Friends of “CLEAN” adoption reform,
Progress! With your help, A5494 passed convincingly in the Assembly Health Committee yesterday (Tuesday)! Now, help us advance S3419, the companion bill, through the Senate Health Committee!
A5494 / S3419 STATUS:
A5494: Passed Assembly Health / advanced to Assembly Codes
S3419: Remains in Senate Health Committee
Senate Health Committee call to action below.
Stay tuned for Assembly Codes call to action!
We continue to thank you for your ongoing support of our human and civil rights appeal. Including you, we count 7,800+ petition supporters and rising—please keep sharing!
It was great to be in Albany to see the Assembly Health Committee vote and we are grateful to our sponsors, Assemblymember Weprin and Senator Montgomery, for hosting a great press conference.
Tim spoke and was joined by petition supporters from as far away as Buffalo! And it was great to see, and hear, allied advocates from the New York Adoptee Rights Coalition and New York Statewide Adoption Reform.
Now, for the first time ever, we have a real chance to move our bill in the New York Senate! Let’s go!
POLITELY CALL / WRITE SENATE HEALTH CHAIR GUSTAVO RIVERA!
Gustavo Rivera, Senate Health Committee Chair
grivera@nysenate.gov
518-455-3395 or 718-933-2034
Senate Health Committee FULL e-mail database (TO COPY and PASTE / suggest blind carbon copy):
antonacci@nysenate.gov, bbenjamin@nysenate.gov, biaggi@nysenate.gov, carlucci@nysenate.gov, gallivan@nysenate.gov, hoylman@nysenate.gov, jacobs@nysenate.gov, kaminsky@nysenate.gov, little@nysenate.gov, metzger@nysenate.gov, montgome@nysenate.gov, ritchie@nysenate.gov, grivera@nysenate.gov, salazar@nysenate.gov, stavisky@nysenate.gov
SUGGESTED EMAIL TITLE (if you write):
Please advance “clean” adoptee rights (S3419 / A5494)
SUGGESTED NOTE AND /OR PHONE SCRIPT (ADD YOUR STORY IF WRITING!):
“Hello. My name is ________ and I am contacting you from ________ [NOTE IF A CONSTITUENT!].
I am one of over seven thousand eight hundred supporters of the “Citizens Petition to Advance the ‘Clean’ Adoption Reform Bill.”
( https://www.change.org/p/advance-clean-ny-bill-of-adoptee-rights ), which was recently included in an important Mother Jones investigative piece about our cause: Most American Adoptees Can’t Access Their Birth Certificates. That Could Soon Change. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/03/most-american-adoptees-cant-access-their-birth-certificates-that-could-be-about-to-change/
We respectfully ask that the Senate Health Committee support and advance Committee Member Montgomery’s S3419 which will, as intended in the legislature, restore unrestricted access to original birth certificates for all adult adoptees.
On April 30th, the Assembly Health Committee again voted overwhelmingly in favor of “clean” adoption reform (this time A5494), in accordance with best practices in adoption. A 2017 regressive, expensive and unacceptable proposal was, happily, vetoed by Governor Cuomo in December of that year.
Now, it’s time for the Senate Health Committee to advance “clean” adoption reform (S3419) for the first time ever! We will restore and honor adoptee human and civil rights by making S3419 / A5494 the law.
Our rapidly growing cause is supported by the Academy of Adoption & Assisted Reproduction Attorneys (AAAA), the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) and the North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC) just to name a few.
Now, with S3419 / A5494, we can get it right and make it equal.
Thank you for your consideration!
CALL / WRITE: ALL MEMBERS OF THE ASSEMBLY HEALTH COMMITTEE (* = current cosponsor , ** = sponsor and *** = Committeee Chair))
To determine if your local district Senator is in Health Committee, go to:
https://www.nysenate.gov/find-my-senator
Robert Antonacci: antonacci@nysenate.gov 518-455-3511
Brian Benjamin: bbenjamin@nysenate.gov 518-455-2441
Alessandra Biaggi: biaggi@nysenate.gov 518-455-3595
David Carlucci: carlucci@nysenate.gov 518-455-2991
Patrick Gallivan: gallivan@nysenate.gov 518-455-3471
*Brad Hoylman: hoylman@nysenate.gov 518-455-2451
Chris Jacobs: jacobs@nysenate.gov 518-455-3240
Todd Kaminsky: kaminsky@nysenate.gov 518-455-3401
*Betty Little: little@nysenate.gov 518-455-2811
*Jen Metzger: metzger@nysenate.gov 518-455-2400
**Velmanette Montgomery: montgome@nysenate.gov 518-455-3451
Patty Ritchie: ritchie@nysenate.gov 518-455-3438
***Gustavo Rivera: grivera@nysenate.gov 518-455-3395
Julia Salazar: salazar@nysenate.gov 518-455-2177
Toby Ann Stavisky: stavisky@nysenate.gov 518-455-3461
Contact Tim with outreach updates or news you’d like to share!
tmw713@gmail.com
We thank all our petition supporters and The American Adoption Congress, where Tim also serves, for encouragement as the session proceeds. Check out, join and support the AAC!
Our New York legislative session is slated to continue until June 19th.
We thank you as always for your vital support!
Stay tuned for the latest updates and adoptee rights calls to action!
Onward in New York!
Tim, Doris and Jennifer