NOVEMBER 15TH : NOT A RED LETTER DAY FOR EVERY ILLINOIS ADOPTEE
Illinois adoptees all over the country are celebrating since November 15th. On that date, the new Illinois Adoption Act of 2010 went into effect. Most Illinois adoptees will now be able to request and receive an unaltered copy of their original birth certificates. It’s been a long time coming. Our original birth certificates have been impounded and sealed since 1946. I wholeheartedly rejoice with my fellow adoptees.
At the same time, though, I ask you not to forget some adopted citizens whose birth parents do not want them to receive any identifying information. Under the new adoption law, birth parents have been given an option to file a Denial Form which instructs the state to continue to keep the original birth certificates of their “children” under lock and key. The State will honor each and every one of these Denial Forms, and as a result, some adopted citizens will NOT get an original birth certificate any time soon. The most they can receive is an altered obc, with all identifying information redacted. A Denial Form acts just like a blackball.
As of this writing, at least 305 birth parents have filed Denial Forms. I understand that this number seems tiny compared to the multitude of adoptees who are now applying for their original birth certificates. But please don’t brush these blackballed adoptees aside as being merely a tiny statistic on a page of numbers, so miniscule that they can be easily overlooked.
All of these blackballed adoptees are real people, alive and well and living among you all: your mail carrier, a colleague at work, your son’s piano teacher, a neighbor serving in Iraq, a best friend of your sister- in-law, or maybe one of your cousins. The only “crime” these blackballed adoptees are guilty of is being the subject of their birth parent’s Denial Form.
There is another appalling section in the new adoption law; it spells out what to do with the blackballed adoptees in the future. The legislators wanted to show their “compassion” for them so they enacted a plan that permits the blackballed adoptees to come back and try again - in 5 years! That will be in the year 2017. How’s that for compassion?
And what happens in 2017 if the birth parents’ Denial Forms are still in effect? Well, the State, in its overwhelming benevolence, will give the blackballed adoptees yet another chance to come back - after another 5 year wait- which pushes them forward into the year 2022.
This outrageous treatment of blackballed adoptees is unconscionable and unjust. We can only have a truly wonderful celebration when our legislators see fit to amend the new adoption law so that ALL adopted people can get copies of their unaltered original birth certificates, with no strings attached. For now, please keep these blackballed adoptees in your thoughts.
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6 comments:
Excellent, Anita!
It seems as though many don't care about the few blackballed adoptees. But they are human beings and should be treated so!
Grannie Annie,
Good summary and I am glad that you point out the fact that some adult adoptees will be left behind and will continue to be denied equal rights. I fear this is going to be the same issue if NY State passes the revised version of the Bill of Adoptee Rights there, as the original "unrestricted access" version was amended at the last minute to allow birth parents to request no contact. If passed, adult adoptees born in NY will also be left out if such a no-contact preference form is filed. Essentially this places the adult adoptees in the role of the perpetual child, having to ask "mother may I?". No other adult in the USA is expected to do this and it is discrimination.
I am happy for those adult adoptees in IL who will finally be able to obtain a copy of their original birth certificate, and sad for those who will continue to be denied a copy of the record of their birth. Rhode Island just passed a "unrestricted access" adoptee rights bill this past summer. That is the way it should be. We should all be treated like the mature adults we are, not as perpetual children.
Judy
Female Adoptee, born 1956 Binghamton, NY
My maternal source has made it very clear that I will be a blackballed adoptee if it ever came down to it.
I have a different perspective -- I feel like "you who can go ahead, go... don't stay back here because of me." I felt the same way in Disney when I had a bum knee -- I didn't want to hold everyone back just because I couldn't go forward.
This is a farce. Sneaky Sara and Malicious Melisha self-sabotaged their piece-a-crap bill and non-consensually sacrificed Class Bastard to get something through under their names and pretend to be heroes. They made sure, that unlike just about any other state law, that the public was saturated with how you can stop your little bastard from getting their obc.
The number of vetos submitted is outrageously high when compared to the number of "no contact" requests in free states.
Such a shame, we need to make a serious, concerted effort to change the Illinois adoption legislation - we can't allow this travesty to continue.
What about DNA testing to see who related to that is what adoptee are doing in 2015?
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