For current information on Action Alerts for
adult adoptee civil rights legislation in states around the country go to the Bastard Nation website.
NEW! The Birthparent Project
The Birthparent
Project was created to:
1) Collect statistical data to present to lawmakers and the
media debating equal access legislation for adult adoptees.
2) Collect copies of actual surrender papers to see what indeed was "promised"
to birthmothers and birthfathers.
3) Determine specifically and conclusively what birthparents asked for, or were promised,
regarding having their identity kept secret from their offspring.
4) See to it that the truth of birthparents' wishes, in regard to adoption records, are
made known.
Nationwide, state-by-state, adults who were adopted as children are fighting to regain the
right to their own birth and medical records. Sealed adoption records deny this one
class of citizens the same rights as all other non-adopted citizens.
THE GOAL is ONE MILLION BIRTHPARENTS FOR OPEN RECORDS!
If you placed a child for adoption and believe that they deserve the same rights as
non-adopted citizens...then STAND UP and be counted! CLICK HERE!
New Hampshire
On January 1, 2005 New Hampshire born adult adoptees will be able to
obtain a copy of their original birth certificates! The birthparents of these
adopted adults will have the opportunity to disclose to the adult adoptee whether they
wish to be contacted or not by use of the Contact Preference Form. For all forms and
information click here.
For those mothers and/or fathers who DO desire contact,
completing the CPF will provide updated contact information to the adult adoptee.
The mothers and/or fathers of those adopted adults who may NOT want contact must request
(or download), fill out, and return their CPF PRIOR TO JANUARY 1, 2005 to insure that they
will not be contacted, though they can still file the CPF after January 1, 2005.
New Hampshire Vital Statistics have begun
posting the Pre-Adoption statistics on their website. It will be updated the first
of every week. Click here. It is located at the bottom of the page.
Massachusetts
M.A.R.T.A. Massachusetts Rights to All is for people in Massachusetts
working towards getting our original, unaltered, and unamended birth certificates
opened. We have taken the opportunity to join together and coordinate efforts to try
and push this bill through. The bill has recently been moved from the Judiciary Committee
after sitting stagnant for two years, to the Children and Families committee, where, with
joined efforts with our Senators, this actually could be a dream come true!! At this time
the bill has not been heard, but we are hoping that will change, and change soon!
Please help us pass SB 959 this year. Here is a link to the petition (hard copies in
files folder)Feel free to send it around to all MA Residents. All info they give is
not posted anywhere and cannot be viewed by people who are signing petition. http://www.petitiononline.com/MARTA/petition.html
Here is a link to SB 959; the actual bill that is being
decided upon.
http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/senate/st00/st00959.htm
Texas
Were you -- or was someone you know -- born in Texas before birth
records were sealed from (adult) adoptee access in the mid-1970s? A new law took
effect September 1, 2005, which allows such folks access to a copy of their original birth
record IF they know the names of their birthparents, which are on those certificates.
The requirements for applicants may be found at
http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/vs/reqproc/adoption_general.shtm
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Essays
Telling our stories in film, plays, books and essays empowers the
author and all who see and read them.
The Eight Fallacies of
Adoption by Anne D. Slagle, adoptee from The Alma Society
The
idea of adoption: an inquiry into the history of adult adoptee access to birth records.
53 Rutgers L. Rev. 367-436 (2001) by Elizabeth J. Samuels
The Recovery Process, Post-reunion by Kate Neal, from the
point of view of an adpotee.
The Day I Threw My Guilt Away by Sheila Ganz
they said a poem by Sheila Ganz
Thesis to the play "they said, 'pretend it
didnt happen'" by Sheila Ganz
Rape, Relinquishment and Closed Records by
Sheila Ganz, an essay originally written for an anthology supporting the
civil right of adult adoptees to obtain their original birth certificate and other
information about their adoption.
A Bullet to the Brain a poem by Mary Jane Klein
Hagofsky
Come my little angel a poem by Jennifer
Beck-Robinson
Seek and ye shall find by Andy
Mirror, Mirror a poem by Craig Hickman
Letter to a Wisconsin Adoption Bureaucrat, June
2001 by Craig Hickman
If you would like to contribute an essay to this website, please email your essay to
Sheila Ganz at unlockingheart@hotmail.com
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© 2005 Sheila Ganz