Is Gladney saying, with the save-face caveat (or warning?) that disclosure “may” be dependent on state laws–which of course, Gladney can influence in Texas and perhaps in other states?While making adoptive parents the domestic gatekeeper, is Gladney saying that it is OK for adoptees (usually) 18 and over to get access to the OBC, court records, and other recordsIs Gladney back-door endorsing the QuadA endorsement of record access?
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TxARC/Bastard Nation Action Alert: Texas HB2725–House Public Health Commttee.Vote Do Pass
HB2725 granting all Texas-born adult adoptees equal and unrestricted access to their original birth certificates will be heard in the House Public Health Committee on Wednesday, April 10th. The hearing will begin at 10:30 am or upon adjournment of the House and will be held in room E2.026.
Continue readingTxARC: “Setting the Records Straight”
So here it is: a clear, concise explanation and timeline of Texas access law in the newly-published report, Texas: Setting the Records Straight, released by the Texas Adoptee Rights Coalition in March 2019.
Continue readingFL HB597: Bastard Nation Letter to House Health & Human Services – Vote No
Word-shuffling and time-wasting legislative debate on minutiae does not serve adoptee rights and adoption reform. What does serve both is the restoration of the right of all adoptees upon request and without restriction, to their own state-held birth records—the keystone of adoption reform in the US today
Continue readingBastard Nation Testimony on Connecticut: HB972: Vote YES
There is no state interest in keeping original birth certificates sealed from adult adoptees to which they pertain. Nor does the state have a right or duty to mediate and oversee the personal relationships of adults. Those who claim a statutory right to parental anonymity through sealed records to them promote statutory privilege and state favoritism. 30,000 Connecticut adoptees were left behind in 2015. The passage of SB972 brings them back.
Continue readingWhy I Won’t Do Reunion Stories in the Media – Annette O’Connell
(Originally published at New York Adoptee Rights Coalition, March 15, 2019) March 14, 2019 By Annette O’Connell In 2014 I was interviewed by ABC’s 20/20. I was searching for my birth mother. A producer came to my …
Continue readingBastard Nation Testimony on Florida HB597–Vote NO
The core problem though is that H597 posits birth record access as an individual personal desire or cute curiosity rather than a civil right and political issue. H597 conflates “reunion” with rights. Through the FARR mandate, and even a reunion requirement outside of FARR, it holds Florida adoptees and their families hostage to archaic laws and customs. The bill treats adult adoptees like children, promotes continued shame in adoption, and maintains the iron lock of the state on our birth records and personal autonomy. None of this is related to adoptee civil rights and is an insult to every Florida adoptee. It is about Big Government.
Continue readingAdoptee Rights Law Center/Bastard Nation Joint Action Alert: Florida HB597–Vote No
The bill creates a paternalistic forced reunion system in order for an adoptee to access her or his own Original Birth Certificate–or rather in this case, a summary of it. It contends birth record access is about an individual personal desire or curiosity rather than a civil right and political issue by conflating “reunion” with rights. It keeps Florida adoptees and their families hostage to archaic laws and customs, promotes continued shame in adoption, and maintains the iron lock of the state on our birth records and personal autonomy.
Continue readingIowa 2019–Notes on withdrawn bills
2 dirty companion bills were withdrawn and replaced by 2 clean companion bills. Hee is information on those dirty bills HF53 Legislative Page Summary: Current Iowa access law is better than this convoluted mess that makes …
Continue readingBastard Nation Action Alert: Do Pass. Connecticut SB972–Joint Judiciary Committee
Please follow the instructions for testimony-submission below. Out-of-state testimony is welcome and you are not required to attend the hearing.
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