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"Carolyn S. Hoard" <choard@HERC.COM> Subject: [AD-LAW] HB 522 - Delaware At 2:15 A.M. and 6:00 a.m. on July 1, 1998, the Senate and the House respectively passed HB 522 with an amendment. The bill allows adoptees at age 21 to obtain a copy of their original birth certificate UNLESS the birth mother has come forward and filed an affidavit not to release it. She must renew her affidavit every 3 years. Originally the bill did not contain this amendment. However, we did not have the votes in the Senate without it. It puts the responsibility squarely on the birth parent to file an affidavit with the Department of Vital Statistics. If no affidavit is on file, the original birth certificate is released. There is no stipulation that a search be done for a birth parent to obtain consent. We are taking a lot of heat from BN over the amendment. They feel they have been "betrayed". We have had to do considerable damage control following their actions. When they learned about the amendment, they flooded the emails of our Senators on the last day of the session urging them to vote against the bill. Our sponsor asked us to come to Legislative Hall where we walked the halls and spoke to everyone we could from 2:00 p.m. on June 30 to 3:00 a.m. on July 1. One of our most loyal birth mothers, Peg Bohannon, ended up in the hospital with chest pains yesterday (she has already had one heart attack). Fortunately, she is OK and to be released today. When the bill came to the floor, the first Senator who stood to speak specifically spoke about BN and the nasty mail he had received from them because they had incorrectly put out a message that he was an adoptive parent. He voted against the bill. I apologize to each of you who may be receiving the unpleasant messages. I have asked everyone to refrain from responding to them in the hope that it will die down. ONE senator received ONE not-so-nice message and so we're blamed for his voting against the bill. bleaaaahh. He should get a new job. We have worked hard over the last 2 years to successfully defeat the UAA here in Delaware and over the last year to move another step forward in our goal toward complete access to records. Despite the commentary from BN, we are proud of our accomplishments and I am proud to be the AAC representative in Delaware. Carolyn |
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