There are access to original birth certificate bills pending in both Michigan and Washington State. If you have an adoption connection to either of these states, letters of support for the legislation are needed. Below is the information:
MICHIGAN
For Michigan – contact members of the Families and Children’s Services Committee before March 17 to support :
HB 4006 -
HB 4015 -
For more information, contact one of AAC’s Michigan reps, Tina Caudill.
WASHINGTON
ASAP:
For Washington, Contact members of the Senate Committee for Human Services and Corrections to support SB 6320 before the Feb 5 hearing
Send emails to your legislator urging their support of SB 6320 by using a link on the "Legislator Info" tab at http://www.leg.wa.gov/pages/home.aspx and you can call using the toll free Legislative Hotline 1.800.562.6000.
For more information, contact AAC member Jodi Hansen at or wa-care@wa-care.org.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
DNA Data Bank The Real Solution in Haiti and Worldwide
My esteemed colleague Dr. Karen Rotabi, Assistant Professor of Social Work for Virginia Commonwealth University, and volunteer Hague Evaluator for the US Department of State/Council on Accreditation has made an excellent contribution to the issues that the rush to adopt in haiti have created.
In Haitian “Orphans”: A US Social Worker’s Caution and Recommendations for Policy by Karen Smith Rotabi, PhD, MSW, MPH Karen reports:
"Right now, children are being flown into the USA on humanitarian visas for medical care. For example, the Shriners Hospital of Springfield, Massachusetts has a specialty in Orthopedics and they are receiving a small number of children for care. “Once these children enter into a phase of rehabilitation, they will need temporary care with families in the USA and we are already beginning to work on that issue” said social worker DeGuerre Blackburn, Executive Director of Voices for International Development and Adoption (VIDA). Blackburn, who has been consulting with the project emphasized that DNA tests will be essential because eventually reuniting these children with their families in Haiti, whenever possible, is the number one priority. Because some of these children have uncertain identities, as is the case with major disasters, creating a DNA databank is essential in Blackburn’s opinion. VIDA is currently taking the lead in investigating the options for DNA testing and developing a strategy for this small group of children."
I was with Karen in Guatemala when we both saw first hand how DNA tests are phonied. She thus suggests:
"...a third party organization with a strong information management system which has no financial interest in intercountry adoption will be critical to a step towards developing a [DNA testing] system which has the best interests of the child at heart. This may be a government organization or even better, a reputable non-governmental organization which can quickly and assuredly set forth the process, collaborating with the private sector which can donate the tests as a part of their humanitarian disaster assistance. Developing protocol for such a DNA testing and information management system could provide valuable lessons for disaster management and humanitarian aid on a global-basis.
"Such a system would insure that the best interests of the child with the primary goal of child reunification with their family or kinship group. While we may argue how to do this efficiently, the fundamental value for a systematic and ethical child welfare response is non-negotiable."
Haiti Adoption Pro and Con
The New York Times Opinion Forum presents the views of David Smolin, child trafficking expert against Prof Elizabeth Bartholet, pro-adoption attorney, E.J. Graff, Dr. Jane Aronson, Cynthia Mabry, Diane Kunz, Center for Adoption Policy, Darron Smith U of Utah.
Smolin: "Adoption trafficking has continued because the adoption community has chosen to minimize the problems, rather than fix the system. Since you can’t fix what you will not admit is broken, there is a perverse tendency to repeat, over and over again, the same mistakes in intercountry adoption."
Bartholet: "For most unparented children — children with no prospect of living with birth parents — the best option by far is early placement in adoption, and for children in poor countries adoptive homes will generally exist only internationally....it is hypocritical to delay or shut down such adoption in the name of protecting children. The real risk of abuses occurs when unparented children are not placed for adoption. "
Mabry: "...the Haitian government should declare a moratorium on adoptions until it can ascertain which of the children actually are orphaned."
Graff: "Part of what’s misleading are the words “orphan” and “orphanage.” After the Aceh tsunami, Save the Children reports, 97.5 percent of “tsunami orphans” were placed in “orphanages” — child-caring institutions — by their families so they could get an education. They didn’t need new families; their living families needed micropayments to fund school fees, books, and uniforms."
Aronson: "any rush to expedite adoptions not already in process and without the appropriate papers in place could potentially lead to child trafficking, kidnapping (even inadvertently) and abuse.
Adoption is not necessarily the best road to take. First, we must remember that families have been separated, but not destroyed. Even if a child’s parents were killed in the quake, close relatives are often eager to find and take responsibility for the child."
Smith, co-editor of “Black and Mormon”: "My research has found that black and biracial children often struggle with their cultural identity growing up in a white-dominated context. But in most cases, children of color are not taught how to deal with issues of race and conflict that they are may encounter when raised in white communities."
Smolin: "Adoption trafficking has continued because the adoption community has chosen to minimize the problems, rather than fix the system. Since you can’t fix what you will not admit is broken, there is a perverse tendency to repeat, over and over again, the same mistakes in intercountry adoption."
Bartholet: "For most unparented children — children with no prospect of living with birth parents — the best option by far is early placement in adoption, and for children in poor countries adoptive homes will generally exist only internationally....it is hypocritical to delay or shut down such adoption in the name of protecting children. The real risk of abuses occurs when unparented children are not placed for adoption. "
Mabry: "...the Haitian government should declare a moratorium on adoptions until it can ascertain which of the children actually are orphaned."
Graff: "Part of what’s misleading are the words “orphan” and “orphanage.” After the Aceh tsunami, Save the Children reports, 97.5 percent of “tsunami orphans” were placed in “orphanages” — child-caring institutions — by their families so they could get an education. They didn’t need new families; their living families needed micropayments to fund school fees, books, and uniforms."
Aronson: "any rush to expedite adoptions not already in process and without the appropriate papers in place could potentially lead to child trafficking, kidnapping (even inadvertently) and abuse.
Adoption is not necessarily the best road to take. First, we must remember that families have been separated, but not destroyed. Even if a child’s parents were killed in the quake, close relatives are often eager to find and take responsibility for the child."
Smith, co-editor of “Black and Mormon”: "My research has found that black and biracial children often struggle with their cultural identity growing up in a white-dominated context. But in most cases, children of color are not taught how to deal with issues of race and conflict that they are may encounter when raised in white communities."
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
UPDATE: Would-Be Adopter Arrested in Baby Gabriel Case
Update on missing Baby Gabriel story first reported here.
Tammi Smith, 37, was charged with conspiracy to commit custodial interference, custodial interference and forgery ans is considered a "person of interest" regaridng the missing eight-month old.
Smith told police that she and her husband planned to adopt Gabriel from his mother, Elizabeth Johnson, but that the boy's biological father, Logan McQueary, would not go along with it. Police say Smith provided wrong information on custody paperwork, falsely identifying Gabriel's father.
Gabriel's mother, remains in jail. She has pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping and custodial interference. Police say she told them she gave the boy to a couple she met at a park in Texas.
Tammi Smith, 37, was charged with conspiracy to commit custodial interference, custodial interference and forgery ans is considered a "person of interest" regaridng the missing eight-month old.
Smith told police that she and her husband planned to adopt Gabriel from his mother, Elizabeth Johnson, but that the boy's biological father, Logan McQueary, would not go along with it. Police say Smith provided wrong information on custody paperwork, falsely identifying Gabriel's father.
Gabriel's mother, remains in jail. She has pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping and custodial interference. Police say she told them she gave the boy to a couple she met at a park in Texas.
Vote By Feb 18 to Restore Access to OBCs!
Change in America is an annual competition run by Change.org. Last year was the first competition launched immediately following the 2008 presidential election, during which time people across the country submitted more than 7,500 ideas and 650,000 votes.
This year, Cully Ray, a state representative for American Adoption Congress posted her
idea for change - "Return Adult Adoptees the right to their Original Birth Certificates"
Her idea is currently in 2nd place in the Human Rights category with 95 votes (Mon. night at 6pm).
The more votes it gets the better the chances are that it will be presented in Washington DC. Please keep spreading the word - To support the idea, all you have to do is click on this link and you can vote in less than a minute.
DO IT RIGHT NOW!!! An tell all your family and freinds to vote, too. This is a HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE! You don't have to be adopted to care about it. I'm straight and I care about gay rights!
This year, Cully Ray, a state representative for American Adoption Congress posted her
idea for change - "Return Adult Adoptees the right to their Original Birth Certificates"
Her idea is currently in 2nd place in the Human Rights category with 95 votes (Mon. night at 6pm).
The more votes it gets the better the chances are that it will be presented in Washington DC. Please keep spreading the word - To support the idea, all you have to do is click on this link and you can vote in less than a minute.
DO IT RIGHT NOW!!! An tell all your family and freinds to vote, too. This is a HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE! You don't have to be adopted to care about it. I'm straight and I care about gay rights!
Monday, February 1, 2010
The Road to Hell ...
UPDATE on the continuing saga of the Predators Arrested in Haiti posted yesterday, and updated.
"From what I know until now, this is a kidnapping case," Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told CNN regarding The Baptist Ten. "Who is doing it, I don't know. What are the real objectives or activities, I don't know. But that is kidnapping, and it is more serious because it's involving children."
He added, "The children certainly were not fully willing to go, because in some cases, from what I heard, they were asking for their parents, they wanted to return to their parents."
The U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince downplayed accusations of kidnapping and child trafficking, claiming the Holy Rollers had been detained for "alleged violations of Haitian laws related to immigration."
George Willeit of SOS Children's Villages believes that at least 10 of the 33 children they were removing are not orphans.
The missionaries plan, as outlined here, called for them to arrive Jan 22; take a bus to Prt au Prince the following day and "gather 100 orphans from the streets and collapsed orphanages..." and bring them to their Dominican "refuge" on Jan 24th.
Their own words prove they had no intention of making any attpemt whatsoever to determine if the children they were snatching up were orphans or not!
So much for their claims of being well-intentioned! Is it well intentioned - or kidnapping - to walk into a supermarket in and grab any kid whose mother turns her head to select food?
And how do they justify plans to create Villas for adopting parents instead of spending that money to help the kids in Haiti! This is KIDNAPPING with intent to BABY SELL, otherwise known as CHILD TRAFFICKING! Wish I was on their jury!
Is this any different from Islamist militants accused of kidnapping thirteen Christian girls from a remote area of south-east Nigeria in May of 2008? Did they have good intentions as well? Two of the recovered girls, Mary Chikwodi Okoye, 15, and Uche Edward, 14, were said to have been planned as brides for Muslim men to expand Islam.
The militant kidnappers also destroyed the Deeper Life Bible Church, St Mary's Catholic Church, All Souls Anglican Church, Church of Christ in Nigeria, Redeemed Christian Church of God, and the Redeemed Peoples Mission.
Kidnapping of teenage Christian girls by Muslims, the pastor said, has become a recurring practice in Ningi. Muslims have kidnapped at least 13 Christian girls in the town, Christian sources said.
"These girls are usually kidnapped, forcefully converted to Islam, and then married out to other Muslim men against the will of both the girls and their parents," Joseph Abdu, pastor of Deeper Life Bible Church said.
Both incidents are kidnappings for the purpose of religious conversion. In both cases the victims were a commodity. Neither had the best interest of the victims in mind. One saved them from Christianity and the other for Christianity.
Will American Christians - Baptists - support or denounce them?
"From what I know until now, this is a kidnapping case," Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told CNN regarding The Baptist Ten. "Who is doing it, I don't know. What are the real objectives or activities, I don't know. But that is kidnapping, and it is more serious because it's involving children."
He added, "The children certainly were not fully willing to go, because in some cases, from what I heard, they were asking for their parents, they wanted to return to their parents."
The U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince downplayed accusations of kidnapping and child trafficking, claiming the Holy Rollers had been detained for "alleged violations of Haitian laws related to immigration."
George Willeit of SOS Children's Villages believes that at least 10 of the 33 children they were removing are not orphans.
The missionaries plan, as outlined here, called for them to arrive Jan 22; take a bus to Prt au Prince the following day and "gather 100 orphans from the streets and collapsed orphanages..." and bring them to their Dominican "refuge" on Jan 24th.
Their own words prove they had no intention of making any attpemt whatsoever to determine if the children they were snatching up were orphans or not!
So much for their claims of being well-intentioned! Is it well intentioned - or kidnapping - to walk into a supermarket in and grab any kid whose mother turns her head to select food?
And how do they justify plans to create Villas for adopting parents instead of spending that money to help the kids in Haiti! This is KIDNAPPING with intent to BABY SELL, otherwise known as CHILD TRAFFICKING! Wish I was on their jury!
Is this any different from Islamist militants accused of kidnapping thirteen Christian girls from a remote area of south-east Nigeria in May of 2008? Did they have good intentions as well? Two of the recovered girls, Mary Chikwodi Okoye, 15, and Uche Edward, 14, were said to have been planned as brides for Muslim men to expand Islam.
The militant kidnappers also destroyed the Deeper Life Bible Church, St Mary's Catholic Church, All Souls Anglican Church, Church of Christ in Nigeria, Redeemed Christian Church of God, and the Redeemed Peoples Mission.
Kidnapping of teenage Christian girls by Muslims, the pastor said, has become a recurring practice in Ningi. Muslims have kidnapped at least 13 Christian girls in the town, Christian sources said.
"These girls are usually kidnapped, forcefully converted to Islam, and then married out to other Muslim men against the will of both the girls and their parents," Joseph Abdu, pastor of Deeper Life Bible Church said.
Both incidents are kidnappings for the purpose of religious conversion. In both cases the victims were a commodity. Neither had the best interest of the victims in mind. One saved them from Christianity and the other for Christianity.
Will American Christians - Baptists - support or denounce them?
The NCFA is Infiltrating School Curriculum
BEWARE! This is a big reason they are IN BED with the Religious Wrong! The Religious Right has a long history of effecting change by getting "their people" on school boards. It is the easiest way - no elections, no petitions, no referendum. Just people filling open slots no one else wants or has time for. And voila! You have the ability to change the thinking of an entire generation. Get them young and innocent and mold their minds!
This suggestion is vile:
In the debate regarding sex education and the increase in teen pregnancies [news story, Jan. 26], one important component is blaringly absent from sex-ed curricula -- the adoption option.
The omission of a viable alternative is perplexing, given that the public holds an overwhelmingly favorable attitude toward adoption and that omitting adoption runs counter to the goal of schools to provide students with accurate information on all options available in cases of unplanned pregnancy.
Eight states have legislation requiring school districts to include adoption in their sex-ed curricula as a possible and positive outcome to an unplanned pregnancy. An informed decision to make an adoption plan can be highly beneficial for teenagers making tough choices. States that require adoption awareness education can serve as examples to those states yet to address this important issue. We urge all states to ensure that the adoption option does not get lost in the noise of the abstinence-only debate.
Elisa Rosman, Alexandria
The writer is director of research for the National Council for Adoption.
You can comment here.
Adoption has NOTHING whatsoever to do with sex education. Adoption is far more a result of poverty.
What is needed in sex ed classes is in-depth explanation of the many the preventable causes of infertility: environmental contaminants, delayed childbirth, obesity, sexually transmitted disease, multiple abortions...
Not, "don't use boirth control and if you get pregnant adoption is a loving option!" That is tantamount to recruiting baby-making brood mares in high school across the country! URRRRGH!!
The following is my letter-to-the editor, which I hope they print:
The points in this letter make an excellent argument to your local school dstrict as well! Be Pro-active! Find out what they are teaching students in your hometown. Are you one of the eight states? Is your state about to become number 9 or 10?
This suggestion is vile:
The adoption option
The Washington Post, Monday, February 1, 2010In the debate regarding sex education and the increase in teen pregnancies [news story, Jan. 26], one important component is blaringly absent from sex-ed curricula -- the adoption option.
The omission of a viable alternative is perplexing, given that the public holds an overwhelmingly favorable attitude toward adoption and that omitting adoption runs counter to the goal of schools to provide students with accurate information on all options available in cases of unplanned pregnancy.
Eight states have legislation requiring school districts to include adoption in their sex-ed curricula as a possible and positive outcome to an unplanned pregnancy. An informed decision to make an adoption plan can be highly beneficial for teenagers making tough choices. States that require adoption awareness education can serve as examples to those states yet to address this important issue. We urge all states to ensure that the adoption option does not get lost in the noise of the abstinence-only debate.
Elisa Rosman, Alexandria
The writer is director of research for the National Council for Adoption.
You can comment here.
Better still find out if it is in YOUR school districts curriculum and seek equal time or ask for it to be stopped.
Adoption has NOTHING whatsoever to do with sex education. Adoption is far more a result of poverty.
What is needed in sex ed classes is in-depth explanation of the many the preventable causes of infertility: environmental contaminants, delayed childbirth, obesity, sexually transmitted disease, multiple abortions...
Not, "don't use boirth control and if you get pregnant adoption is a loving option!" That is tantamount to recruiting baby-making brood mares in high school across the country! URRRRGH!!
The following is my letter-to-the editor, which I hope they print:
Ellen Rosman (1/31/10) favors teaching high school children that it is ok to become pregnant as long as they make the "loving option" to give their child to others. Eight school districts have bought into this sales pitch from the National Council for Adoption (NCFA), Rosman's employer, who are lobbyists and marketing spokespersons for the multi-billion dollar adoption industry. The NCFA works closely with the Religious Right to promote "just say no" and pro-adoption agendas to increase their flock and to keep adoption agencies - including non-profits - in business by convincing mothers to relinquish their infants to meet a demand.You can submit letter-to-theeditor (under 250 words & include your name, address and phone) by sending it to: letters@washpost.com
A generation ago it was believed that adoption wiped the slate clean and mothers would go on free of their “sin,” forget, have other children, as if nothing had happened. We know now that is not true.
The loss of a child to adoption is irrevocable and creates irresolvable grief along with a constellation of recognized lifelong affects such as increased chance of secondary infertility, depression, loss of self-esteem, shame, guilt and PTSD.
Losing a child to adoption is not something we want to portray in a positive light. No one wants their child to suffer a lifetime of grief.
If adoption is part of any curriculum it must be taught objectively and fairly, not glorified as a win-win “loving choice” as the NCFA does.
The points in this letter make an excellent argument to your local school dstrict as well! Be Pro-active! Find out what they are teaching students in your hometown. Are you one of the eight states? Is your state about to become number 9 or 10?
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