Bastard Nation: the Adoptee Rights Organization
www.bastards.org 614-372-5535 @bastardsunite
BASTARD NATION ACTION ALERT
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March 9, 2019
Florida adoptees need your help immediately
Please contact the Florida House Health Quality Subcommittee Today
HB597: VOTE NO
Last minute!
Florida HB597 is scheduled to be heard before the House Health Quality Subcommittee on Tuesday, March 14, 2019. This is an awful bill that does nothing to restore the right of Original Birth Certificate (OBC) ) access to Florida adoptees. The bill creates a paternalistic forced reunion system in order for an adoptee to access her or his own Original Birth Certificate–or rather in this case, a summary of it. It contends birth record access is about an individual personal desire or curiosity rather than a civil right and political issue by conflating “reunion” with rights. It keeps Florida adoptees and their families hostage to archaic laws and customs, promotes continued shame in adoption, and maintains the iron lock of the state on our birth records and personal autonomy.
Adoptees or descendants who qualify after dragging themselves through a series of bureaucratic and demeaning hoops (see below) will not even receive a copy of their OBC. Instead, they will get an abbreviated summary of the OBC that consists of the full names and ages of the birth parents, the date when the child was born, the county where the child was born and the full name given to the child at birth.
Oh, and a bare bone tossed to you: adoptive parent consent not required!
Incredibly this bilge is written and sponsored by Rep, Richard Stark, an adoptee and supported, as a baby step, by Florida Adoption Reform and Education (FLARE)
HB597 mandates that adoptees or their descendants:
- “connect” (whatever that means) with at least one birthparent before an application for the fake OBC can be made; in effect, a forced reunion
- register with the state-run Florida Adoption Reunion Registry (FARR) before the “OBC” request can be made
- attach written proof to the “OBC” application that a “connection” with a birthparent was made through FARR (Apparently even those reunited by other means are required to reunite a second time though FARR)
*****
Early this morning the Adoptee Rights Law Center issued an Action Alert, To expedite response to this travesty (and not remake the wheel) Bastard Nation is distributing this Action Alert. Please contact the subcommittee!
HB597, a discriminatory bill in Florida that requires an adoptee to “connect with” a birth parent through the Florida adoption registry in order to request an original birth certificate, is set for a subcommittee hearing in the Florida House of Representatives on Tuesday, March 12, 2019. It is a terrible bill that will negatively impact the future of Florida adoptee rights, likely for decades.
I am asking advocates, allies, and supporters of adoptee rights to contact members of the subcommittee and request that they vote “NO” on HB597. You can read my analysis of HB597 here. Email addresses and names of the subcommittee members are below, which can be copied and pasted into your email program. Rep. Richard Stark’s email is not listed, as he is the sponsor of the bill and already obviously supports it. He is the only member of the committee that publicly supports this bill.
Suggested Messages
Modify these messages as you see fit, but include who you are and any background of your connection to adoption and adoptee rights (adoptee, birthparent, adoptive parent, etc.)
For Florida Residents
I am a ______________ and a Florida voter. I request that you vote NO on HB597, which is set for a hearing in the Health Quality Subcommittee on March 12, 2019. While I appreciate Rep. Richard Stark’s efforts on behalf of adult adoptees, HB597 is a bill that Florida adoptees, adoptive parents, and birth parents do not want. It will move our state backwards on this issue, mandate that adoptees—including those formerly in foster care— “connect with” birthparents to obtain the adoptees’ own government vital records, and require the use of the Florida adoption registry system, an inefficient and unnecessarily costly program for Florida taxpayers. Florida should follow the lead of its neighbor Alabama, which in 1999 restored a right that all adult adopted persons in Florida had until 1977: a right to obtain to their own original birth certificate upon request. Please vote NO when HB597 comes up for consideration in the subcommittee on Tuesday.
All Others
I am a ________________. I request that you vote NO on HB597, which is set for a hearing in the Health Quality Subcommittee on March 12, 2019. While I appreciate Rep. Richard Stark’s efforts on behalf of adult adoptees, HB597 is a bill that adoptees, adoptive parents, and birth parents do not want. It will move Florida backwards on this issue, mandate that adoptees—including those formerly in foster care— “connect with” birthparents to obtain the adoptees’ own government vital records, and require the use of the Florida adoption registry system, an inefficient and unnecessarily costly program for Florida taxpayers. Florida should follow the lead of its neighbor Alabama, which has restored a right that all adult adopted persons in Florida had until 1977: a right to obtain to their own original birth certificates upon request. Please vote NO when HB597 comes up for consideration in the subcommittee on Tuesday.
Subcommittee Member Emails
melony.bell@myfloridahouse.gov,
mike.beltran@myfloridahouse.gov,
kamia.brown@myfloridahouse.gov,
colleen.burton@myfloridahouse.gov,
cord.byrd@myfloridahouse.gov,
kimberly.daniels@myfloridahouse.gov,
tracie.davis@myfloridahouse.gov,
randy.fine@myfloridahouse.gov,
scott.plakon@myfloridahouse.gov,
rene.plasencia@myfloridahouse.gov,
anamaria.rodriguez@myfloridahouse.gov,
carlos.smith@myfloridahouse.gov,
jennifer.sullivan@myfloridahouse.gov,
clay.yarborough@myfloridahouse.gov,
Suggested Tweets
Vote NO on HB597 in committee. Mandated reunion with a birthparent is a disastrous idea. @ColleenLBurton @kamiabrownfl45 @CordByrd https://adopteerightslaw.com/vote-no-florida-hb597/
Vote NO on HB597 in committee. Mandated reunion with a birthparent is a disastrous idea. @traciedavisjax @VoteRandyFine @scottplakon https://adopteerightslaw.com/vote-no-florida-hb597/
Vote NO on HB597 in committee. Mandated reunion with a birthparent is a disastrous idea. @CoachP_CHS @CarlosGSmith @voteforjennifer cc: @RichardNStark https://adopteerightslaw.com/vote-no-florida-hb597/
New York Adoptee Rights Coalition
