January 9, 2010

National "Human-Trafficking" Prevention Month

Key to unlock the lock and solve Jigsaw Puzzle
© Photographer: Michaeldb | Agency: Dreamstime.com

For those who are not aware, in addition to Mon being a Nat'l awareness day, President Obama issued a proclamation designating January National Human Trafficking Prevention Month!

BELOW is an excerpt from the President's proclamation:

Fighting human trafficking is a shared responsibility. This month, I urge all Americans to educate themselves about the signs and consequences of human trafficking. Together, we can and must end this most serious, ongoing criminal civil rights violation.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 2010 as National Human Trafficking Prevention Month, culminating in the annual celebration of National Freedom Day on February 1. I call upon the people of the United States to recognize the vital role we can play in ending human-trafficking, and to observe this month with appropriate programs and activities."

* I would be very curious to find out the number of victims of child-trafficking who are also victims of "dissolved" adoptions in America. I have a feeling we would all be very shocked.

As horrific a crime as human-trafficking is, there is a component of this subject that few acknowledge or validate. Millions of adoptees in America whose civil rights are violated through archaic "sealed records" laws born from corrupt adoption practices. Before the 1940's adoptee's had the same civil right as every other American to obtain their original birth certificate in adulthood. Today only six U.S. states grant adult adopted individuals the same priviledge as non-adopted citizens to obtain this important personal document and information about themselves.

Even today, when a mother relinquishes her child, or has her rights terminated, the child's birth certificate remains intact. It is not until an adoption is finalized that a new (falsified) Certificate of Live Birth is issued, and the child's original (factual) birth certificate is permanently "sealed" from them and their children after them. This "amended" birth certificate lists the new legal parents (adoptive) as actually giving birth to the child. A legalized lie. The adoptee's civil rights are violated because they must live their entire life (along with their children and grandchildren after them) with a falsified record of birth. That equates to a false genealogy, false family medical history, false identity ~ even throughout adulthood.

A more ethical and truthful option would be to issue a "Certificate of Adoption" much like other countries, such as Australia, do. The only other time in American history when human's were denied their identity and personal documents was during the time of slavery.

Until these archaic laws are changed, adoption in America is essentially government-sanctioned identity theft.

Adoption has sadly become a billion-dollar industry for which brokers (attorneys, agencies) advertise and market for human-lives. Competition abounds for every healthy young child who can be made "available" for adoption. While true orphans (mostly older, special-needs children) are passed by. This supply & demand, financially-driven industry in human-lives (we applaud as adoption) sets up a climate for gross conflict of interest and unethical practices across our country and around the world.

I pray for the day we can look back as a society upon the years of "sealed record" adoption law and celebrate the restoration of adoptee's civil right to KNOW and OWN their personal histories and birth certificates.

"Unlock Our Lives". Adoptee access legislation is years past due and is simply the right thing to do for millions of American's dignity and freedom.

2 comments:

Brooke said...

I have always thought it was strange that our child's birth certificate (actually certificate of foreign birth) does not list her birthparents' names. Do you believe it should list both birth and adoptive parents or only birth parents on the birth certificates of adopted children?
Or birth certificate with birth parents info and a certificate of adoption separately?

Samantha Franklin said...

Dear Brooke,
Thanks for commenting.
I think it would be more honest for a child's birth certificate to never be altered from the orginal facts of their birth. I would prefer an adoption certificate to replace an amended birth certificate, so that the child's birth certificate remains intact and unsealed, and then an adoption certificate to signify their adoptive status into a new family. It is just more honest.