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.