Ideas for Change in America

  • Return Adult Adoptees the right to their Original Birth Certificates

    In the beginning all adoptees' original birth certificates were Not sealed. In America that started to change after WWII. Having access to your Original Birth Certificate is a Human Right every US citizen has, except if that person is adopted.  Access by Adult Adoptees to their Original Birth Certificates is NOT about "search and reuion" - it is about knowing the truth about Ethnic heritage and hopefully Medical history.  Also, the amended/falsified birth certificates that are issued for Adoptees have often resulted in Passports being denied and other problems.

    Those who oppose Adult Adoptee Access claim that sealed records are a matter of confidentiality, and they put the weight of that confidentiality on the birth-mothers shoulders. The birth-mother is the only person who is told that she must never search for or contact the child she relinquished or the family who adopted him. Meanwhile, Adopted Adults who request their Original Birth Certificates are told that they are sealed to protect the privacy of the birth-mother. The fact is that after a child is relinquished for adoption and termination of parental duties/rights, there is no guarantee of adoption, and until an adoption does take place the child retains his birth name and access to his Original Birth Certificate. So the claim of a need for confidentiality/privacy is fabrication.

    Birth-mothers have been scapegoated long enough! Adult Adoptees are not children, and know all too well the hard knocks life can deal out. Contact your State Legislators, your Congress and Senate Representatives, and join Adoption Reform groups. Restore the most important Civil and Human Right to a group of US Citizens who have done nothing to warrant its denial.

    FYI: A scapegoat, carries the sins of the people and/or community, is sent away (often to die). The word "scapegoat" is used to mean a person, often innocent, who is blamed and punished for the sins, crimes, or sufferings of others, generally as a way of distracting attention from the real causes. 

    *Note: this idea is the result of a merger between two similar ideas, both of which qualified for the final round of the competition, by Cully Ray and Mara Rigge.  Both idea creators agreed to merge their ideas to increase their chance of success.  The text above is adapted from Cully Ray's original idea. 

    - Cully Ray and Mara Rigge Jan 30 @ 07:56PM PST

Comments (316)

152 older comments see the full discussion ^

  • Karen Fetrow
    Mar 09, 2010 @ 04:12PM PT
    Karen Fetrow

    Original Identity is a BASIC HUMAN RIGHT!

    Adult adoptees should have the exact same rights to their original birth certificates as other American Citizens - without red tape, jumping through hoops, getting their parents to sign forms to allow them to have it.  Give it to them - stop treating adults like 4 yr old children.

    I agree w/ the above comments that it is institutions that block this access, not the original mothers.  I am an original mother and I wholeheartedly support this endeavor. 

    Origins, Roots, Heritage ... it's their right to know, to have.

     

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  • Michelle Jennings
    Mar 09, 2010 @ 04:55PM PT
    Michelle Jennings

    It amazes me and I hope no one takes this the wrong way, we can condone and pass bills for same sex marriage but we as ADOPTEES have to really fight for our rights. We did not choose to be adopted but relaity is we were adopted. Why should we have to go this all of this when it should be GIVEN to us. We want to feel like we belong and fit in too. We also should be allowed to have our Medical records released to us. Do you know what it feels like to go to the doctors and not know is Sugar, High blood pressure, Low blod pressure, Cancer or any other sickness runs in your family. We want to fit it and belong just like the next person, we shouldn't need to fight for our rights when this was not our choice.

     

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  • Heather McClane
    Mar 09, 2010 @ 07:01PM PT
    Heather McClane

    It may be time for someone to start callingthe news stations and trying to draw attention to our little cause

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  • Heather McClane
    Mar 09, 2010 @ 07:01PM PT
    Heather McClane

    It may be time for someone to start callingthe news stations and trying to draw attention to our little cause

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  • margaret LyBurtus
    Mar 09, 2010 @ 07:09PM PT
    margaret LyBurtus

    unite with others through social networing! As you add adoption friends, FB will suggest more. Make your request with "equal access to OBC's supporter" to your request. It will snowball to many. It will gives us strentgh and get us heard. You can separate your friends into groups to make it easier. It is the best opportunity we have ever had by far, don't think your voice won't count in other states efforts, just tell them your compassion for others about the same issues, lead you to tell "your story". Only get a few friends each day or FB will notify you. I have already met many great new friends in this "fight" 

    We especially need mom's to say they want equal access to OBCs too.

    YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

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  • linda koffron
    Mar 09, 2010 @ 07:57PM PT
    linda koffron

    Born in 1942... I think my last name at birth was lessard. I have a right to my own identity. The government has no right to strip me of my legal right because my existence might embarrass my bio-parent or my adoptive family, especially since all parents involved are probably now deceased.

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  • MJ Rillera
    Mar 09, 2010 @ 08:07PM PT
    MJ Rillera

    It moves me over and over again to read the voices expressing anguish, desire, determination, frustration, compassion, acceptance, love encouragement and so much more. We are a blessed community.

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  • Judie Braaten
    Mar 09, 2010 @ 08:14PM PT
    Judie Braaten

    I was fortunate to be born and adopted in Oregon.  A few years ago, Oregon opened their records and allowed adult adoptees access to their original birth certificates.  They also passed a bill allowing birth parents to file a contact preference (whether or not they want contact with the adoptee).  This preference is sent with the original birth certificates.  They also have forms to update medical information.  I believe they are doing a good thing by allowing access, yet giving choices to the parties involved.  This system Oregon has in place seems to be working well.  On the five-year anniversary of the opening of the records, Oregon reports that 8,486 records have been ordered, and of those, 8,190 have been issued.  They've received 503 contact preference forms from birth parents, and of those, 391 asked for contact with the adoptee, while another 29 asked for contact through an intermediary.  There were 83 that asked for no contact.  (Reference: http://oregon.gov/DHS/ph/chs/58update.shtml#05312005)

    As an adoptee, I can tell you that when I previously asked for my non-identifying medical history which we've been told we're entitled to, I was told that at the time of my birth, my mother "was and had been in good physical health."  Not an extensive history by any stretch of the imagination.  The previous system of allowing adoptees limited information was as good as no system at all.  Because my birth mother was not against contact, I was able to not only contact her, but now I have a full medical history that was not available to me before.  My doctor has found this to be invaluable, particularly when I needed surgery last year. 

    These records should be opened for various and valuable reasons.

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  • Teresa Myers
    Mar 10, 2010 @ 05:11AM PT
    Teresa Myers

    I was born December17 1961, possibly in Salisbury, MD. . I was adopted into what started out a wonderful household .however in 1972 my adoptive father died, and boy did my adoptive mother turn out to be something else, I use to threaten to find my real parents hoping that maybe they would be more compassionate / loving.  However this was not to be.  I am now 48 years old with two children and one grandchild of my own and I have no idea what kind of medical issues are facing any of us in the years to come.  I was an only child and although I would honor my birth parents wishes if they asked not to be contacted, it would be nice to know if I have any other family out there, a brother, sister, even mother or father if they wanted to know me.  For me unfortunately my adoptive life was okay, but i always wonder what it would have been like otherwise???

    Also my husband was born May 5 1965, he was Michael, and born in Maryland as well .however he was adopted his adoptive parents set his adoption up so that if he ever wanted to meet his birth parents or recieve information about his family history, (medical infor) he could however Maryland law says no. .

    If there are other avenues we can search for this information and the possibility of finding our lost families could someone please relay that information to us. 

    We believe we have a right to know.  We do not want to hurt anyone and we do not want to be a part of some ones life that do not want us in it, but we both would like to know of any and all medical issues relating to our biological parents so that our children and grandchildren know what to expect.   

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  • Jo Swanson
    Mar 10, 2010 @ 06:48AM PT
    Jo Swanson

    The Southwest Florida Chapter of ACLU adopted the following on April 21, 1987:

    The Rights of Adult Adopted Persons, Policy Statement (excerpt)

    "Numerous states have laws or procedures which impede the ability of adopted adults, their birthparents and other relatives to ascertain each others' identities. The ACLU believes that so long as state and/or local governments choose to maintain birth records, such records must be maintained and accessible without discrimination by virtue of adopted or non-adopted status.

    "Toward this end, the ACLU believes that laws suppressing information about adoptees and/or their birthparents, and laws allowing access to such information only upon consent or registration, or laws allowing access to such information only upon court order, deny adopted persons, their birthparents, and their relatives equal protection of the laws and constitutes unwarranted interference by the government with the right of people to choose whether to associate.

    "The political debate on the adoption issue has tended to be framed in terms of psychological issues; emotional issues; medical and sociological issues. The above policy confines itself to a civil liberties analysis."

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    • Mirah Riben
      Mar 10, 2010 @ 10:08AM PT
      Mirah Riben

      DAMN! That is exciting!  They actually reconize that mothers are entitled to the OBC as well, soemthign I've practiclaly been stoned for saying!

      HOWEVER, you eed to know that ACLU's operate independently state to state and the ACLU is blocking access in NJ!

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  • Teresa Myers
    Mar 10, 2010 @ 07:19AM PT
    Teresa Myers

    Being an adoptive child I believe there were more psychological, and emotional issues not being able to have questions answered. I at one point had issues with abandenment, trust, and who I was.  I search all kinds of avenues to discover who I was, some avenues were very unhealthy.  I aways felt that I was disconnected and that my adoptive mother and I's relationship was not a typical mother / daughter relationship.  I have always know that I was adopted, as early as I can remember, however this did not stop me as I grew old as to why I was put up for adoption.  As a teenager I found myself pregnant, adoptive parents absolute refused for me to have a baby at 17. . There was no option of adoption either.  However due to the option that I was forced to take I feel for the birthmothers of my age (1960's). I know what it felt like not having a say in whether my child was allowed to live and / or be a part of my life. 

    I feel that we as adult adoptess have the right to our OBC and if we as ADULTS choose to look for our birth parents that is also up to the ADULT people.  I was allowed to join the Navy and serve my country at 18, drink at 18, and allowed to die if that is what was needed of me while in the navy, but I am not allowed to see my OBC. . My adoptive mother would not even allow me to see by adoptive BC due to the fact it showed the county, Wicomico County, Maryland on it. . These laws just are not fair. . Most of us searching are adults, we have learned in our life what is right and wrong. . Allowing us to have our OBC's is our right, and we as adult can do as we choose with the OBC.  If we as adults CHOOSE to look for birth parents it is the rigth of the birthparent to CHOOSE not to meet us. . NOT THE GOVERNMENTs. . I am done rambling.  This vote has brought to surface issues with not being able to search for my B-parents again. . Hoping that someone out there may be searching for me. .

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  • Joan Wheeler
    Mar 10, 2010 @ 08:42AM PT
    Joan Wheeler

    Theresa Myers - While I know you didn't intend it so, but when adoptees themselves referr to themselves as "an adopted child" it annoyes me. This is not a petty observance. We adoptees must strive to overcome the bias of society by not partaking of their language use that keeps us forever where they want us: to be viewed as children, as illegitimate children, as unlawful children. That was how the Law was written, this Model Law on Vital Statistics: "Birth Records of Illegitimates and of Adopted Children", October 30, 1930, read before the Vital Statistics Section of the American Public Health Association at the Fifty-ninth Annual Meeting at Fort Worth, Texas; Part I by Sheldon L Howard (Illinois State Registrar of Vital Statistics), and Henry B. Hemenway (Illinois Department of Public Health, Springfield, Illinois). I will keep saying this: I was born lawfully and became a half orphan upon the early death of my mother. When NYS sealed and falsified my birth certificate, under the above NYS adopted law, I was treated as a bastard, and am still considered a bastard under the law. I deeply resent this accusation and label.

    Jo Swanson - Thank you, thank you, thank you for that snippet from the Florida ACLU! I was not aware of this. Now, why can't we get the rest of America's ACLU to get on borad with this? Does anyone know why all of the ACLU chapters do not support this?

     

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  • Joan Wheeler
    Mar 10, 2010 @ 08:56AM PT
    Joan Wheeler

    Clarification: the Vital Statistics Model Law named above was read as a proposed law in 1930 and it is from this proposed law that individual states voted and then adopted their own Vital Statistics laws to seal and the falsify bastard children who were born "unlawfully". It was the moralistic code of the times to label  these children and to prevent further scaring, their - our - birth certificates were re-made when we became adopted.

    If this law was written with specific illegitimates in mind, why then, was this law used to seal and falsify MY birth certificate? I was born the lawful child of married parents and lost my  mother to her untimely death and then gained a new set of parents to a private adoption. Did no one consider my rights in this matter?

    For a number of years I felt uncomfortable raising this distinction, but I no  longer feel as if others would feel as if I am throwing dirt in their faces. I mean no harm to my fellow adoptees and I think you all know that. With all the world's rush to go "save" the earthquake "orphans", and with all the orphans who are swept under the carpet along with the rest of the illegitimates, it is high time we all speak out.

    Even if we can't get enough Votes here, Cully and Mara should Copy and Paste all of  these comments and your Idea and organize a letter writing campaign to President Obama. Mirah did something similar. We need to keep at  this President and his Administration: Our birth certificates ARE a Federal issue!

     

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  • margaret LyBurtus
    Mar 10, 2010 @ 10:28AM PT
    margaret LyBurtus

    Get the word out to the world here.

    Tony Harris from CNN is requesting ideas to discuss on CNN. A great oportunity to be heard. He is asking you to post your ideas for discussion to twitter and go to his CNN site. This is a great oppernity to be heard.

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  • Jo Swanson
    Mar 10, 2010 @ 10:38AM PT
    Jo Swanson

    Joan: The Model State Adoption Act was drafted in 1979-1980 by a panel of thirteen adoption experts from throughout the country (including, for the first time, a birthmother and an adoptee), aoppointed by Joseph Califano, Secretary of what was then the Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare. The panel met a number of times over a period of months and addressed a number of issues related to adoption, only one of which addressed the issue of "confidentiality." The result of their months of work was a document that included the following (excerpts):

    "It shall not be a violation of the privacy of a parent whose rights were terminated, for a record to reveal the identity of such parent to his adult son or daughter."

    "The rights of access to records established by this Title shall have retroactive effect, and shall not be limited by reason of prior law or of assurances of confidentiality not required by this Act."

    "...there ban be no legally protected interest in keeping one's identity secret from one's biological offspring; parent andchild are considered co-owners of the information regarding the event of birth."

    "It is the philosophical position of the Model Act that secrecy is not and has never been an essential or substantive aspect of adoption."

    "Modern attitudes and realities of adoption no longer support the cloak of secrecy upon which sealed records laws were based."

    Next posting: Excerpts from supporters of the Model State Adoption Act

     

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  • Jo Swanson
    Mar 10, 2010 @ 10:49AM PT
    Jo Swanson

    Excerpts from letters written in support of the Model State Adoption Act draft

    Robert B. Watts, Judge, Supreme Bench, Baltimore City:

    "I support vigorously the adoptee's rights to have their records opened. For some time now, I have been opening records with tremendous success. Therefore, I support Title V of the Model State Adoption Act and urge that everything be done to insure its passage."

    Terry J. Zenner, Director, Catholic Social Services, Diocese of Lafayette, LA (representing five Catholic maternity homes/agencies in Louisiana:

    "In the name of mental health, which is consistent with freedom, understanding and love, we would like to keep that core of the Model Law that demolishes the stonewall which has so frustrated adopted adults' search for identity."

    Wade S. Weatherford, Jr., Resident Judge, Circuit Court of South Carolina

    "If we believe in 'one nation, indivisible with liberty and justice for all', then we should fight to the end for that group of citizens who are adopted and who are deprived of fundamental decency and justice."

    Next: Members of the Model State Adoption Act panel

     

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  • Jo Swanson
    Mar 10, 2010 @ 11:50AM PT
    Jo Swanson

    Original Officers, National Committee For Adoption (NCFA)

    President: William L. Pierce, Former Dir., Child Welfare League of America (CWLA). Pierce couldn't interest CWLA in leading the fight against the Act, so he reasigned and teamed up with Ruby Lee Piester (see below) to found NCFA. Pierce dismissed the panel members (previous post) as a "runaway committee."

    Chairman: William E McKay, President, Forth Worth Chevrolet Dealership, Fort Worth, TX

    Vice Chairman: Ruby Lee Piester, Executive Dir., Edna Gladney Home, Fort Worth, TX. Piester/Gladney provided $50,000 in seed money, while Pierce contributed Washington DC political savvy from his CWLA experience. Gladney mounted a massive adoptive parent letter-writing campaign against the Act, utilizing its extensive Gladney auxiliary network.

    Secretary: Michael Barone, Political Analyst/Writer, Washington DC

    Treasurer: Dr. Frank Mastrapasqua, Economist, Portfolio Investment Strategist, Connecticut.

    This is the crew that set in motion the destruction of the Model State Adoption Act. Take a minute to compare their credentials to those of the Act's panel.

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  • Cully Ray
    Mar 10, 2010 @ 12:05PM PT
    Cully Ray

    Jo, this is outstanding information.  Thank you!

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  • Jo Swanson
    Mar 10, 2010 @ 01:14PM PT
    Jo Swanson

    Some facts about NCFA's member agencies:

    Early membership included such prestigious agencies as Holt International and Spence Chapin. Both of those agencies, and many others, jumped ship long, long ago. The organization today is dominated by two powerful mega-agencies: Bethany Christian Services and Latter Day Saints Family Services, both of which have satellite offices in almost every state.

    One of NCFA's charter members, Smithlawn Home and Adoption Agency, Lubbock, TX, has the dubious distinction of being the first adoption agency in the country to be sued under federal racketeering laws (RICO). Smithlawn and its employees "didn't admit to any fraudulent acts," but agreed to settle out of court for an amount in excess of $1 million to the adoptive couple, Debra and Chris Burgess of Nacogdoches, in 1992. The couple alleged that the agency's employees lied to them, withheld information and denied them access to medical and other records. (Two purportedly "healthy" children placed with them were both found to have serious problems which, the couple alleged, had causes that were concealed from them before adoption.) Included in the settlement was an amount to be paid by the couple's lawyer, who represented them during the adoptions while, unknown to them, also served on Smithlawn's board of directors - a clear conflict of interest.

    Twelve to sixteen years after Smithlawn participated in for formation of NCFA, an investigator from the Texas Dept. of Human Services determined that Smithlawn had "withheld vital information from adoptive parents, failed to provide needed medical treatment for a foster care child, divulged confidential information and pressured birth mothers to place their babies." The investigation resulted in a six-month probation, which is one step short of license revocation. (Quotes from Dallas Morning News stories from 1992, 1993, 1996.

    The inspector "also was concerned that birth mothers are continuing to be told they do not have to name the father of the child." The results were disastrous for some adoptive couples, like the parents who had to relinquish the baby born to a Texas Tech student when the father, Michael Hernandez, won custody of the infant. Smithlawn was ordered to pay all legal fees involved in the case.

    Smithlawn is still a member in good standing with NCFA.

    Incidentally, two more NCFA member agencies subsequently have been sued under RICO, but with less favorable outcomes (for the plaintiffs), by adoptive parents making the same allegations as those in the Smithlawn lawsuit. (Cesnik v. Edgewood Baptist Church, d/b/a New Beginnings Adoption and Counseling Agency, et al; and Michael L. McMullen, et al., planitiffs, v. European Adoption Consultants, Inc., and Margaret Cole.)

    More NCFA member agencies in subsequent postings

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  • Jo Swanson
    Mar 10, 2010 @ 01:21PM PT
    Jo Swanson

    I think my earlier posting of the Model State Adoption Act panel got deleted. I deleted it myself to correct a spelling, but I thought I reposted it. So....again:

    hese are the drafters of the Model State Adoption Act

    Executive Secretary to the Panel: Diane D. Broadhurst (Children's Bureau, Administration for Children, Youth and Families, Dept. of Health, Education & Welfare, Washingtobn, D.C.)

    Advisory Panel Chairman: Albert Burstein, Majority Leader, NJ General Assembly

    Panel members:

    Sydney C. Dunca, Executive Dir., Homes for Black Children, Detroit, MI

    Mary Lee Campbell Allen, Program Specialist, Child Welfare, Children's Defense Fund, Washington, DC

    Lee H. Campbell, President, Concerned United Birthparents, Brewster, MA

    Elizabeth Cole, Director, North American Center on Adoption, Inc., While Welfare League of America (CWLA), New York, NY

    Marie W. Copher, Chief, State Placement Unit, Georgia Div. of Family and Children's Services, Atlanta, GA

    Joanne W. Small, Adoptees in Search, Bethesda, MD

    Willie V. Small, Dir. of Social Work, Children's Services, Inc., Philadelphia, PA

    Laurie M. Flynn, Exec. Dir. North AmericanCouncil on Adoptable Children (NACAC), Washington, DC

    Linda Hanton, Staff Attorney, Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc., San Francisco, CA

    Donald Lewis, Chairman, American Academy of Pediatrics, Adoption & Dependenty Care Committee, Seattle, WA

    Helen Ramirez, Director, Loss Angeles County Dept. of Adoption, Los Angeles, CA

    Margaret A. Sullivan, Placement Div., Catholic Charitable Bureau of Boston, Boston, MA

    Kenneth W. Watson, Assistant Dir., Chicago Child Care Society, Chicago, IL

    Thelma J. Stiffarm, Native American Rights Fund, Boulder, CO

    John P. Steketee, Judge, Kent County Juvenile Court, Grand Rapids, MI

    Sproesser Wynn, Chairman, American Bar Assn. Committee on Adoption, Ft. Worth, TX

     

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  • Robert Kiff
    Mar 10, 2010 @ 09:38PM PT
    Robert Kiff

    Hello everyone. We might not be able to get our birth certificates for awhile but we are entitled to non-identifying information as adoptees who are adults. Many adoptees are not aware of this important law as it is not advertised. If you know your adoption agency I suggest contacting the records dept. of your adoption agency to ask for this information (dealing with the agency is generally easier & quicker than dealing with the state/government.) If you do not know your adoption agency name ask your Adoptive parent or someone in your family that might know (hopefully you were not a black market adoptee as it'll be tough to get any legit info if you are).

    I know many are probably aware of this law but if not you may find it helpful to know. 

    Non Identifying Information Law & Legal Definition Non-identifying information is health and other family background information which is commonly exchanged or otherwise made available to the other members of the adoption process, but which does not include identifying information, such as names, addresses, birth dates and telephone numbers. It iincludes general appearance, religion, ethnicity, race, education, occupation, etc; and the name of the agency that arranged the adoption, and the facts and circumstances relating to the nature and cause of the adoption. At the time of the adoption,  the birthparents (most often the birthmother) were traditionally asked to supply basic information concerning her family life,  her health,  education,  hobbies and similar things. This information provides the basis for what is referred to in adoption circles as non-id. Adoptive parents supplied similar information to the agencies or lawyers that were handling the adoption. This information was supposedly used to provide a suitable match between adoptive children and their prospective parents. Some state laws, which vary by state, provide for the release of this information to the adoptive parents  and the adopted child when he/she reaches the age of majority.

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  • Joan Wheeler
    Mar 11, 2010 @ 05:22AM PT
    Joan Wheeler

    The issue of preventing adoptees from obtaining a certified copy of their OBC, the issue of sealing it in the first place, the issue of falsified birth certificates that really should be certificates of adoption --- these are Federal Issues and not State by State issues.

    Whenever I write on my website extensively on these issues, and not just on emotional or psychological aspects of adoption, a number of suspicious agencies show up on my various web trackers: The US Dept of State, The US Dept of Justice, The Navy, lots of ".mil" entities, The Pentagon, other Federal and various state governments, as well as foreign governments. State and Federal Welfare, Housing, and Social Services programs turned up. I’m sure they’re looking to see if I’m somehow connected with fraudulent birth certificate schemes. I’m not. Instead, I point the finger of blame right where it belongs: on each Family Court and Surrogate Court Judge who initiates the chain of events and each municipality's Registrar of Vital Statistics who authorizes a child’s birth certificate sealed and then falsified.

    These are our basic identity documents from which all other forms of identification and citizenship are made. Birth Certificates tell us who we are and who our parents are. Adoptees have two sets of real parents. Not by choice, but by someone else's doing, yet our government denies (therefore other people do, too) our natural born parentage. Instead of a great cover-up impacting the lives of millions of adoptees and our natural parents and our siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins, and grandparents left behind, our Federal government needs to get with the Times and institute a Federal make-over of this identity fraud perpetrated against us.

    Many, not all, foreign governments tell the truth in birth certificates and in adoption certificates. Adoption fraud is a global problem. Look at the dichotomy between the United Nations' UNICEF policies and The Hague's very different policies on birth certificates for adoptees. UNICEF has not caught on to The Hague's insistence of falsifying foreign-born adoptees' birth certificates. It's online. Go look it up. It's also in my book: Forbidden Family (www.traffford.com).

    The PENTAGON reading my website?! Come on! What threat do I pose to National Security? I’m just a lousy, good-for-nothing half-orphan who was adopted and ever since treated as if I am a low-down-dirty-bastard. Stop by and read my stuff, if you dare. Careful, you might get contaminated. That’s why I named myself “legitmatebastard”. --- http://forbiddenfamily.com.

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  • Cully Ray
    Mar 11, 2010 @ 07:39AM PT
    Cully Ray

    Teresa Bankowski, you asked, "My question is was this ever told to my birth mother in 1967, that she could allow me access as an adult?"  The answer is NO.  Your birth-Mother was never told that because records were not sealed in Pennsylvania until 1984.  I hope EVERYONE is catching this - if you were born in PA and you reached the age of 18-21 BEFORE 1984, You had complete legal access to your original birth records. 

    And, something else "They" didn't do is notify the Adult Adoptees when they reached the age of majority or Birth Parents that they law that was being enacted was being enacted RETROACTIVELY.  Why didn't they do this?? We may all have words jumping to the front of our minds but their Excuse is that they didn't and don't have the time or man-power to keep track of every birth parent or child that is adopted... hmmm, if they don't have the wherewithall to keep track of the children they place, or the parents that placed them, then how do they know what anyone wants (i.e. no contact)??? 

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  • Cully Ray
    Mar 11, 2010 @ 12:21PM PT
    Cully Ray

    The idea that we are down by so many votes just blows me away. That this simply and basic Human and Civil Right can not be appreciated by more than 2,185 people here on Change, Breaks My Heart. All of you that know me know how I feel about kids and animals so that's not were my problem lies... What I don't understand is how so few see that falsifying a document as important as a Birth Certificate and denying the person who's person information is on the original of that falsified Birth Certificate access to it is morally wrong - it's inhuman and it's inhumane!

    The falsification of our Birth Certificates boggles the mind when one thinks of simply giving a certificate of adoption with includes all guardianship rights. Think about this little boy in Texas who has a birth certificate (the only one he has access to unless this changes) that says he was born of two fathers... His Fathers love him - no piece of paper will make that any stronger, and know that they did not give birth to him, BUT that falsified birth certificate was the only avenue open to them to guarentee their desire to provide for his wellbeing. The falsification of birth certificates and the denial of Adult Adoptees to enjoy the same Civil Rights as the rest of America's citizens is just another way for some people to discriminate against people who were relinquished for adoption. AND, in the case in Texas? It is a way to discriminate against two parents who Love their son.

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  • Joan Wheeler
    Mar 11, 2010 @ 06:00PM PT
    Joan Wheeler

    Cully, I might add that falsifying a new birth certificate also discriminates agaisnt the MOTHERS who gave birth to each and every one of us adoptees!

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  • Mary Jo LeBouef
    Mar 11, 2010 @ 07:03PM PT
    Mary Jo LeBouef

    I feel society thinks we should all be so grateful for being adopted there should be on reason we would want more. Our birth isn't the first day of our lives, its the moment of adoption. Everything changes-names, date, parents, etc. Society only focuses on the adopted parents. As far as the birth mother-that is just a part of the past. My birth mom raised me for four years. There are no pictures, nothing. When I came to the states as far as family and friends all they saw was a four year old girl. Who or what she was before that date played no part in this change. What angers me so much is decision that were made then and still today as if I have no say in the matter.  Mary Jo

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  • Bonnie aka Elizabeth Dame aka Yount
    Mar 11, 2010 @ 08:06PM PT
    Bonnie aka Elizabeth Dame aka Yount

    I have searched many times for just my medical history with no response. I feel as though adult adoptees have a right to know what they are up against in our medical backgrounds. Questions need to be answered....Does cancer run in my biological background? Heart Diesese in my family? High cholestrol....is this normal? I needed these answers 2 years ago. Now through 2 massive heart attacks caused by very high cholestrol and now depression. What can I do? I need to prepare myself for whatever else my be lerking on that document.

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  • Carole Ursetti
    Mar 11, 2010 @ 11:51PM PT
    Carole Ursetti

    This is truly sad.  I've posted on Facebook, Twitter, Email, and my friends and family have told everyone they know.  To be this far out of the running with one day of voting left is unfathomable.  Some day, in some way, in my lifetime, legislation will be passed to see this happen...and I'll have my OBC.

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  • Joan Wheeler
    Mar 12, 2010 @ 09:47AM PT
    Joan Wheeler

    Sad that we're no longer in the running for the Top 10 new Ideas for Change. But Cully and Mara did a great job! Super job!

    All who contributed in comments, all who voted, all who spread the word --- you were and are wonderful!

    This defeat is not the end of the world. Most of us are older and not up to speed with social networking. So, next time, we'll do better!

    We need to try harder, organize better, and see when the NEXT Idea for Change contest will be!

    Our goals are not out of reach! We have just begun!

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  • Cully Ray
    Mar 12, 2010 @ 10:18AM PT
    Cully Ray

    I have been trying to contact as many of you as I can with "Friend requests" if you don't get one it's because there's a limit on the number I can send out per day... Please send me one and then we can keep in touch.  OK? 

    Thank you all so much for responding. Blessings on all of you!

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  • Cully Ray
    Mar 12, 2010 @ 10:24AM PT
    Cully Ray

    Joan is right - "we" are older LOL  but we ain't dead yet so we will be back!

    We need some young blood in here and some quicker minds... and to you "Youngsters", I want to say thank you for your help and please send me a Friend Request either here or on FB.

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    • Carole Ursetti
      Mar 12, 2010 @ 11:25AM PT
      Carole Ursetti

      LOL  I'm old, my (A)mom is older, my kids haven't been "kids" for a long time.  We've all got a lot of energy and this has fueled our fires even more.  Bring it on!

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    • Rus Thomas
      Aug 16, 2010 @ 01:24PM PT
      Rus Thomas

      I met Joan 9 days ago.  It was probably the best meeting of my life.  I will support you all because of my lengthy talks with her.  I am not adopted but I can see a denial of rights that should not be.  Joan means a lot to me.  She has added one more for the fight.  Let's get this changed!!!!

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  • Jo Swanson
    Mar 12, 2010 @ 10:32AM PT
    Jo Swanson

    It's time for a national summit on civil rights for adoptees. We need to hold an event - maybe in conjunction with Joe Soll's proposed March on Washington? - with representatives from all adoptee reform groups (AAC and others) and supportive adoption agencies, organizations like the Adoption Institute, reform-minded legislators, personalities from the entertainment community, civil rights organizations (even if ACLU won't participate), news personalities, book authors, powerful supportive attorneys from our midst, and who else? It may not be possible to pull this together for this year, but with extensive organization, it could be an absolute media dominator for 2011. Anyone want to lead the charge?

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  • Cully Ray
    Mar 12, 2010 @ 10:41AM PT
    Cully Ray

    Very Important Books:

    The Stork Market  http://www.facebook.com/l/83aac;AdvocatePublications.com

    The Girls that went Away  http://www.thegirlswhowentaway.com/

    Forbidden Family  http://forbiddenfamily.com

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  • Andrea Hightower
    Mar 12, 2010 @ 11:01AM PT
    Andrea Hightower

    Cully & Mara,

    I sure hope that there is a way for all of these postings to be saved - the stories and voices represented here in this effort should be preserved as they attest to the wide ranging interest in restoring adoptee rights to OBCs.

    We should take this to a facebook fan page to continue the effort - Facebook gains the attention of the media. Remember the "change your status" to what color bra you are wearing for Breast Cancer Awareness? That went viral and gained the attention of even international media.

     

     

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  • Andrea Hightower
    Mar 12, 2010 @ 11:02AM PT
    Andrea Hightower

    Do you have access to the first round postings as well?  They should all be kept.

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  • Cully Ray
    Mar 12, 2010 @ 12:09PM PT
    Cully Ray

    Because of Privacy laws no one can (or should) take any of the comments and post them elsewhere.  We can however avail ourselves of the knowledge and experience that has been shared here, and I would venture to guess that if we all keep in touch (here or on FB) most, if not all, of the people who commented here and voted here would be happy to support the effort again.  We've been at this for 40 years and we don't go away... in fact, we grow in numbers and we get louder and more people hear us... and the world is getting smaller and smarter.  eh?

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  • Joan Wheeler
    Mar 12, 2010 @ 12:34PM PT
    Joan Wheeler

    I can't stick around for the closing of the votes and last comments, but I just wanted to say that this has been a great exerience. Made new friends that will stay friends. Thanks for the plug for the book, Cully! And all of you, keep up the good work! We will be back better than ever! Washington WILL hear us and WILL make the changes to the system needed to make the USA a better place for adoptees and our natural parents!

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  • Melissa Burnside
    Mar 15, 2010 @ 01:26PM PT
    Melissa Burnside

    My dogs have papers, but we are banded from getting ours. I have several illnesses that are unexplained & not diagnosable. It's bad enough I live with pain all the time, but now I can't even know my roots, heritage or nationality. I understand both sides of the coin, but as an adoptee I feel like I am being discriminated!

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  • Gretchen Anderson
    Mar 16, 2010 @ 09:17AM PT
    Gretchen Anderson

    I am a birthmother who relinquished my daughter in 1968.  I found her in 1986 after joining ALMA.  We have been in reunion for 23+ years now and are very much part of each others' lives.  She has her original extended family, all of whom accept and welcome her.  However, neither of us can obtain her original birth certificate.  We have called the various "appropriate" agencies in Michigan, together and separately.  We have submitted written requests with appropriate fees.  We have provided notarized statements. But we can't have her original birth certificate.  What kind of insanity is that?  Who's being "protected?"  I gave birth to her, she was born of me.  Who else has more right to her birth certificate than the two of us!  A person is born once to one set of parents regardless of what happens after that.  No birth certificate should ever be amended--it's a government sanctioned and mandated lie.  Government should issue a certificate of adoption and an adopted person would have those two identity papers.

    I was never promised anonymity--it was assumed in that day and age.  It's wrong for the government to withhold vital statistic information from those named on the document and wrong to assume that those of us involved in adoption triads are somehow so evil and such misfits that we can't be trusted to handle our lives effectively if we know of and have contact with one another.

    Arrrgh!  It makes me so angry!  I'll stop now as I'll just get carried away about this.

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  • Julian Kelly
    Mar 29, 2010 @ 10:51PM PT
    Julian Kelly

    We are banding together. We WILL GET OUR ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATES!

    Join us on facebook! http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=131466223051

     

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  • Lisa Thompkins
    Mar 31, 2010 @ 10:08AM PT
    Lisa Thompkins

    This needs to happen!  I, as well as others I am sure, have health issues that could be managed more effectively and possibly successfully with information about birth parents.  While the non-identifying information I received was interesting, it is only pertinent to the time of my birth.  There are no updates as to what may have transpired over time.  THIS IS IMPORTANT STUFF!

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  • Cully Ray
    Mar 31, 2010 @ 11:11AM PT
    Cully Ray

    Lisa, totally agree that we ALL need a family medical history.  The problem here is that our access to our original Birth Certificates is Not about search - it's about our Civil Rights.  Some people have used our cause to say that all we want is to get information so that we can intrude on someones life.  Once again callously unaware (or uninterested) in our Civil Rights or that we don't want to "intrude" because we don't want to be rejected - as we have been told that our birth parents "didn't want" us, "gave us away", and "went on with their lives".

    The Adoption industry has worked long and hard to convince unsuspecting people that birth parents don't want contact, adoptees are stalkers, and that no matter what we (our birth parents and us) say we don't deserve this civil right or the respect to make the decision of contact ourselves.  They forget that at the very least the information on our original Birth Certificates (if it is true) will be 18 years old... my goodness, how much can change in 18 years!!

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  • Donna Hill
    Apr 03, 2010 @ 10:24AM PT
    Donna Hill

    As a birthmother, I pray daily that my birthdaughter will search for me.  I have registered everywhere, including the official State of Texas adoption registry.  Unless original birth certificates are unsealed, birth children will never be able to fill in the missing links to their life.  There are dire medical conditions in our family which I feel my birthdaughter must know about so she might take precautions.  So, please allow the original birth certificates to be unsealed so I might help my birthdaughter.

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  • Elizabeth Daspit-Faulk
    Apr 13, 2010 @ 08:28AM PT
    Elizabeth Daspit-Faulk

    I am a birthmother of 3 and I believe if they want to know their ogins it should be their right and not a priovalidge for them and all other adoptees.

    There are always and will always be the good and bad effects in the world as a whole but denying a person the right to know who they are and where their lives began is WRONG.

    NOt all birthmothrs surrendered because they WANTED to.

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  • Cully Ray
    Apr 13, 2010 @ 09:28AM PT
    Cully Ray

    Thank you All so much for your continued comments - Education is the key and what you are sharing is so important to knocking down the road blocks to Equal Rights for Adult Adoptees.  Don't forget to sign the Petition that we are sending to Washington -

    http://www.change.org/actions/view/equal_access_for_adult_adoptees 

    BIG hugz to all of you!!  Cully

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  • John Todd-Jones
    Apr 22, 2010 @ 09:27PM PT
    John Todd-Jones

    I have been trying to find my bio sister for years with no luck . when I tried to search for her, STL.MO could only release non-identifying information to me. The paper work that I had fill out for that was nearly enough to discourage me but the drive to find her was so great i did it anyway. I still haven't found her. that was 5 years ago and now the state is saying that because the final adoption did not take place there, I would have to contact the  courts in Denver Colorado. I contacted them and they referred me back to MO.

    It is ridiculous what an adoptee has to go through to get information. We did not ask for what happened to us and we certainly did not ask to be born. the decision to give us up for adoption was made by our bparents or by the system, not by us. We should not have to jump through hoops like dogs in order to find any of our family members or get our original BC's. Yet that is exactly what we are forced to do.

    The need to know who we are and where as well as who we come from is not merely curiosity it is instinctual and should be respected.

    Give us our rights...Give us what's rightfully ours...Give us our ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATES

     

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  • April Miller-Harris
    May 16, 2010 @ 12:37PM PT
    April Miller-Harris

    Amazing!!! Eveyone should have the right to know where they came from. And who, they came from. I will repost all over my facebook groups :)

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  • Cully Ray
    May 16, 2010 @ 03:22PM PT
    Cully Ray

    Hey, Thanks April!!  And Please sign the petition at

    http://www.change.org/actions/view/equal_access_for_adult_adoptees  

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  • Savita Gangwar
    Aug 13, 2010 @ 11:33PM PT
    Savita Gangwar

    Hey very nice blog!! Man .. Beautiful .. Amazing .. I will bookmark your blog and take the feeds also...

    vrouwen zoeken man

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  • Judith Scanlon
    Aug 14, 2010 @ 07:58AM PT
    Judith Scanlon

    I am happy to see that this topic is still getting attention!  Within the past few months, the state of Illinois has joined the growing handful of other states who have moved progressively forward and now allow adult adoptees to request and receive a copy of their original birth certificate (OBC). 

    The state of Maine changed policy in 2009 for ALL adult adoptees, and my own state of Massachusetts where I have lived most of my life, changed in 2007 so now adult adoptees are allowed access to their OBC"s if they were born before 1974, but this is still unfair for those adult adoptees born after that (but it is a good start). However I do not have the same civil rights as my own MA adoptive citizens because I was born and adopted in NY, and therefore continue to not be able to have access to the record documenting my birth. I am amost 54 years old.

    Legislative Bills such as "The Bill of Adoptee Rights" are pending in many states such as NY, PA and NJ.  Please support these efforts and write or call your legislators.  Hopefully we will all be treated equally someday.

    Judy Born in 1956, Binghamton, NY

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

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This idea was voted into the final round of the 2010 Ideas for Change in America competition. To view more information, including the 10 winners of the final round, click here.

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