Victory in New Hampshire! – SB335, Open Records for Adult Adoptees goes to Governor for Signature
Bastard Nation: the Adoptee Rights Organization congratulates the New Hampshire Legislature for pounding one more nail into the sealed records coffin with its passage of SB 335 which restores the unrestricted right of birth record access to New Hampshire’s adult adoptees. The bill, which earlier passed the Senate, now goes to Governor Craig Benson for his signature.
“This was a team effort,” says Bastard Nation Executive Chair, Marley Greiner.” Bastard Nation and the American Adoption Congress, along with numerous state adoptee rights groups worked together to make sure that the right to records for ALL adults adopted in the state was restored–not just to some.”
Special thanks go to SB 335 sponsor and adoptive father Sen. Lou D’Allesandro who insisted that the bill remain clean with no conditional amendments attached, Deputy House Speaker Mike Whalley who guided the bill through the House, and AAC NH State Director Paul Shibbellhute who brought the bill to Sen. D’Allesandro and put in many long hours gathering the troops and organizing testimony. And of course, we thank our own Proud Bastard, NH State Rep. Janet Allen, without whom none of this would have happened, who asked the right questions in committee and spoke eloquently on its behalf on the floor of the House.
The victory in New Hampshire breaks the notion that regional cultural differences can inhibit or prevent unconditional access legislation from passing. Dr. Ansardi, Bastard Nation’s legislative chair and the vice president of Alabamans Working for Adoption Reform and Education, which in 1999 led the successful campaign to re-open records in that state says. “We now have won unconditional access in Oregon, Alabama, and New Hampshire. Three very diverse locations — the Pacific Northwest, The Deep South, and New England. Who’s next?”
Supporters and sponsors of SB 335 inside the legislature are currently discussing with Gov. Benson his support of the bill. Please do not contact the Governor’s office unless directed to do so by a Bastard Nation Action Alert.
April 30, 2004
