Our Mission

Bastard Nation advocates for the civil and human rights of adult citizens who were adopted as children. Millions of North Americans are prohibited by law from accessing personal records that pertain to their historical, genetic and legal identities. Such records are held by their governments in secret and without accountability, due solely to the fact that they were adopted.
Bastard Nation campaigns for the restoration of their right to access their records. The right to know one’s identity is primarily a political issue directly affected by the practice of sealed records adoptions. Please join us in our efforts to end a hidden legacy of shame, fear and venality.

Washington SUB 2211: Still dead. What happens next year?

It’s official. As we reported SaturdayWashington SUB HB 2211 is dead for this session. Although  it’s still in the hopper, perennial bill killer, and bastard baiter Sen. Jim Hargrove, told 2211′s sponsor Rep. Tina Orwall that he has no plan to bring  it forward this year. Naturally, Hargrove is not available for comment, a convenience that enables him to sidestep the question even the most incurious reporter must wonder: what’s your problem with bastards?

But never fear! Tina Ovrwall intends to bring the bill back next year. Don’t get too excited, though. According to the Tacoma News Tribune, her comrade in compromise, birthmother Rep  Ann Rivers, who is currently under the impression (we hope she wakes up) that she speaks for voiceless cowering first mothers:

 think it will give us the direction that Sen. Hargrove might have perceived was lacking,” Rivers said. “We’ll make sure all the bases are covered, and we’ll proceed.

And just what might that direction be?

Hargrove supported the 1993 law that opened OBCs for October 1, 1993 adoptions and beyond  unless a disclosure veto has been filed. According to Wa-Care no vetoes have been filed; Laurie Lippold from the Washington Children’s Home Society claim one. How do they know?.

HB 2211 expanded that veto–making it time-limited for 5 years (Oct 1 1993 forward) and 10 years (pre-October 1,1993)  and renewable to cover all adoptions.  Just what more does Hargrove want?  We’d conjecture out loud , but we don’t want to give him any ideas.

Wouldn’t it just be easier for Wa-Car, Rep. Overwall and Rivers to demand across the board access with no exceptions and Hargrove to jump  his sinking ship? Until that happens, their all in that same rickety boat.

Reposted from The Daily Bastardette.

Washington SUB HB 2211: The testimony Bastard Nation would have submitted

TESTIMONY

SUB HB 2211:
Adoptee access to their own original birth certificates
Washington Senate Human Services and Corrections Committee
xxxx, 2012
OPPOSE
Privilege is the opposite of rights
Our Washington representative may not be able the attend the hearing so we are submitting this testimony/letter via email.
Bastard Nation: the Adoptee Rights Organization is the largest adoptee civil rights organization in the United States. We support full, unrestricted access for all adopted persons, to their original birth certificates. (OBC).
Bastard Nation’s roots are in Washington State, and we would like nothing more than to support SUB HB 2211. Unfortunately we cannot.
The sticking point is SUB HB 2211′s “affidavit of non-disclosure,” otherwise known as a Disclosure Veto. This veto creates a special third party privilege for birth parents that no one, parent or otherwise, possesses:  to bypass state law and to personally bar the state from releasing another person’s birth certificate to the person to whom it pertains.
This onerous and discriminatory veto privilege, already in place for Washington adoptions finalized on and after October 1 1993, is extended in SUB HB 2211 to cover adoptions finalized before October 1, 1993;. The bill expands the pool of adoptees unable to access their OBCs; ,thus legally segregating a larger number of adoptees from those who can access them.
SUB HB 2211 not only expands the DV system, but creates a highly bureaucratic tiered system, which no other states has, that requires one set of birth parents (October 1, 1993) to renew their vetoes every 5 years, while the other set (pre- October 1, 1993) are required to renew every 10 years In effect, SUB HB 2211 not only segregates Washington’s adopted citizens from the not-adopted, but segregates adoptees from those who can and cannot … Continue Reading

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