...if any?

 

 

Every January I do a search of bills introduced in the Oklahoma legislature dealing with adoption. 

This year, along with a few others, OK SB 110 came up under a search regarding "birth certificates".

   

Several states have passed legislation recommended by the Child Welfare League of America, restoring the basic human right of every adopted person unhindered access to their own unaltered original birth certificate. 

Kansas has never sealed original birth certificates from adoptees. 

Oklahoma, however, has failed to ensure this right to its adopted citizens. 

In fact, some of the language of OK SB 110 is quite concerning.   

"The State Registrar shall seal and file the original certificate of birth, if any, with the certificate of decree of adoption...the State Registrar, upon receipt of a certificate of a decree of adoption, shall prepare a supplementary birth certificate in the new name of the adopted person with the names of the adoptive parents listed as the parents...

"IF ANY..."  

Two little words can bring big consequences. 

Not only is it ridiculous that adopted people are issued a new "amended" (falsified) record of birth which lists parents who never gave birth to them, but also their original birth certificate (if any) is "sealed" from them indefinitely. 

 

It is unlawful to falsify official documents in America except for the birth record of adoptees. 

 

In fact, laws do not ensure that we even have an accurate and unfalsified original birth certificate at all.  At times adoptive parent's names are put on an original birth certificate, before an adoption is even finalized. 

This is a travesty.  

 

It strips us and our children of important on-going family medical histories, genealogy, and identity.  

 

The only ones "sealed records" laws protect are those who lobby government officials and make their living from the supply and demand based billion-dollar per year adoption industry in America. 

 

Adoptees are made to feel like commodities when money exchanges hands in the "sealing" of our identities, and unethical and coercive practices can be hidden behind "sealed records" laws.

 

 

 

   Adoption touches almost every family in America in some form or another.  Genealogists have predicted that within another few generations NO American will be guaranteed an accurate family tree or genealogy because of "sealed record" laws in adoption.  

 

They were enacted during the "Baby Scoop" era of the 40's, 50's and 60's to protect newly formed adoptive families, when vulnerable unwed mothers were given no other choice but to surrender their babies for adoption. 

The Supreme Courts of both TN and OR have determined that restoring the right of adoptee's access to their original record of birth is constitutional because first mothers were never guaranteed (nor asked for) perpetual "confidentiality" under the law.  

 

In fact, if a first mother surrenders her child for adoption, but for some reason the child is never adopted, but remains in foster care, the original birth certificate is never sealed. 

These archaic laws weren't enacted to protect the "privacy" rights of first mothers. 

 

They only serve to protect the adoption industry and the newly formed adoptive family, while they fail to protect the rights of the very children they claim to serve. 

 

Statistics have also shown that abortion rates in states which have passed adoptee access legislation have declined more than the national average, while adoption rates remain consistent.        

Interestingly enough, this proposed bill also states,

"To protect the integrity of vital statistics records, to insure their proper use, and to insure the efficient and proper administration of the vital statistics system, it shall be unlawful for any person to permit inspection of, or to disclose information contained in, vital statistics records, or to copy or issue a copy of all or part of any such record except to the person who is the subject of the record or in such person's interest unless ordered to do so by a court of competent jurisdiction..." 

 

Adoptees are "the person who is the subject of the record", yet sealed records law in adoption prevents us from accessing our own records.

 

We are the only U.S. citizens denied access to our own original record of birth. 

 

OK SB 110 goes on to propose... 

"Each month, the State Department of Health shall transmit to the Department of Human Services a record of all registered births that have occurred within the state for the immediately preceding month. The Department of Human Services shall use such records for the purpose of assisting in the administration of programs related to children, including but not limited to child welfare, adoptions..."

 

This bill would require the OK Bureau of Vital Statistics to automatically forward every child's birth certificate born in Oklahoma to the OK Department of Human Services...whether that child and family is a client of DHS or not. 

 

To me, this seems like an over-reach of power. 

 

Even more so, it further disenfranchises every Oklahoma born adopted person, who is still denied access to their own records.   

"Sorry Veronica, Santa Isn't Real"

 

 

 

In honor of Veronica...

 

 Don’t steal the land of defenseless orphans
by moving their ancient boundary marks,
for their Redeemer is strong;
He himself will accuse you. 
Proverbs 23:10-11
 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As difficult a year it has been for the Brown family
and all those who care about Veronica...
how much harder it must have been for her? 

We cannot even fathom.
   

 

A year ago she wasn't worth an interest hearing
or civil rights lawsuit filed on her behalf. 

(see Adoptive Couple versus Baby Girl). 

Baby Girl is a picture of what adoptees endure their entire lives...
 silencing through the sealing and erasure of our very identities.

Our God-given personhood is stolen. 

  She was silenced in the back of that car on September 23, 2013
and must continue her dance of loyalty in order to survive. 
Eventually she may forget what really happened and her little mind will be forced to live inside narratives completely incongruent with her inner reality.

 
She now has an amended birth certificate,
and an adoption decree which forever defines her.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 
 

As I was pondering this sweet child, I was reminded of another little girl made famous, named Virginia O'Hanlon who wrote a newspaper in 1897 asking about Santa. 

 
"Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus ...
Papa says 'If you see it in The Sun it's so ...
please tell me the truth."           

 

A man named Francis P. Church, was working as an editor for his brother's
(William Church, a commissioner and founder of the National Rifle Assoc) newspaper,
the New York Sun. 

He was asked to respond, and, of course, his definitive editorial became famous.
   

"Yes, Virginia, there IS a Santa Clause."

"Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. 
It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIA'S." 

 

Although Virginia had specifically asked for "the truth"...she,
along with the rest of the nation, was led to believe a lie. 
Just an "innocent" fantasy. 
A warm and fuzzy, feel-good myth.  

A man in a suit who could give us anything we want.   

 

The sweet little narrative missed one thing...the truth.

Back in 1897, Virginia, and the rest of the nation, 
ate it up like cookies and milk. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~     

 

  In 2014, I worry about the not so innocent myths. 
Those so powerful, they erase little Veronica's...
no longer nourished by God-given identities and bonds;
 surrounded by strangers throwing gotcha parties;
fed sugary sweet tales that can't satisfy.   

 

Crisis-pregnancy and adoption agencies continue to recruit
 and even coerce vulnerable mothers
with promises of "openness" (which are legally unenforceable)
 and the heroic belief she is giving an ultimate "gift".  

That's the sugar-coated version.

We fail to address the underlying motives of highly profitable
and politically well-connected "professionals" 
helping themselves to babies...
even if the child's family gets in their way.
 We legalize recruitment strategies to increase
the number of "available" children,
rather than serve those who already need homes.
 
In current adoption law, infants and children are used as commodities
to supply the discontented...those willing to pay into unethical systems
for a child to call "their own."
Some believe they are saving the world.

Truth be told, we'll never really know how many children truly need homes,
until adoption no longer functions as an economic "family building" industry
with no regard for human rights.

Our legislators across this nation legalize a business model to "serve" children, 
complete with "experts" whose real customers are shiny new "psychological" parents.

Re-defining, for their own purposes, terms such as "family",
"attachment" and "best interest";
but stripping the God-given right of a child to their own lineage and kinship.

      

If for some reason a child must be cared for
outside their family of birth, 
shouldn't it be a last resort? 

Why ask any fellow human-being to give up their identity
 on an "amended" birth certificate? 
The practice of "sealing" and "amending" birth certificates,
along with monetary incentives that create an environment 
riddled with conflict of interest and profit, 
turns the very definition of "adoption"
into glorified child-trafficking and "ownership" of a human-being.
Whose interest does this serve?

There is a relatively new term being discussed in our world of 2014..."identity privilege".
How appropriate for the millions of adopted individuals who are deemed
identity(less) through "sealed" and "amended" birth certificates. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

             

On that cool September evening in 2013, we, as a nation, 
watched in horror as a four year old girl was stripped unnecessarily 
from her home and family. 

We will never understand how this so-called "adoption"  
could be "finalized" on July 31, 2013  
in a state and by people Veronica had not lived near for two years.
Without a "best interest" hearing.

Veronica's father, Dusten Brown had fought for the right
 to raise his daughter since her infancy and she had been living in Oklahoma,
surrounded by the love and security of her real family for almost two years.   

Sadly, the demand for babies and children
 is legally protected in this country. 

The entire situation was fraudulent from day one.
Veronica is paying a life-altering price
for the unregulated and unethical business 
(we call "adoption").  

And so...like every adoptee, Veronica Brown is now legally non-existent.
Adoption "flips the script" of our very lives, telling us we are born of strangers with whom we share no genetic ties.

Adoption tells us we are not related to the family from which we came, and with whom we share the generations.  How truthful is that?       

 
We can only speculate of Veronica's emotional existence...
merely a shadow of her true self. 
Since her government-sanctioned abduction one year ago,
we cannot even imagine what she has been asked
 to believe.
 
Whatever she is being told,
it must grate against everything within her. 
Not only has her civil right to identity and family been stolen,
but also her inner congruence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

 

If her fellow Lost Daughters could write a letter to Ronnie,
it might sound something like this.

 

 "Yes Veronica, You Are Real"

 

 

Santa is just a tale, Sweetheart, but you are very real. 
In our world, some people in suits hide behind masks of greed. 

They have stolen our dignity and sealed us to a lie. 

Although the world may seem like merely a stage;
and you may forget who you really are,

Please remember this.
 
No matter what role we are asked to play,
you and I are not the imposters.    

Deep inside, though we hardly recognize our own cries...
we still exist.  And we know.

You are deserving, Veronica, to be yourself. 
Your worth is not based on the needs you meet for others;
the daughter you can be for someone else. 

We may feel like aliens and strangers...
but we carry with every ounce of our being
 the pain and triumphs of our forefathers. 
They run this race with us through our veins.
That, my sweet Veronica, can never be taken.
 
There is a Father you will never lose.
Though He may feel far away, know that He holds you. 
   
Just look up. 
There you are, Little Star.

 
You are surrounded by a throng
who will help you find your way home.    

Lost & undone, but shining on. 

 

We love you.

"Personhood" for Whom?

“The laws of this state shall be interpreted and construed to acknowledge on behalf of the unborn child at every stage of development all the rights, privileges, and immunities available to other persons, citizens, and residents of this state." ~ language in the newly passed Oklahoma "Personhood" bill

* As a pro-life Oklahoman and an adult adoptee, I am saddened by the lobbying effort of the Right to Life groups against ethical adoption reform and adoptee access legislation.  See "When It Is Illegal To Know Who You Are."

Think about it. Adoptee's very identities are aborted when their birth certificate is sealed. No matter how much they love their adoptive family, they live their entire lives asked to fulfill the legal role of someone they were not born as. They are human beings who have a right to know their truth. 

I would like to address pervasive myths regarding Adoptee Access Legislation currently
being passed in several states across our nation. Restoring the
unconditional right of adult adoptees to obtain their original birth
certificates is a human right supported by The Child Welfare League of
America and several other child advocacy and adoption groups. Statistics
in the states that have restored this right show that abortion rates do not increase and adoption rates do not decrease.
(See American Adoption Congress at http://www.americanadoptioncongress.org/reform_adoption_data.php)

The Supreme Courts of both TN and OR (both adoptee access states) have ruled that birthmother's were never promised confidentiality under the law, but instead, archaic
"sealed records" laws in adoption were only enacted to
protect the newly formed adoptive family. In fact, if a birthmother
relinquishes her child for adoption, but for some reason the child is
never adopted, that child's original birth certificate is never amended
or sealed. This alone proves that "sealed records" was not enacted to
protect the "privacy" rights of birthmothers. It was enforced upon them.

The true story of Philomena Lee shares the plight of millions of women during the "Baby Scoop Era" who lost their children to adoption. 
(See Jan Baker's article, "Open Records: Do Birthmother's Need Protected? at http://adoption.about.com/od/adoptionrights/a/openbirthmompro.htm) 
Kansas, our neighbor to the north, has never sealed original birth
certificates to adult adoptees. Restoring the right of adult adoptees to
obtain their original birth certificates is a basic human right.

Birth certificates of American citizens should never be "sealed" or "amended" (falsified) from the very person they belong to, yet the adoption industry continues these practices. This is unethical and violates the very core beliefs that the "right to life" movement claims to support.  Whose interests do we serve?      

True "personhood" mentality would not permit this to happen to millions of fellow human beings. Yet, these very organizations lobby against adoptee access legislation.  They lobby against ethical adoption reform measures that would ensure human-rights protections for the very ones they claim to serve (OK HB 2442 & HB 3011).  See "Veronica Case Leads to Adoption Reform Proposals".   

Their powerful lobby reduces adopted individuals to a commodity; our very identities sealed and amended for the fulfillment of an economically driven supply & demand based system.(See "Shotgun Adoption" in The Nation ~
http://www.thenation.com/article/shotgun-adoption) or "Giving Away Baby".

Legislators can prove themselves as "pro-life" by extending the SAME rights and privileges of "personhood" to adult adoptees. 

Currently, in all but 7 states, adoptees remain "perpetual children" in the eyes of the law, without the rights and privileges afforded to every other American citizen to access their own record of birth. Archaic "sealed records" law strips adopted citizens of their human dignity, identity, and history.
(For information about the states that have enacted this legislation see Adoptee Rights Coalition at http://www.adopteerightscoalition.com/p/for-legislators.html)

The Business of Adoption

© Photographer: Icefields | Agency: Dreamstime.com

(originally published 10/17/09)

I went to a meeting recently at the OK State Capitol regarding an Adoption Review Task Force that is meeting monthly to recommend changes in the adoption code. It was created mainly because of an OK Supreme Court report documenting gross unethical practices, including coercion of "birth mothers" to relinquish their children. The task force is mainly composed of adoption agency personel, judges, attorneys, and one birth mother. It is open to the public and there were 5 adoptees there.

A panel of adoptive parents spoke about a new law they want passed called "Cooper's Law." It would nix the current requirement for all relinquishing mothers to appear before a Judge, and allow for them to simply sign the papers in the hospital or somewhere else and it be notarized. Several people spoke out against it.

Anyway, I made the statement that "it isn't too much to ask of any mother to appear before a judge since they are making such an important, permanent decision". And also stated that the "counseling" given by those who work for an adoption agency whose business it is to complete adoptions may be a conflict of interest. 

Sitting through these meetings and hearing a 2 hour discussion of how even "non-profit" adoption agencies (we all know "non-profit" doesn't necessarily mean no profit) don't want to legislate a "fee" cap or "expense" cap for adoptions because each case is so "different" ~ even though there is a case before the OK Supreme Court right now regarding an unethical adoption that cost over $120,000, makes it extremely hard to remain quiet.

We sit through these meetings feeling like this could be a discussion about the selling of cars, but certainly not people. The very people who must sit quietly and not dare speak about our legislated lack of medical history or roots. Even when several U.S. states have passed legislation restoring the right of adult adoptees to obtain their original birth certificates.

At this same meeting a comment was made by one of the task force members that she called the office of vital stats to see if they could track the number of adoptions in OK because it is so unregulated. She said they mentioned that some original birth certificates are coming in with the names of adoptive parents on them already, even before an amended birth certificate is created. I spoke up and asked if the members could address this issue because it is so important for adoptees to have an accurate obc, and it was as if it was such a minor issue they totally dismissed it, like it was so trivial it didn't deserve an answer.

Some would say that the new "open" adoptions are the answer to these issues. That adoptees will not "suffer" the same feelings of genealogical bewilderment because they will know their heritage and may even have contact with their original family. What the agencies fail to address is that "open" adoptions are not protected in law, and can become "closed" adoptions at any time, and many do. Even with "open" adoptions, the adoptee's original birth certificate is still "sealed" and an amended birth certificate created.

Some say WE need to get over our "issues"? The ones still being created, legislated, and dismissed.

The Price

© Photographer: Rolffimages | Agency: Dreamstime.com

You have all been redeemed at infinite cost: do not become slaves to men.

I Corinthians 7:23

 

As I was cleaning out my Mom's home during her recent move to assisted living, I came across some paperwork that made me stop in my tracks. Included, was the actual check she and my adoptive Dad wrote for the "finalization" of my adoption in 1968.

It even bore the stamp "Paid" across it.

Growing up I remember being very proud of my status as a "Chosen Child".

Now I realize it was a way of compensating for the uncomfortable feelings of "differentness" and subsequent questions lurking in my adopted mind. 

Unacknowledged thoughts and feelings that compounds the trauma of disenfranchised grief from which adoptees must disassociate in a society which views adoption as all party and no pain.

Yet sadly, in adoption, when money is exchanged and records of the child's original identity are sealed, it sets the environment for conflict of interest, as well as unethical and coercive activities.  It fails to protect the best interests of children and natural families.   It is essentially the buying and selling of children.

Adoptees are "chosen" = "bought" to fill a role.

Societal views of adoption are influenced by "professionals" (ie. brokers) who make their living off the business.

 

Truths of adoption are hidden behind the almighty dollar and adoptees are silenced into a fog of "gratefulness".

Very few adoption agencies will even acknowledge valuable works such as "The Primal Wound" which could actually educate society about the needs of adoptees. Why won't they?  Because it might damage their business.  

The OK Supreme Court case, "In the Matter of the Adoption of Baby Boy A" points out the lengths people will go to broker & procure a baby, including the use of private investigators, and objecting to the non-consent of natural parents.

In this case alone, $147,289.42 was paid in attorney's "fees" and adoption "costs" to obtain this precious commodity.  Baby Veronica, Baby Desirai and others...bought.  They are paying an even higher price than what was paid for them.        

 

Every adoptee's identity is bought, FOR a price...  

Birth certificates are "amended" upon the finalization of adoption to (inaccurately) state that adopters gave birth.  Identities are wiped out and changed so that adoptees will be "as if" born to another.  But is that truthful? 

 

Whose interest does that serve? 

 

Adoption law does not serve those who need homes, but those who want a child...and the brokers who use whatever means necessary to obtain the product.  Documents are falsified and original birth certificates are forever sealed from the very party it pertains to. 

As an adult adoptee, and a Christian, this all makes the spiritual concept of "redemption" take on a whole new significance. 

I'm so thankful our Creator God & Father paid the ultimate price to "redeem" us (means "to buy back" or "pay a ransom").      

Humans under "Contract"

                                                             * Art by Rachel Berstein

Proposed Law Would Make NJ Women "Baby Factories": Critics

"It changes criminal law, it changes civil law," Cassidy said. "It violates every policy we've ever had to preserve the rights of mothers and their children."
First, it would bring to an end New Jersey's three-day waiting period for intended parents to have both of their names placed on a birth certificate.

Second, it would allow for formal contracts to be drafted between intended families and women who bear children for them."

The operative word here is "contract"....where are the rights of the human-being being created by these unethical reproductive "musical chairs" tactics??? Nowhere.

Human-beings are not commodities ~ except in adoption and surrogacy. No "intended parent" should be listed on a child's birth certificate, ever. Yet, in adoption and surrogacy this is common practice.  Laws should be in place to ENSURE every American citizen a factual birth certificate, period. These are government documents, yet falsified by the state, due to laws enacted to protect a business of human-exchange.

Adoptees and donor-created individuals are NOT perpetual children, yet we are silent victims of these "contracts" allowed by law. We grow up and not afforded the same right as every other American citizen to a FACTUAL original birth certificate. They are falsified, sealed, and coerced from us in a business contract protected by "sealed records" laws, in a money-driven system of child-procurement ~ adoption and fertility "services".

Until adoptees and donor-created individuals refuse to be stripped of our civil right of identity, these unethical businesses will continue. Genealogists have estimated that within four more generations, NO American's family tree will be accurate, due to "contracts" and "sealed records" laws in adoption. When one person's rights are trampled on, it affects everyone. These human-rights violations cannot be ignored forever.

"Mr. Caterpillar": The Saga

© Photographer: Mkoudis | Agency: Dreamstime.com

It's amazing how every day "life" shares wisdom, if I am just open to listen.

One of my favorite times of the day is when I get to pick my son up from school. We are so blessed that he attends what I consider the BEST preschool in our hometown. Truly. He loves it, is growing and developing, feels loved, and shines the biggest smile both when he walks in the classroom each morning, and when I pick him up in the afternoon. I so wish he could get his college degree from this school! lol

Anyway, this afternoon, after my brief bask in feeling his little arms around my neck in our "pick me up from school hug", my son eagerly lifted his index finger to my face, proudly displaying a smiley face that had been carefully drawn with a marker. "Look Mommy", he excitedly said. "Mr. Caterpillar!" I drew my head back to focus on this tiny miracle of a finger he was so proud of, brought it to my lips, and gently kissed the smiling "caterpillar", which matched the smile on both our faces. What a joy he is.

We hurriedly made it down the hall and to the bathroom for our traditional "potty" stop before heading home. And that's where this tragedy began. In the stress of trying to hurry through the routine and make sure our hands were washed, I failed to take the time to really listen. You see, being premature, my son struggles with communication. He tries so hard, and is doing an amazing job. But it takes extra patience to encourage his voice, his words, for him to get his complete thought out, instead of being overcome with frustration and emotion in trying. Any time we are pressed for time or feeling the least bit stressed, it complicates this for him. That alone motivates me to grow as a person and parent. I take nothing for granted. Nothing. Because he was so small.

But in trying to get out of the bathroom quick, to let the next person in, I hurriedly "helped" him wash his hands and couldn't understand why he was so frantically protesting. "It's just dirt and we have to wash it off," I impatiently exclaimed, as Mr. Caterpillar's eyes and mouth (too tiny and unrecognizable to even jog my memory of the loving moment of our introduction just moments ago in the classroom) disappeared down the drain. Finally able to spit it out, "But Mommy, his eyes!", it was too late. "Mr. Caterpillar" was gone. In the minutes that ensued of anger and rebuke, I knew my son's heart was broken.

I so pray he will learn to more easily cry when he is hurt or disappointed. For his own sake. It hurts (understatement) to imagine what he must have endured those months in the NICU, along with the pain of being separated from his Mother. Jesus, fill him with Your "intensive care" to completely heal his heart and emotions, I pray.

After profusely apologizing, we finally made it out to the car. I rejoiced inside to see Andrew's sweet smile erupt as we artfully re-discovered "Mr. Caterpillar", his beloved friend. Not only did we draw "Mr. Caterpillar", but Mr. Caterpillar's Mommy & Daddy! What a love-fest as they all hugged and kissed in sweet reunion. MMMAUH!

This not so insignificant incident reminded me in so many ways of adoption.
Adoptee's very identities are legally washed down the drain, through "sealed records", yet how many times are they dismissed in the struggle to communicate, when this is such a primal (even preverbal) part of their experience?

Why aren't they heard when protesting "sealed records", or the unethical practice of "adoption" in today's society, which essentially equates to selling humans and sealing their identities from them? The outrageous financial transactions, unethical practices & laws surrounding adoption (fees, marketing and "incentives", and "sealed records") are screaming this truth, if only someone will listen. Thank God for the six US states who have listened (even The Child Welfare League of America supports adoptee access legislation) and passed laws restoring the civil right of adult adoptees to obtain their original birth certificate.

Is it too hard to hear because we are trying to accomplish a different agenda?

Even "Mr. Caterpillar" needed a little help to find himself out of the drain. Maybe now he can become a butterfly!

"A little child shall lead them."

Thank you, God, for such great teachers! Help us all learn to listen, I pray.

Adoption Truth: "Yes, I Gave Up My Baby"

An insightful article written by a First Mother at Adoption Truth..."Yes, I Gave Up My Baby."

Falsified Original Birth Certificates

© Photographer: Katn1999 | Agency: Dreamstime.com

Here are two articles on the same case in Florida which describes a very common practice in adoption ~ the falsification of the name of a natural mother on an original birth certificate. As in these cases, it was common for an adoption facilitator, agency, or attorney to encourage this practice.

In today's "open adoptions" the name of the potential adoptive parents are sometimes being listed on the child's original birth certificate, rather than waiting until the adoption is finalized and an amended birth certificate created.

This is a human rights violation and legislation should ensure that every American citizen has access to their own non-falsified original birth certificate, for identity, genealogical, and medical history.

Genealogists have concluded that because of archaic "sealed records" laws in adoption and fraudulant practices like this, a large percentage of all American's family genealogy will be inaccurate in another four generations. When we deny the human rights of one, it affects everyone.

Adoption in America will not be ethical and void of gross conflict of interest issues and civil rights violations until ALL adult adoptees are restored the unconditional right to obtain their obc; until legislation is passed to ensure unethical practices of falsifying birth certificates is stopped; and the almighty dollar is no longer the driving force in a supply/demand business of adoption.


MAN, 47, SUING TO ANNUL HIS OWN `BABY SALE' ADOPTION
http://poundpuplegacy.org/node/27405

Relates to: Winnie Faye Higginbotham Yarber (now Winnie Faye Whitaker)
Date: 1999-06-09
Miami Herald, The (FL)
Author: KAREN TESTA, Associated Press
Dateline: BOCA RATON

For nearly 20 years, Michael Chalek was tormented with unfulfilled questions of his birth, his adoption and his true parents.

Now, at age 47, he's condemned to know the answers.

Chalek discovered he'd been sold for $200 by a baby broker after his young mother was coerced into giving him up under an assumed name, state records unsealed recently show. Chalek claims that was the beginning of a childhood marked by sexual and verbal abuse.

His adoptive parents and the baby broker cannot defend themselves - they are all dead. But Chalek hopes a lawsuit filed this week in Alachua County will right some of the wrongs: he's asking to annul his 1953 adoption and get a new birth certificate with his true mother's name.

``By me doing that, it's making a statement that ought to be made,'' said Chalek, who moved a few months ago from Boca Raton to Estes, Colo. ``I think the individuals involved in this ought to be exposed.''

That has been Chalek's lifelong quest. He has been aided by investigators, including Virginia Snyder.

Chalek was born Jan. 25, 1952, in Jacksonville to Winnie Faye Higginbotham Yarber, a barroom waitress who had separated from her husband and became pregnant by another man.

Eight days later, the child then known as Baby Barnwell went home with Alex and Adela Chalek, who had contacted baby broker Lenora Fielding when they were not successful at having their own child, records show.

Florida adoption laws were not as strict then, and adoptions could be arranged by doctors or lawyers, said Josette P. Marquess, coordinator of the Florida Adoption Reunion Record. Adoptions such as those arranged by Fielding were not really legal - but that was largely ignored.

About a year after his adoption, Michael Chalek said, the Chaleks had their own son. Michael claims he began to suffer sexual abuse by his mother as he grew up in Gainesville and later in Atlanta. There is no record of any abuse being reported.

At age 11, he found out he was adopted and he became obsessed with wanting to know about his birth family, he said.

``It burned in my lower gut all the time,'' he said Tuesday. ``I always wondered every single day who I really was.''

A vital document
In 1981, Chalek found a document that named the hospital where he was born.

Seven years later, a judge listened to one of Chalek's repeated petitions to unseal his confidential records - something rarely done in Florida without a compelling medical need, Marquess said.

Judge Robert P. Cates allowed Chalek access to 100 pages of his early life's history. The revelations were startling, Chalek said.

Notes from state case workers showed Fielding coerced his birth mother into using a false name. The record also showed his mother asked a state worker if she could get the baby back.

The mother - Winnie Faye Whitaker - welcomed the telephone call this past December when Chalek finally found her. His birth father died sometime in the 1970s.

``I didn't want to give him up - but I was so young,'' said Whitaker, now 70, who added she supports Chalek's court request. ``I asked if I could just get the baby back, and they told me no. I'd already signed the papers.''

Those are the papers Chalek hopes to have annulled by his petition.

Madelyn Freundlich, executive director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute in New York, said annulments of adoptions are extremely rare. And of those, most are sought by the parents, not the children. She's never heard of a new birth certificate being issued.

``This is really an unbelievable set of circumstances,'' said Freundlich, whose institute studies adoption issues.

Anger over payment
Attorney Mallory Horne, former Florida Senate president and House speaker who filed the petition on Chalek's behalf, said Chalek was angered by the fact his parents paid his birth mother for him.

``He took it more in the nature of a buying him, which really was an insult to him,'' Horne said.

Chalek hoped to sue the attorney who brought his adoption to the court and the judge who approved it - both now elderly men. Horne advised him he'd have no case.

Instead, Chalek has turned his efforts to mobilizing other adoptees in similar situations and has set up a website, www.adoption-fraud.com. He hopes if the annulment is successful it will pave the way for others to follow suit.

Marquess fears a chilling effect if he's successful.

``What happens then when adopted children are disgruntled for whatever reason? . . . I say disgruntled, certainly not abused as Michael said he was,'' she said. ``. . . We are a litigious society, and I think we are litigious about things we don't need to be litigious about.''

Chalek is beyond litigious. He's writing a book and is showing no signs of letting this chapter of his life rest easily.

``I have covered every inch in this,'' he said. ``I am going all out with this.''

Birth certificate access is civil rights issue | NewsOK.com

Birth certificate access is civil rights issue | NewsOK.com

The OK Legislative Adoption Review Task Force was comprised mainly of "professionals" who make their living in adoption. The meetings were open to the public and after sitting through two years of meetings, hearing argument after argument about what should be "acceptable" expenses and fees that can be charged in adoption, adult adoptees were given the last thirty minutes of the last meeting to speak about adoptee rights. It points out so well that adoption is a business, complete with supply/demand principles, with adoptees being prime commodity.

OK is far from an "open records" state, like our neighbor to the north, KS, but Judges are given latitude to grant adoptee access to their adoption record/obc with "good cause" shown. The language the legislators added to their current adoption bill, HB 1748, actually strips adoptee's right to obtain their obc even more than in current law. It mentions that Judges can grant access to adoptees only if they balance "adoptee rights with birth parent privacy". State after state is finding that birth parents were never promised, nor asked for, perpetual anonymity under the law.

Even more disconcerting, is the fact that we were made aware during these meetings that the OK Department of Health is finding that, in some cases, the targeted adoptive parents in an "open adoption" are being listed as the child's parents on the original birth certificate, even before an adoption is finalized and an amended birth certificate is created. This is a grave human rights violation, because when that adoptee becomes an adult, they will not even have a factual original birth certificate to request.

Adoption agencies are not being held accountable. Mothers they "counsel" will do whatever they are encouraged to do. They trust what they are told from the "professionals" will be in the best interest of their child.

Adoption is wrought with "conflict of interest" issues that fail the very individual it professes to be serving.

Oklahoma legislative task force on adoption completes work

Oklahoma legislative task force on adoption completes work | NewsOK.com

Adult adoptees in OK appreciate the work Representative Nelson has done in ensuring better financial over sight in adoption. It was gravely needed, based on the findings of this Oklahoma Grand Jury investigation . Interestingly enough, the task force consisted mostly of those who make their living in the business of adoption.

Six U.S. states have passed legislation restoring the UNCONDITIONAL human right of adult adoptees to access their original birth certificate. The legislation recently passed in both Maine and New Hampshire, for example, is strongly supported by The Child Welfare League of America. The states that have passed this legislation, as well as the Tennessee Supreme Court, determined that birth parents were never guaranteed "perpetual anonymity" under the law. Sealed records were not even enacted until the 1940's to protect newly formed adoptive families, not birth parents. Mothers were given no choice but to relinquish their children under sealed records laws, and a whopping 97-99% WANT to know where their child is. "Birth parent privacy" is a myth of the adoption industry. In fact, mother's who surrendered their babies for adoption are also asking for records to be unsealed. Kansas has never sealed obc's of adult adoptees. Abortion rates do not go up, and adoption rates do not go down in states which have done the right thing and restored the dignity and rights of adult adoptees.

In state law now, a Judge can open adoption records for "just cause". Adding any mention of "birth parent privacy" into the law is a farce, because state after state is realizing that it didn't/doesn't exist. If a birth mother relinquishes her child for adoption, but for some reason the child is not legally adopted and lives in foster care, for example, their original birth certificate is never sealed from them.

The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute has an excellent report on their website entitled "For the Records" which explains this issue in depth. This is a civil rights issue for millions of adoptees in America. There is more work to do.

In the task force meeting, it was made to sound as if the intent in the new bill would be that a Judge should always determine the adult adoptee's right to obtain their records as a right that outweighs "privacy rights" of a birth parent.

We tried to explain that:

1) Adoptee's don't request medical records of a birth parent ~ they request their OWN original birth certificate or adoption file, and

2) In states that have passed unconditional access legislation, it has been found that "birth parent privacy" rights is a myth, because birth parents did not ask for, nor were they promised "perpetual anonymity" under the law.)

However, the language that made it to Oklahoma Senate Bill 510 was this:

I. In consideration of a request for the disclosure of birth-parent medical records to an adult adoptee, the court shall authorize the disclosure of such records only if the rights of the adult adoptee outweigh the privacy rights of the birth parent.

Every other American citizen has the right to obtain their original birth certificate, and adoptee's should have that right restored also.

We are thankful that the OK Legislature commissioned the OK Adoption Review Task Force and that it was open to the public. They heard the voices of adult adoptees, first parents, and adoptive parents who attended the meetings, and SB 510 will help to provide better recording and financial oversight in OK adoptions.

The author of the bill and several other legislators we've spoken with understand the issue of adoptee's accessing their records in adulthood, and have agreed to remove the language. The OK Adoption Code currently allows a Judge to grant adoptee access to their file/obc with "just cause", and until OK joins the growing list of states who pass true Adoptee Access legislation, it is better than the language recommended from the task force.

•Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
-- "Letter from Birmingham Jail," April 16, 1963 ~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

A Civil Right

A Civil Right: Adoptees Should Have Access to Their Birth Certificates
Posted by: Adam Pertman, Executive Director, Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute
Posted: January 12, 2011 10:54 AM

At the beginning of the 1900s, grim predictions punctuated the debate over women's suffrage. Everyone in the family unit would be damaged in innumerable ways if this outrage were allowed to happen, argued the critics, some of whom went so far as to predict the end of civilization itself.

Half a century later, another historic social change was in the offing, and the warnings of impending disaster were at least as dire. Indeed, some opponents of the movement to extend civil rights to people of color in our country were so sure that personal and social ruin were lurking around the corner that they fought with filibusters, nooses and guns to maintain the status quo.

Forecasting the future evidently is a difficult thing to do. Looking back is obviously easier, and it leads to two unambiguous conclusions. First, whether the effort is to give women the vote, provide African-Americans with equal rights, create access for people with disabilities -- or level the playing field for any other discriminated-against segment of the population -- there will be nay-sayers who insist that horrible things will occur if the sought-after change is allowed to transpire. Second, they will be wrong.

No, this is not a commentary about "don't ask, don't tell" or any other gay rights issue, though the identical observations would certainly apply. Rather, it's about providing legal and moral equality for a segment of our population that is not generally perceived as deprived of any rights: the approximately 7 million Americans who were adopted into their families. And the right denied to most of them is so basic that it almost sounds like a joke: access to their own original birth certificates.

There are lots of reasons that adopted people want the same documents, containing the same information, that the rest of us take for granted. Some have medical motives, including individuals who need a matching organ or information about an inherited disease; others want to know about their heritage or genealogy (anyone remember Alex Haley?) or why their eyes are green or what their original names were; and many yearn to see the faces of the women and men who gave them life.

At the bottom line, however, those are not the reasons it should matter to everyone that adopted people, on reaching the age of majority, cannot automatically obtain their own original birth certificates like the rest of us. We should care, and we should feel outraged, for the same reason so many men supported suffrage for women and so many white Americans joined the civil rights struggle -- because we should find it offensive when any minority group in society is deprived of equal rights.

Here's where the nay-sayers come in. Honest-to-goodness, the following are among the consequences they say will occur if state legislatures give adult adoptees the right to access their original birth certificates: The number of adoptions in our country will fall, the number of abortions will rise, the lives of women who were promised lifelong anonymity when they placed their children for adoption will be ruined and, yes, adoption itself will be in peril.
Research in the field, including by the independent, nonpartisan think tank that I head, refutes or calls into serious question every one of those claims; here you can read the latest report on the subject.

Equally important, this is not a guessing game or a social experiment. During the last decade, more than a half-dozen very diverse states in terms of geography and politics -- from Oregon to Alabama to Maine -- have done what the nay-sayers warned them not to do, and two states -- Alaska and Kansas -- never sealed these documents, as most of the nation did in the last century. Guess what calamitous fallout there has been in these states.

None.

Will some people face difficult or unexpected situations, or even get hurt, as a result of extending this right from coast to coast? Almost certainly, but we know from research, experience and official statistics (in the above states) that the numbers of those adversely affected will be tiny -- and we should do all we can for them by taking steps such as providing public notice, offering counseling, and giving women who placed their children for adoption the ability to officially declare if they do not want to be contacted.

Is this issue as important as women's rights or civil rights or disability rights or gay rights? Maybe or maybe not, but it's not a contest to see which group should get rights and which should not. Besides, this much is certain: Every additional day, month and year that original birth certificates remain sealed, some more adoptees and birth parents who want or need to find each other will give up instead, and some more will die, without ever filling the hole in their hearts.

So it sure does feel important to the people who are deprived. And if we understand that it's about equality and social justice for another group of Americans -- 7 million of them -- maybe we'll feel it, too.

Adam Pertman is Executive Director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute and author of "Adoption Nation: How the Adoption Revolution is Transforming Our Families - and America," which is scheduled for release in April and has been reviewed as "the most important book ever published on the subject."