Ohio Report: Proponent Testimony for SB23, April 17, 2013

I’m late  in getting this posted, but I wanted to file a short report on the April 17 hearing for SB23 at the Ohio Senate Medicaid, Health, and Human Services Committee. You can also read an update on the ROAR site (Update #13).

Wendy Blitzer Barkett

This was the first proponent hearing (the sponsor hearing was held on February 13). and consisted of two groups of witnesses.  The first were adoptees, some from out of state; the second “the experts.”

Kicking off the hearing was adoptee poet Wendy Blitzer Barker  who came all the way from Texas to tell her story and support the bill. She was followed by Jeffrey Costello (Atlanta),  Erin  Hopkins McHugh, Ohio firefighter  Stephen Kelly, and Julia Derry.  Some told jerk-around stories relating to their individual probate court request for non-ID, which indicated that some courts are or have been in the past, out of compliance with current Ohio non-ID laws. And  I was beginning to think I’d heard it all!
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Write Washington Governor Inslee Today! Kill HB 1525!

Washington HB1525 passed the Senate and is on its way to the governor’s desk.  If signed, it will promote and continue the state’s sealed records system and deny the right of all Washington adoptees to their original birth certificates.  As other state’s  restore adoptee rights and open our OBCs,  some Washington adoptees will find the right to their OBC subject to the whim of third party approval and comfort and will have no chance of ever getting it.  

Don’t let this happen!

Write directly to Governor Jay Inslee and tell him why HB1525 is bad for adoptees, their families and the State of Washington.  Contact information for him is here.  (a template for email)  There is also information for phone and fax contact at that link.

Phone:  360-902-4111
TTY/TDD users should contact the Washington Relay Service at 711 or 1-800-833-6388.

Fax:   360-753-4110

Email a copy of your note to  Insle’s senior polilcy adviser Andi Smith at andi.smith@gov.wa.gov

We have only a couple days to get this message to the Governor’s Office.

Below is a copy of Bastard Nation’s letter to Governor  Inslee sent on April 17. 

Send us a copy of your letter  to comments below, and  we’ll  post it here.

Kill HB1525!

Dear Governor Inslee:

Bastard Nation, the Adoptee Rights Organization, opposes the passage of HB1525 We have submitted both written an oral testimony in opposition to this bill and its SB5118 companion.

HB1525 is promoted by sponsors as an “adoptee rights bill” that will allegedly make available to adoptees upon request, a copy of their original birth certificates. Nothing could be further from the truth. HB 1525 does not restore the right of Original Birth Certificate (OBC) access once enjoyed by all persons born and adopted in the state. It make access conditional by segregating the “worthy” adoptee from the “unworthy” by means of an Affidavit of Disclosure/Disclosure Veto and a misnamed “Contact Preference Form.”
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Ohio Breaking News: House Passes HB61

The Ohio House today voted 94-1 with 2 abstentions to pass HB61 which restores the unrestricted right of OBC access to those in Ohio adopted between January 1, 1964-September 17, 1996.  It’s companion in the Senate is pending. Sadly, the bill did not pick up the ’96′s who will still be subject to a Disclosure Veto (DV) already in place for that access tier..

The truth is that Ohio Legislative Services, which vets all bills, refused to OK challenging  the DV law that amounts to an agreement between the State of Ohio and a handful of cowardly biological parents who demand that the government  grant them a special privilege to hide their identities from their adult offspring.  This “agreement” is quite different from the blanket sealing of OBCs with no legal  ”agreement,” despite what opponents claim and we have shown repeatedly holds no water.  No one knows how many shirkers are on file here, but the number 20 has  been tossed around the last couple of years. I believe DVs can be removed from 1996 law, but the legal arguments need to be developed more fully, and the big fat arm of  Legislative Services needs twisted.  I also believe that the foolishness of OBC access for all but a  minuscule number of bastards will within the next few years be recognized. for the absurdity it is.   There is time to save those few kids who have been black-holed since they won’t even be eligible for access for  another couple years. Perhaps I am too hopeful.

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Washington: Legislators Discriminate if Adopted by Lori Jeske

…and these bills won’t do it!

The State of Washington continues to prohibit adult citizens who were adopted from unrestricted and unconditional access to their own original birth certificate.

In the 1940s the state starting sealing some birth certificates and over time started sealing all original birth certificates belonging to adopted citizens. In 1993, the WA State Legislature begrudgingly agreed to “allow” some adult citizens who were adopted, access to their original birth certificate if they were born after Oct 1, 1993. Legislators also included a special privilege that would allow one or both natural parents to file what’s known as the “Affidavit of Non-Disclosure” form that allows only a natural parent the special privilege to prohibit the release of the original birth certificate to the person requesting a copy. Since this special privilege was created 20 years ago only four (4) Affidavits of Non-Disclosure have been filed with the state. The first of the four forms was filed in June of 2012. What’s interesting to consider is while this form/special privilege has been available for the past 20 years, only four citizens have ever used that form, yet WA State Legislators are certain this form is necessary. Necessary for who? It’s starting to look like a special perk for legislators not citizens. Hmmm…
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