Bastard Nation Replies to Carolyn Hoard's
Note of Thanks

From its inception Bastard Nation has declared its adherence to the proposition that the right to one's birth records is a civil right that cannot be compromised. Our Mission Statement is clear in this intent as are our policy papers, public statements and actions.

Bastard Nation agreed to assist the Delaware Coalition in its attempt to enact an open records bill as long as the bill was not amended to include such compromises as disclosure and/or contact vetos, and the Delaware Coalition was aware that if such amendments were introduced, that BN would not only withdraw its support, but would attempt to kill the bill. As late as June 22, 1998, Bastard Nation was assured by Delaware Coalition member Carolyn Hoard that if amendments were offered, the Delaware Coalition would pull the bill. Unfortunately, this was not true, and yesterday HB 522, which in effect continues the sealed records system, was passed in the
Delaware Senate (with the help and approval of the Coalition).

Rights cannot be doled out randomly or selectively--they either exist or they don't. In the face of this last minute switch, Bastard Nation refused to support this bill and pulled its support, as we said earlier that we would do.

Bastard Nation has always been upfront with its position. The Executive Committee of Bastard Nation therefore, is tired of the half-truths, outright lies, and egregious insinuations being spread about our organization and its members by leaders in the AAC (American Adoption Congress) and members of the Delaware Coalition who are responsible for passing an anti-adoptee bill. We would like to address some of Carolyn Hoard's comments.

>Carolyn Hoard wrote:
>We are taking a lot of heat from BN over the amendment. They feel
>they have been "betrayed".

Bastard Nation most certainly was betrayed. Before agreeing to continue to support the Delaware bill, our Mid-Atlantic Regional Director, Cynthia Bertrand Holub, sent email to Carolyn Hoard asking for assurances that the bill would not be amended. CK SPECIFICALLY asked about the addition of vetoes. Here is part of Carolyn's response (snipped for space, the entire email is available to anyone on request):

In short, we were lied to. To exacerbate matters, a Delaware Coalition Representative went on a public forum and stated that Bastard Nation had never received such an assurance!!

The Delaware Coalition knew what we stood for when they accepted our help.They knew from the outset that we would fight any bill that wasn't an unconditional access bill. We have never hidden our agenda, nor our goals. And our goal is not to facilitate "reunions." It is to restore civil rights to ALL adoptees, not just to those whose birthparents don't file a veto.

As for complaints that "nasty letters" were written to legislators, any heated issue, be it adoptee rights, abortion, or gun control, will indubitably cause some letters to be more passionate than others. That Bastard Nation should be blamed for the fact that a legislator was offended by a particular letter is patently ludicrous and shows yet another profound misunderstanding of priority-setting among the Delaware Coalition.

As many of you know, Bastard Nation has encouraged many, many people to write, but never do we encourage our members or anyone else to write anything other than an articulate statement of their own views. We have not seen the letter in question, nor heard who wrote it, and we certainly have not been given any indication, aside from the insinuations of some Delaware Coalition members, that the person has anything to do with Bastard Nation whatsoever!

Carolyn Hoard writes:
>Despite the commentary from BN, we are proud of our accomplishments
>and I am proud to be the AAC [American Adoption Congress] representative in Delaware.

The fact that you are PROUD that you lied to us and managed to get a bill passed that violates adoptee rights is perhaps more disheartening than anything else in this debacle.

The Delaware Coalition has alternated between praising vetoes as a way to protect birthparent privacy, and claiming that they intend to dismantle the veto system next year with their prime sponsor. Despite this utterly confusing contradiction, we note that Coalition members are either being duplicitous, or extremely naive. Active members of the adoption reform community in the 1970's, notably people like Mary Anne Cohen and Margaret McDonald Lawrence, are around to attest to the fact that when veto and intermediary systems passed
20 years ago, the reform movement also obtained promises from legislators and each other that these systems would be dismantled the next year, or the year after. Instead, more and more states have passed such systems, and not ONE state has open records now that did not back then. The fact is, legislators are overloaded with legislation and issues, and are extremely reluctant to revisit an issue once a bill has been worked on and passed. This is as demonstrably true with open records as it is with any other issue.

Bastard Nation has a proven track record of integrity in activism. We will continue to adhere to our mission statement. We will continue to encourage our members to write articulate letters to legislators about why sealed records, veto bills, and intermediary systems violate adoptee rights. We will continue to fight bills which contain such anti-adoptee provisions, with the same zeal as we fight the NCFA and the UAA.

The Bastard Nation Executive Committee

Marley Greiner
Ron Morgan
Damsel Plum
Shea Grimm

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