated sealed records section of their laws. Then we adoptees will once again be free to access the records of our birth. That’s all we are asking.

A LESSON FOR DEFORMERS
Bastard Nation is Not the Only Ones who Oppose Baby Step Bills

DISCLAIMER: This blog is not intended to compare in any way the issues facing immigrants in America with the totally different issues of adopted adults in our country. I take no stand, pro or con, on America’s immigration policies.

What is a Deformer? Adoption deformer is a phrase coined by Marley Greiner, Executive Chair of Bastard Nation. Deformers are adoptees who us to proceed in baby steps. They ask us to accept bills which provide for conditional access, disclosure vetoes, contact vetoes, intermediary bills, white-out provisions or tiered legislation. Deformers claim that these conditional access bills have a better chance of being passed and that is reason enough for us to support them. They tell us that legislation which gives some adoptees restricted access to their original birth certificates is "better than nothing." They claim that conditional access legislation serves as intermediate steps to someday getting the true open records legislation.

The Chicago Tribune reported on Thursday, Oct. 25th, that the Senate fell short Wednesday of the 60 votes needed to debate the Dream Act, a bill that would give young undocumented immigrants the possibility of citizenship if they were brought illegally to the US as children.

What caught my attention was the part of the article that discussed the reasoning behind some of the senators’ votes – one long term senator in particular.

“Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa) said he likes the Dream Act and believes it should be enacted, yet he voted against allowing the Senate to proceed.

“’I do not think we ought to cherry-pick here,’ Specter said.

“I have grave reservations about seeing a part of comprehensive immigration reform go forward, because it weakens our position to get a comprehensive bill.’”

Deformers: If you truly want to see All adopted adults in the United States and Canada have unconditional and unrestricted access to their original birth certificates, then hang on to those convictions. Stop trying to pass open records bills that will “weaken our position to get a comprehensive bill.”

OPEN LETTER TO SUSAN HICKS & ABC

WHAT WILL YOU TELL THE “BLACKLISTED ONES?”

The Massachusetts Committee of ABC was one of the prime supporters of SB 63. I have read over your webpage and discovered that something very important is totally missing from ABC’s laundry list of superlatives about SB 63. The missing link is your feelings and attitudes toward the “Blacklisted Ones” – you know, the adopted men and women who happened to have been born on the politically incorrect dates between July 17, 1974 and December 31, 2007. What do you say to these adoptees who will still have to go to court to get their birth certificates?


Will you look them in the face and tell them how good SB 63 is?

Will you pat them on the back and thank them for being martyrs to the cause?

Will you tell them that you'll come back in a year or two to revisit the law and then you will support changing it to include the Blacklisted Ones?

Will you tell them that with all political issues there are bound to be scapegoats? And with SB 63, they are the scapegoats.

Will you look them in the eyes and tell them that this bill was the right thing to do?

Will you tell them that leaving them out in the cold was the politically expedient thing that you all had to do in order to get this bill passed into law?

Will you tell them you’re sorry?

MORE ON MA DISASTER - BLESSED ONES ARE NOT TO BLAME

TO THE BLESSED ONES:

You all should NOT feel guilty about being in the Blessed category. You all didn't do anything wrong! The ones who wrote and passed this law are the guilty ones. Funny, isn't it? Right now, I don't hear any celebrations from them - I think they're hiding under some rug.

Blessed Ones, don't feel guilty. Sometimes in life you find yourself in the right place at the right time. So you all run, not walk, to your nearest Vital Stats office and get your original birth certificates. They belong to YOU.

DISASTER IN MASSACHUSETTS

ABC SAYS………
GRANNIE ANNIE SAYS………

ABC (Access to uncertified Birth Certificates) is the Massachusetts Group that fought to pass SB 63 into law. They are so happy about passing SB 63 and have devoted a whole website page to “What SB 63 is all about.”

For sake of clarity, I will refer to all adopted men and women born between July 17, 1974 and December 31, 2007 as “the blacklisted ones.” Remember, these are the adopted persons who cannot get their original birth certificates like everyone else.

All ABC statements are in red and are directly and fully quoted from ABC’s website. http:www.accesstobirthcertificates.org.


Senate Bill #63 is about stopping the clock now. Every year that goes by, we add thousands of newly adopted persons to the list of people who are excluded from access to their original uncertified birth certificates.

No, No, No, ABC! You can NOT stop the clock. Not any clock. Not the wind-up kind my grandma used to have nor the atomic clocks sold at Sharper Image. The clock continues to tick for us all - the blacklisted ones and all the rest of us.

Every second that passes is yet another second that the blacklisted ones are being kept in their black hole where their identity information is being withheld from them. Honest! They can hear those clocks just whirring away, marking the passage of time and counting the days, weeks, and years that they are going without access to their original birth certificates.

Before July 17, 1974 adult adopted persons over the age of 18 or adoptive parents of minor adopted persons were able to access an uncertified copy of the adopted person’s original birth certificate. Therefore, all birth mothers who relinquished before July 17, 1974 relinquished during the years when access was the law of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

JUST A MINUTE! HOLD YOUR HORSES! You’re making a giant leap from fact to fantasy here.

Shame on you, ABC. This argument is only an assumption on your part - is not a fact. For the sake of your argument, you are assuming that the law change in 1974 which took away adopted peoples’ access to their birth records also means that the birth mothers who relinquished after 1974 were given legal assurances of confidentiality.

Oh yes, the legislature did change the access law but it did NOT ever address the legality of birthmother’s confidentiality in any way. Birthmother confidentiality has never been a LAW. Don’t equate a law about access with a wish for confidentiality!
Don't make a law where none existed before.

Senate Bill #63 will still require adopted persons born between July 17, 1974 and January 1, 2008 to obtain a court order. The bill also stipulates that evidence of a birth parents willingness to provide information about their identity to the adopted person shall serve as sufficient evidence to grant access to the birth certificate.

ABC’rs – have any of you gone to court to get an order to release your original birth certificates? Guess what? I have!

I spent about 2months doing research in law libraries and then at least another 4 months wending my way through the judicial system. During this time, I spent numerous days making court appearances, amending petitions, gathering more evidence, and enduring many continuances.

Total cost in dollars was well over $1000 – and that was without hiring an attorney. Add on a lawyer and you can add on several hundred dollars to the total expense.

ABC, do you ever wonder how many blacklisted ones have that much free time or money to go to court? Do you even care?

Senate Bill #63 will establish an Adoption Contact Information Registry at Vital Statistics for the purpose of housing information indicating whether or not a birthparent(s) wishes to grant access to the original birth certificate.

What? Yet ANOTHER REGISTRY? Are you serious? ROTFL

Senate Bill #63 is about respecting the judgment of adoptive parents to hold their infant, child, and teen's information and to make decisions in the best interest of their minor child.

Oh my! I didn’t even know that prior to passage of SB 63 adopted CHILDREN were able to make decisions about anything related to their adoptions.

Whew! It’s a relief to know that SB 63 will stop minor adopted CHILDREN from storming the Bureau of Vital Statistics.

Senate Bill #63 is about trusting Adult Adopted Persons, Birth Parents and Adoptive Parents--as we trust other citizens--to respect boundaries.

What boundaries? Whose boundaries?

Oh, I get it. The blacklisted ones must have a history of breaking boundaries? Is that it?

Heavens, there may even be some blacklisted ones in the clinker at this very moment, serving time for not respecting boundaries. No wonder you have to teach them about trust.

Senate Bill #63 is about reinstating the same access that existed until 1974 in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

ABC, watch out!! You’re going backwards – and fast! Most people in the United States like to believe that they are moving forward on important issues. Most people want to change with the times. They believe in flexibility. But maybe they don’t know the issues as well as you do.

ABC, what other laws will you be going backwards to find and enforce? Would you like to go back to the 1950’s and enforce the “Gentlemen’s Agreements” about selling houses or renting hotel rooms to Jewish people?

Or maybe you don’t like African Americans drinking from your water fountains. Maybe that can be your next project – go back to the 40’s and 50’s and reinstate society the way it was then.

Say, maybe you’d like to reinstate the law that says women cannot vote. You’ll have to go pretty darned far to get that one, but hey, you’ve got lots of political experience. You can do it.

“Senate Bill #63 is about granting Adopted Persons their first formal certificate of membership in the human race and as citizens of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”

WHAT?

Just a minute. What’s wrong with the blacklisted ones? Why can’t they get a formal certificate of membership in the human race? Why can’t they be granted full citizenship in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts?

Is it because their mothers gave them away and don’t want them coming back?

Or maybe the blacklisted ones aren’t smart enough yet to get a formal certificate. Is it like a graduation certificate?

Could it be that the blacklisted ones are bad people, ones you really don’t want to join the rest of the human race anyway?

Or could it be that you all just don’t care?!

MASSACHUSETTS IS NOW LIVING ON ANIMAL FARM, WHERE ALL ADOPTED PEOPLE ARE EQUAL EXCEPT THAT SOME ADOPTED PEOPLE ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.

MASSACHUSETTS SB 63

“An Act to Further Regulate the Access of Birth Certificates”

ARE YOU BLESSED OR ARE YOU BLACKLISTED?

SB 63 is one of the worst bills ever devised in adoption history. Under SB 63, adopted adults will be separated into two distinct categories based solely on dates of birth. I call them the BLESSED LIST and the BLACK LIST.

MASSACHUSETTS’ BLESSED LIST

1. Adopted men and women who were born before July 17, 1974.

2. Adopted children who will be born after January 1, 2008.

If you are the Blessed list, you will be able to request and receive from the Commonwealth’s Registrar your original birth certificates without any restrictions.

MASSACHUSETTS BLACK LIST

1. Adopted men and women who were born between the dates of
July 17, 1974 and January 1, 2008.

2. Adopted adults in all of the United States and Canada. This bill has the potential to set an unacceptable precedent in adoption law. If one state, Massachusetts, is allowed to blatantly discriminate against 34 years of adoptees, the potential for other states to copycat is great.

If you are on the Black List, you will only be able to request your original birth certificate by petitioning the courts.

HOW CAN YOU PROTEST TODAY?

SB 63 has passed both the Senate and the House and is awaiting the governor's signature within the next few days. Please phone, fax or email Governor Deval Patrick IMMEDIATELY and tell him to veto SB 63.

The Honorable Governor of Massachusetts Deval Patrick

Phone: 617 - 725 -4005

Fax (in state only) 617-927-9725

Email: http:www.mass.gov/

HOW CAN YOU PROTEST IN NOVEMBER?

ALL ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES!

THE SPONSORS OF SB 63 MUST ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR ACTIONS. THEY MUST BE VOTED OUT OF OFFICE.

SENATOR FREDERIC E. BERRY, Republican. Represents the districts of Second Essex, which includes Beverly, Peabody, Salem, Danvers, and Topsfield

SENATOR KAREN E. SPILKA. Democrat, Majority Leader of Senate, 2003 – 2008. Represents the districts of Second Middlesex and Norfolk

REPRESENTATIVE JOHN. A. LEPPER. Democrat, Minority Whip 2003 – present. Represents the Attleboro District, precincts one, two, and three.

Save this list and watch for these names at the next election!

PLEASE FORWARD FREELY

WRITE A THANK YOU NOTE TO GOVERNOR LINGLE

Thanks, Governor Lingle!

Governor Linda Lingle has placed HB 1830 on her list of potential bills that she will veto. She has until July 10th to act on this list. After this date, the legislature may call a special session in order to try and override any of the governor's vetoes. HB 1830, known as the Safe Haven bill, would legalize the anonymous abandonment of infants which directly brings about the theft of these babies' true identities. I firmly support Governor Lingle, as does my group, Bastard Nation: The Adoptee Rights Organization. I send my most heartfelt thanks to the governor for holding firm on the subject of Safe Havens. Governor Lingle truly understands the underlying issues of safe havens. She has insight into the problems that would arise as a result of a safe haven law and she has the courage to stand up for her convictions. Governor Linda Lingle has the best interests of Hawaii's families at heart. She has her finger on the pulse of the people. She had a 71% approval rate in 2005, 12th highest in the nation. Last year she was reelected to the governor's office by the largest margin in the state's history, 67% - 35%. The people trust Governor Lingle. She knows that the citizens of Hawaii will consider anonymous baby dumping an unacceptable practice. Governor Lingle's veto will maintain the status quo – Hawaiian families already know how to take care of children who cannot be raised by their biological parents. They do not want or need safe havens. If you agree with Governor Lingle's position on safe havens, why not drop her a note and thank her. Tell her that she has your support. She needs to hear from all of us who have been directly affected by identity theft. Here's her address. The Honorable Linda Lingle Governor, State of Hawaii Executive Chambers State Capitol Hololulu, Hawaii 96813 Phone: (808) 586-0034 Fax: (808) 586- 0006 Email: governor.lingle@hawaii.gov --

AS MAINE GOES, SO GOES THE NATION.

MAINE PASSES OPEN RECORDS BILL

On June 25, HB 1084 was signed by Governor John Baldacci. This bill, which will go into effect January 1, 2009, recognizes the rights of all adopted adults 18 years and older in the state of Maine to request and receive, unconditionally, their original birth certificates.

Maine takes its place on the Honor Roll of states with totally open records for adopted adults: Kansas, Alaska, Oregon, Alabama and New Hampshire. Each time a new state joins the Honor Roll it makes it that much easier for the other states coming up. As Maine goes, so goes the nation. I know it's going to happen.

IT COULDN’T BE DONE WITHOUT...

The legislative sponsors of the bill, House Representative David Farrington and State Senator Paula Benoit. These two people believed in this bill and they worked tirelessly to make open records a reality in Maine.

Bobbi Beavers and OBC For ME, the grassroots organization that filed the bill and worked so hard to get it passed.

Every adopted man and woman and every birth parent in Maine who supported this bill and raised their voices to get it passed. You spoke and the government listened.

THANK YOU

All adopted adults and all birth parents in the United States and Canada are grateful to you all and we send you our most heartfelt THANKS!

And Grannie Annie sends everyone some big special “grannie hugs and kisses.” I am thrilled to see another state recognize the fact that adopted men and women must be treated equally under the laws. Maine’s bill stands as a beacon, shedding its light over the entire USA and Canada. Other states contemplating similar bills can look to Maine for guidance.

WAY TO GO, MAINE.

PLEA TO HAWAII GOVERNOR LINDA LINGLE

Dear Governor Lingle:

I URGE YOU TO VETO HB 1830 which would create safe havens for women to
anonymously abandon their unwanted infants. You vetoed it last session
and I beg you to stand tall and strong and veto it again! You won't be
sorry!

I am adopted woman in her 60's, long active in adoptee rights
issues, and I know first hand how very wrong it is for any government
to strip in perpetuity even one baby of her ethnic history and
identity.

HB 1830 will not solve the problem of crisis pregnancies. In states
with safe haven laws, infants are still being dumped in trash bins,
toilets and back alleys. The solution to this tragic problem does not
lie with the creation of safe havens. Preventing disastrous results
from crisis pregnancies is a mental health issue. Viable solutions
must come from the psychiatric community - not from folks who want to
pass a bill that might "save one baby." These people are looking to
solve the problem after the fact instead of trying to reach women in
crises before they give birth. Please say NO to these well meaning but
misguided individuals.

HB 1830 would seriously damage the practice of "Hanai" in which
extended family and community care insures that children unable to be
reared by their biological parents are lovingly kept within the family
or close community where their identity and heritage remain intact.

HB 1830 would deny certain government benefits available to all
Native Hawai'ians because the "safe havened" infants would be
unable to prove their Native ancestry.

HB 1830 flies in the face of 100 years of social welfare and best
practices for children. It has been the norm until now for social
work professionals to rigorously oppose child abandonment of any
kind.

Update: Wanted, a Miracle

Dear Friends,

Thank you all so much for your help and your support on my behalf in looking for a miracle. I don’t have enough words to tell you how much I appreciate it.

Unfortunately, the “facts” of my case lead nowhere. My goal is for someone to recognize something in the “facts” that might be true and trigger a memory of long ago. My second goal is the hope that someone might look at my photos and see a strong family resemblance.

When and if this ever happens, I promise you all that I’ll shout it from the roof tops right here.

Thanks a million for your encouragement and your help.

Sincerely,

Grannie Annie aka Anita

"Boston Legal" Funny or Offensive?

Okay, who watched "Boston Legal" Thursday night, May 16th on the ABC television
network?

Here's what happened.  Brad and Denise (lawyers in the firm) are getting
married. Denise is 9 months preggie. She can't make it to the church because
she's in labor. Brad ( smartly outfitted in his full Marine uniform) hollers to
the church guests, "Quick. A bastard is being born. We need a priest!!!"  At
this point we aren’t clear if the priest will marry the two lovebirds in time to
deliver a “normal” baby. Or, if he’s not on time, will he  perform an exorcism
on the bastard ?

Switch to hospital room, where Denise is about .0001 centimeter away from giving
birth. The nurse is telling her “not to push yet.” Brad is still wailing for a
clergy person - ANY clergy person, be it rabbi, minister, guru, ship’s captain,
shaman - monk.- medicine man. Just so long as the person can get there in time
to "efface the bastard."

To the rescue -  Shelley Berman, senile judge laid up in the next room, performs
the ceremony in his backless hospital gown, and saves the day

Next scene:  Now Denise can push and a beautiful baby girl is born. Daddy Brad
says, "She's the most beautiful daughter in the whole world."

I wonder what the baby would have looked like if she had been born a few minutes
earlier? Would she still have been beautiful?

Funny or offensive?

I was stunned. I’m quite used to hearing the word “bastard” being tossed around
as an old and established insult, as in “I’ll kick that bastard’s ass,” or “The
bastard won’t give me a divorce.”  That’s fine with me.

But I’m not accustomed to hearing a new baby blatantly labeled a bastard on
national television and I do not like it one bit.  I was offended;  in fact, I
was astounded!

This show comes directly from the mouth of producer and director David Chase,
long time self- righteous television  producer/preacher..

David Chase has often used “Boston Legal,” (and its predecessor “The Firm” ) as
a sounding board for his personal political viewpoints. It’s like going to church. Somewhere near the end of nearly every episode you sigh
because you know what’s coming next - the sermon.,

Wouldn’t it be nice if David Chase would stop calling for the effacement of
bastards and instead take a look at the real issues that surround all adult
bastards and their families.

I’d love to hear James Spader stand before a jury and plead our case. Let him
call for the effacement of all sealed records laws. Now that would be justice.

So why do we call ourselves Bastards at Bastard Nation?

The half-century old archaic practice of impounding and sealing an adopted
person's original birth records in perpetuity has had the disastrous effect of
breeding deep and long lasting attitudes of shame in all areas of the adoption
process. Secrets and lies abound.

So we decided to reclaim the term "Bastard" -- to take it back and make it ours.
In so doing, we hope to explode the myths of shame surrounding adoption and
focus attention on the absolute necessity of changing the laws.

We folks at Bastard Nation believe that there is NOTHING shameful about
adoption. We selected this name because we will no longer be made to feel shamed
by the odious state laws which permanently seal our original birth records.

We do not fling the word "bastard" at anyone. Rather, we wear it proudly as we
work to achieve our goal of equal and unconditional access to original birth
records for each and every adult adoptee.

Since our founding in 1996, Bastard Nation: The Adoptee Rights Organization, has
redefined the adoptee rights struggle in terms of civil rights, empowerment and
tactical activism.


--
www.grannieannie.org

MASSACHUSETTS BLACKLISTS ADOPTED ADULT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
_____________________________________________________________________________

MASSACHUSETTS BLACKLISTS ADOPTED ADULTS

If the legislature has its way, some Massachusetts adoptees may soon find
themselves on a state-established blacklist that bars them from accessing their
own original birth certificates because of the date of their birth. Other
adoptees, however, born, during the "correct" timeframes will be allowed access.

Blacklist Bills SB 63 and SB 77, passed unanimously on March 21, by the
Massachusetts Joint Committee on Children, Families, and Disabled Persons create
two categories of adoptees. Adoptees born on or before July 14, 1974 and on or
after January 1, 2008 will be allowed unconditional access to their original
birth certificates now sealed by the state. Adoptees born between those dates,
will continue to be governed by current Massachusetts adoption law and forced to get a court order to get their own birth certificates. If
they’re lucky.

Adoptees and their families should look their legislators in the eye and ask the
very important question: what makes one adoptee worthy and another one not? And
tell them SB 63 and SB 77 are not acceptable--for anybody.

SB 63 and SB 77 turn back the clock. While other states, including neighboring
New Hampshire, move forward to restore the right of all adopted persons to
access their own birth certificates and other state-held records about
themselves, Massachusetts lawmakers have decided to toss thousands of the
state's adoptees in a 34 year black hole. These politicians claim that the state
needs to "honor" promises it allegedly made to women who relinquished between
the black hole dates (including the rest of this year!) that their names would
not be revealed to their offspring. These "implied promises" have been debunked
by legal scholars, activists, natural mothers, and the documents themselves
which offer no promises implied or otherwise.

Bastard Nation: the Adoptee Rights Organization is the largest adoptee rights
group
in North America. We advocate for unconditional access to original birth
documents for ALL ADOPTED ADULTS. Bastard Nation vigorously opposes SB 63 and AB
77. We are outraged by the discriminatory actions of the Joint Committee.

Bastard Nation leaves no adoptees behind. Neither should Massachusetts.

BASTARD NATION ACTION ALERT

Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Minnesota all have bills being considered in
their respective state houses. Bastard Nation supports only North Carolina’s
Bill H445.

MASSACHUSETTS - BLACK HOLE TIMES THREE

Three new bills, three Black Holes. It boggles the mind. HB 2190, SB 63 and SB
77 were introduced in January and they appear to be almost identical. SB 63 is
sponsored by Sen. Karen Spilka and SB 77 by Sen. Susan B. Fargo, also left overs
from last year.

All three bills are  a repeat of last year’s amended bill,  SB 959 which was a
good bill that went bad in the Joint Judiciary Committee. Thankfully,  it was
pocketed by Gov. Romney at the eleventh hour. . And now, they’ve gone and done
it again.

All three new bills actually contain the same Black Hole as last year’s model.
The Black Hole is the condition in the bill which prevents adopted adults born
between July 14, 1974 and January 1, 2008, from receiving their original birth
certificates. All adoptees who fall into this hole will continue to be treated under
Massachusetts’ old sealed records law. Those adoptees born before 1974 or after
2007 may access their original birth certificates.

Supporters of this bill contend that there was an “implied promise” of
confidentiality to birth mothers between 1974 and 2007 and that the state is
obligated to honor its “implied promise.”

A hearing is scheduled in the Senate by the Committee on Children, Families and
Persons with Disabilities for Wednesday, March 21, 207.

Bastard Nation vigorously opposes these 3 bills.


NORTH CAROLINA - A TRUE OPEN RECORDS BILL

North Carolina is the state with the good bill. H445/S111 will allow all adopted
adults equal access to their original birth records, unconditionally and with no
falsifications. The bill also contains a contact preference form for birth
mothers that is similar to those  in New Hampshire and Alabama. The contact
preference form will be kept with the original birth certificate but it will  not prevent adoptees from receiving their records.

This bill is short, sweet and to the point. It’s not encumbered with any other
adoption issues that so often get thrown into access bills - issues that are
peripheral to unsealing records and that sometimes completely hamper the
unconditional access section.

H445 has been referred to the Committee on Judiciary. SB111 has been sent to the
Committee on Judiciary I (Civil).

The bill is sponsored by NCCAR, North Carolina Coalition for Adoption Reform.
Roberta MacDonald is Chair of NCCAR.

Bastard Nation offers its full support to North Carolina’s bill as written.

MINNESOTA - MISH MOSH WITH DISCLOSURE VETO

Another disaster is going through the statehouse in Minnesota. Bill HF1445 is a
long, complicated and confusing bill purporting to allow some adopted adults to
have access to their original birth certificates. The bill contains a disclosure
veto and also sprinkles in other restrictions here and there as you read through
the bill.  It also has a new surprise that this reporter has never seen before.

One section of the bill says that under certain circumstances the state must
notify all birth parents who have previously filled an affidavit of
nondisclosure that their adopted children are now requesting original birth
certificates. However,  “notify,”  in this particular bill, means personal
notification. The state must actually send out representatives to locate and
advise these birth mothers of their adopted childrens’ requests for original
birth certificates. The state has 6 months to fulfill this duty.

Bastard Nation  vigorously opposes MN Bill HF1445.

The Black Hole

A new access bill, HB 2190,l has been filed in MASSACHUSETTS and it has the same insane “Black Hole” provision as last year’s bill. Adopted adults can request and receive their original birth certificates so long as they weren’t born between July 14, 1974 and January 1, 2008.

The rationalization for the black hole is that this bill acknowledges an “implied promise” of confidentiality made to some birth parents who relinquished during that time period.

Grannie Annie says:

An "implied" promise? How can a promise be implied? A promise either IS or it ISN'T. Period. Oh, such crap!

GRANNIE ANNIE NEEDS MIRACLE

ADOPTEE GRANNIE ANNIE

NEEDS MIRACLE

Please Forward Me Everywhere!

Grannie Annie aka Anita Field aka Anita Walker Field


Anita5000@comcast.net
www.grannieannie.org


I am an adoptee. I need your help. I have been searching for any biological relatives since 1993 with no success I cannot find one single person, living or dead, who even
remotely resembles any name in my adoption file. My only hope now is for
someone, somewhere to recognize my birth story or see a resemblance in my face.
I need national, or international exposure. How else but the Internet to get
seen around the world fast? Please forward this blog freely to every person,
Email List, organization, blogsite, etc. that you can think of. You have my
grateful permission to send me around the world..

I was a gray market baby, bought and paid for, and I came with falsified
records. I have two different dates of birth. My place of birth, particularly,
is in doubt and that is why the federal government did not want to issue me a
passport. I may have been "shipped" to Chicago from a baby farm and then given
up for adoption. Or, my birth mother may have come to Chicago just to give
birth. She could have been housed in one of the illegal maternity homes which
were thriving right in the very same Chicago Uptown/Edgewater neighborhood where
both my adoptive parents and my birth mother resided.


MY BIRTH STORY

Name of Infant: empy line on birth certificate. – no name entered, not even Baby Girl. Adoption Decree - Baby Girl Walker, adopted Anita Mae Abramson, married
name Anita Field, aka Anita Walker Field and Granny Annie.

Date of birth: August 6th or 9th, 1937.

Place of birth: Will Rogers Memorial Hospital, 6970 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL.
[This hospital changed names many times. In Feb. 1938 it became Rogers Hospital,
Rogers Park Hospital or Doctor’s Hospital.]

Attending physician: Alice Teola Wilson, MD, 4611 N. Broadway, Chicago, IL
Legitimate? No

Maiden Name of birth mother: Margaret Walker
Name of birth father: "Mr. (first name unknown) last name Walker"

Birth mother’s residence at time of birth: 4840 N. Magnolia St., Chicago, IL

Birth mother’s age at time of birth: 17

Birth mother’s place of birth: Gary, Indiana

Adoptive parents: Charles & Tillie Abramson

Adoptive parent’s residence at time of birth: 5240 N. Sheridan Rd. Chicago, IL.

Adoptive parent’s attorney: Theodore Kahn, 188 Randolph, Chicago, IL.

Private Placement: Approximately 5 days to 2 weeks after birth.


Believe Me, Folks, I’ve Really Tried!

I have been continuously searching for my biological relatives since 1993 with
no success. But not for the want of trying.

I used the Illinois Confidential Intermediary System. Three different
court appointed social workers from Midwest Adoption Agency spent two years on
my case, only to ask for its dismissal after 2 years because they could not find
even one person, living or dead, who even remotely resembled any person named in
my adoption file.

I hired Christine Lee of Kinsolving Investigations. If she found anyone, I
was to pay her $2,900. After 6 months, Ms. Lee dismissed my case because she was
not successful in finding anyone. I still had my money - but no family.

I have hired many other private "searchers" along the way - a woman from
Lake County, Indiana, a gentleman from Kansas, and a searcher in Chicago.
Nothing.

I successfully petitioned the Circuit Court of Cook County and the IL
Dept. of Public Health. In my petition, I asked that all my adoption files as
well as my original birth certificate be turned over to me. In January 1997, I
received these documents. The "information" in my vital stats is from my original
birth certificate and the adoption file. I know there are omissions,
contradictions, half-truths, and lies in these documents but when your adoption
isn’t legal, what can you expect?!

Since 1994, I have continuously been active in online Internet Email Lists
for searching adoptees, as well as becoming a vocal advocate for adopted adults.
I have made numerous contacts all over the globe and have had wonderful people
from all over trying to help me. God bless them all, but we found no
one.

I have put my name on every Adoption Registry and genealogy
messge board I can find. I’ve taken out personal ads in both newsapers and
magazines, but no one knows me.

I really need a miracle.

THANKS AGAIN AND GOD BLESS.

BASTARDS DON'T LIE

BastardGrannyAnnie:

   Those Lyin' Bastards! Mirah says.
BASTARDS DO NOT LIE! Anita says.

I am  refuting the statements  concerning Bastard Nation  made on the blog site  
www.AdopTalk.blogspot on Jan.3, 2007. The blogger, Mirah, asks why Bastard
Nation does not advocate for the rights of minors.

Bastard  Nation’s mission statement says that it advocates for adopted adults.
We founded our organization around this principle. We have chosen one specific
mission and we adhere to it. All adopted adults shall have equal access to their
original birth documents, unconditionally and without falsification.

In the United States today, ALL children have limitations upon  rights which
they will ultimately receive when they reach the age of majority. These laws are
in place for children because it is assumed that they  are not  intellectually,
educationally, or emotionally ready to assume the responsibilities that go hand
in hand with the rights of adult citizens.

Minors cannot enter into valid contracts. They cannot vote,  run for office or serve on a jury.
They cannot purchase cigarettes or alcoholic beverages. They cannot drive an
automobile. All states have laws governing the age at which a minor can enter
into a legal marriage. All states also have restrictions on the legal age for
requesting and receiving a birth certificate. Children under the legal age must
be represented by  a parent or guardian. A fourteen year old girl in Illinois
cannot request and receive her own birth certificate, whether or not she is
adopted.

Parent, stepparent, foster parent, legal guardian - all are charged with the
responsibly of making many decisions for their children. This is a “given” in
our society and our laws reflect this “given.”

Children of adoption who have reached the age of maturity theoretically join the
general population with regards to civil and human rights given to all citizens
by the US Constitution and the various state constitutions.

And it is at this juncture where Bastard Nation recognizes an injustice.  Adopted adults  cannot request and
receive their original birth documents in the same manner as all other adult
citizens. It is this particular injustice to  which Bastard Nation addresses
itself.

Mirah claims that BN doesn’t help adopted children who need a life-saving
treatment or are suicidal?

Adoptive parents or legal guardians of adopted children are charged by law with
maintaining the higest possible standards of safety and health care for their
children. If some adopted children need information concerning health decisions,
by law, (which Bastard Nation did not make) the guardians must turn to the
courts.

Whether or not courts are as responsive  to the  health decisions and needs of
adopted children is a totally different issue, one that other groups
representing adoptive parents might chose to take up.

Adopted adults with health issues are also given an option to petition the
courts and show good cause why their birth records should be issued to them.

In so many cases, courts are not responsive to the needs of adopted adults. When
I was reading case law and doing research for my own petition, I was appalled at
the seemingly lack of feeling and understanding of the court. I cried when I
read cases of adopted adults whose life threatening illnesses were not
considered good cause for issuance of original birth records.

I deplore the system which allows this to occur. That is one of the reasons I
became a member of Bastard Nation. This organization is trying to get to the
bottom of the issue - change the laws!  We believe a huge injustice is occurring
wherever  laws exist that treat  adopted adults differently than all other
citizens. Our mission statement reflects our outrage.

Mirah wonders why BN doesn’t help adoptees who don’t know they are adopted.

BN cannot prevent adoptive parents from withholding the true circumstances of
their children’s births from them. BN cannot interfere with how adoptive parents
run their lives, just as the state should not run the lives  of adopted adults.

I am certain that there are  groups and organizations whose goal it is to assist
adoptive parents who need help with rights concerning their adopted children.
This worthy objective is not within our mission.

Mirah insists that we haven’t replied to her question of why adoptees accept
living a life of lies until they are adults?

Children who have been adopted accept the life that is given to them by the
state. They have no choice of homes and they do not have any choice over how
their adoptive parents raise them. This is the same for all children, not just
adopted ones.

And then Mirah said:

And then, it finally hit me! Suddenly the answer was perfectly clear. And I
presented it: They don’t mess with the falsification of their birth certificates
because they want to have their cake and eat it to. They love having been
adopted into a higher socio-economic strata. And they don't dare rock the boat
or bite the hand that feeds them and has educated many of them very well indeed!”


This is pure and unadulterated POPPYCOCK! There is not an iota of truth in this
statement. Whether or not Bastard Nation members love or hate being adopted does
not enter into the paradigm under which we work. Bastard Nation members do
however state that we are not ashamed of being adopted and therefore do not want
to be treated with secrets and lies. We know that this treatment creates shame.

Mireh say that adoptees want to control where and how and when information
should be released. She thinks it’s all about us wanting to maintain control.

She is dead-wrong! Our issue involves removing control. We do not want the state
or anyone else to control us simply because of the circumstances surrounding our
births.

“They prefer to live their lives, pretending to be born to their adoptive
parents, and have the control to choose where, when and what they do with their
true information once they are adults.” says Mirah.

MORE POPPYCOCK!  Many adoptees report that their adoptive parents chose a life for them that was
based on the pretense that they were the biological offspring of their adoptive
parents. These children did not have any say in the matter in the same way that
non-adopted children cannot make their own choices.

The choice as to where, when and what information is available to all
non-adopted adults is the  standard by which we judge the rights of adopted
adults.

Finally, Mirah reiterates: -- Don’t claim that you want equality for ALL adoptees
when you want adult adoptees to have special privileges you wish to keep minor
adoptees deprived of.--

Here we go again. We do not want minor adoptees to be deprived of their rights.
Mireh, by law, all minors in the United States have restrictions on their rights
and often they differ from those rights of adult citizens.  We do not advocate
for minor adoptees because they are governed under  separate laws and conditions
than adults.

Mirah,  you must be able to separate the idea of advocates for children versus advocates for adults.

Bastard Nation members are fighting to change the laws for adopted ADULTS so
that they will be treating equally.

That is our mission and we proudly stand by our words.
BASTARDS DO NOT LIE!

Anita Walker Field
Executive Committee
Bastard Nation: The Ådoptee Rights Organization