We are heartbroken. We have lost our beautiful Mari–our friend, our comrade, a true bright star. A force to be reckoned with here, Ireland, and wherever the adopted fight for justice.
Continue readingMari Tatlow Steed, 1960-2024 — Rest in Peace
Category: News
Action Alert: GO FUND ME: Help Mari Steed Get the Care She Deserves
“Unfortunately I have bad news regarding Mom. This past week she was diagnosed with Stage-IV Liver cancer and the prognosis is short” ..We are now calling on all our Bastard Nation peeps to share this and the GoFundMe
Please help if you can, Bastards! Show Mari Tatlow Steed and her family some love and support !f you can’t donate then send them all tons of Bastard love and light.
Continue readingJames Hamilton: Rest in Peace
James M. Hamilton, after a heroic battle with cancer, passed peacefully at his home in St. Paul, Minnesota on Tuesday, June 18. Jim was our friend and ally, a husband and father, a lawyer, a world traveler, and adoptee rights and adoption reform soldier. An honorary Bastard God…Jim was our friend. He always had time to talk to people . He opened his home and his heart to his extended adoption-related family and to us. He believed in us. His friendship, support, and work gives the lie to the “evil adopter” trope that a certain band of online adopted people carry. He loved us and we loved him. Hopefully, we are all a little smarter and even nicer because of Jim.
Continue readingMinnesota: OBCs Open on July 1. Join the Run-up Events!
July 1 is just around the corner –and Minnesota adoptees will be able to obtain their Original Birth Certificates. No exceptions. No conditions. This has been a long time coming . The law that kept OBCs sealed was the most complicated convoluted secret and sealed records system in the US. Minnesota-based Greg Luce, founder and director of the Adoptee Rights Law Center and the Minnesota Coalition for Adoptee Rights navigated the 2023 campaign that cracked the vault. Two events are scheduled to explain, educate, and celebrate the new law.
Continue readingIdaho HB544: Emergency Action Alert – Hearing on Monday, March 11, 2024
Below is the action alert our friends at The Adoptee Rights Law Center sent out over the weekend. Join us in killing this horrible horrible horrible bill that is scheduled to be heard in the Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee on Monday, March 11.The action alert is self-explanatory.
Continue readingVirginia: House of Delegates Passes HB550. On to the Senate!
Yesterday the Virginia House passed HB550 66-32. The bill restores the right of all Virginai-born adopted people to obtain their Original Birth Certificates upon request at the age of 18. There was no floor debate. Oddly, more Republicans supported it than Democrats. The bill now goes to the Senate.
Continue readingBastard Nation Action Alert: West Virginia HB4815 and SB153. DO NOT PASS. Reactionary and Dangerous
HB4815 is a confusing bill that requires adult adoptees to apply UNSUCCESSFULLY to the West Virginia Mutual Consent Registry for their identifying information BEFORE they can apply for their OBC.SB153 is another nonsensical bill that redacts by default, all identifying information on the OBC unless a biological parent specifically authorizes, via a Department of Health consent form, the release of the genuine unredacted document. The bill restricts OBC access and will set a reactionary legal precedent: no other state redacts OBCs by default.
Continue readingMichigan: On the Winning Track
On November 8, less than a month after the bills were introduced, both bills were voted favorable out of the Committee on Families, Children, and Seniors. The next day, the House passed both bills, 99-8, and it was transmitted to the Senate. The Michigan legislature, for all intents and purposes, is now in recess so we will have to wait until next year to seal the deal.
Continue readingMichigan: Bastard Nation Letter of Support For HB 5148 and HB 5149
We support HB5148 a “clean bill” that allows all Michigan-born adoptees, their descendants or legal representatives to obtain the adoptee’s original birth certificate without restrictions or conditions upon request at the age of 18, The bill contains a voluntarily optional Contact Preference Form which allows biological parents to record if the would like contact, but does not control the release of the OBC.
We support HB5149 which eliminates current court and Central Adoption Registry control over the release of the OBC. It retains biological parent denial of identifying information requests already on file, BUT that request does not restrict OBC access. No release vetoes can be filed after July 1, 2024.
Continue readingHow to Say Nobody Cares About Adoptee Rights Without Saying They Don’t
Yesterday I did a few legislative updates, and it really struck me while doing them–as if I didn’t already know this–that hardly anyone cares about adult adoptees or adoptee civil rights–especially those who have the “authority” to fix things legally such as policy and lawmakers. When compared to the speed which Safe Haven Baby Box legislation passes, records access for adults, even with the successes of the last couple of years, runs a very poor second.
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