History and Lessons of the Delaware Collaboration
The Rise and Fall of the UAA in Delaware
The UAA was introduced in Delaware in June, 1997. The “Evil Act” had been revised in some minor details to mesh with other Delaware statutes, but basically remained intact in all its major provisions. Carolyn Hoard, the AAC State Representative for Delaware, was a member of the state Task Force which had been formed to adapt the UAA to Delaware law and which had met in sessions for 18 months. Two public hearings were held in October, 1997, at which members of Bastard Nation testified in favor of unconditional open records. Prior to the hearings, Ms. Hoard had organized the Delaware Adoption Coalition (DAC), a group whose mission was to defeat the UAA. The UAA was introduced into a committee of the Delaware House of Representatives and was tabled in March, 1998, as a result of strong opposition from the DAC and Bastard Nation.
The Rise and Fall of Open Records in Delaware
Immediately following this action, Representative Caulk introduced into committee HB 522, which had been quietly drafted by himself and a small group including Ms. Hoard and a few other members of the DAC over the preceding months. DE BNationals had not been asked to participate in this process. The bill included unconditional access to original birth certificates for adult adoptees as well as provisions allowing for agencies to conduct searches on an adoptee’s behalf. Bastard Nation offered its support to the DAC in its attempt to enact this open records bill as long as the bill was not amended to include such compromises as disclosure and/or contact vetoes. The DAC was made aware that if such amendments were introduced BN would not only withdraw its support, but would attempt to kill the bill.
The Promise
BN members testified at House and Senate hearings and wrote hundreds of letters in response to action alerts in support of HB 522. The bill passed the House unanimously. As late as June 22, 1998, Bastard Nation was assured by DAC leader Carolyn Hoard that if amendments were offered, the DAC would pull the bill. BN Mid-Atlantic Regional Director, Cynthia Bertrand Holub, sent email to Ms. Hoard asking for assurances that the bill would not be amended in the final days, as the vote looked to be very close in the Senate. Ms. Holub SPECIFICALLY asked about the addition of vetoes. Here is part of Ms. Hoard’s response (snipped for space; the entire email is available to anyone on request):
Begin forwarded message ---------- From: "Carolyn S. Hoard"<choard@herc.com> To: <cindybh@juno.com> Subject: Re: RE HB 522 -- urgent Date: Mon, 22 Jun 98 08:41:30 -0500 Message-ID: <9806228985.AA898519034@smtpgwy.herc.com> Cindy, as to the bill itself, we will pull it if anyone tries to change it. Our present law is an intermediary system so if we can't improve on that, then we will pull and do a lot of networking, etc. until next year's session. There are several members of the Legis. up for re-election and/or not running for re-election so the makeup of the Senate could change quite a bit. <snip> Again, you can be assured that we will not compromise nor will Rep. Caulk. ----------END FORWARDED MESSAGE------------------
The Betrayal
Unfortunately, this assertion turned out not to be true. HB 522 was amended in the last days of the session to include a disclosure veto, which in effect continues the sealed records system, and passed in the Delaware Senate with the help and approval of the Coalition by a 15-5 vote. In the face of this last minute switch, Bastard Nation pulled its support, as we said earlier that we would, and wrote to legislators in opposition to the veto. Amazingly, the DAC seemed surprised at our reaction to the addition of the veto. The DAC knew what we stood for when they accepted our help. They knew from the outset that we would fight any bill that wasn’t an unconditional access bill. We have never hidden our agenda, nor our goals. Our goal is not to facilitate “reunions.” It is to restore civil rights to ALL adoptees, not just to those whose birthparents don’t file a veto.
“I Have Here in My Hand …”
Assertions were made that “nasty letters” were written to legislators. Any heated issue, be it adoptee rights, abortion, or gun control, will indubitably cause some letters to be more passionate than others. Bastard Nation has encouraged many, many people to write, but never do we encourage our members or anyone else to write anything other than an articulate statement of their own views. We have not seen the letter in question, nor heard who wrote it, and we certainly have not been given any indication that the person has anything to do with Bastard Nation whatsoever!
Say What?
The DAC has alternated between praising vetoes as a way to protect birthparent privacy, and claiming that they intend to dismantle the veto system within a few years with their prime sponsor. Despite this utterly confusing contradiction, we note that Coalition members are either being duplicitous, or extremely naive. Bastard Nation has a proven track record of integrity in activism. We will continue to adhere to our mission statement. We will continue to encourage our members to write articulate letters to legislators about why sealed records, veto bills, and intermediary systems violate adoptee rights. We will continue to fight bills which contain such anti-adoptee provisions with the same zeal as we fight the NCFA and the UAA. We will also, in future, be extremely cautious in offering our support to non-BN coalitions working for unconditional access bills.
Lessons for Coalitions
The debacle in Delaware came about largely as a result of groups with very different perspectives on the essential meaning of open records trying to work together: for members of the Delaware Adoption Coalition, it was about getting access to original birth certificates in order to search for their birth families and to find medical history (a great deal of testimony in the hearings concerned obtaining accurate medical history). They were willing to accept a disclosure veto because most adoptees would still get their records. For Bastard Nation the addition of a disclosure veto meant that even those who obtained their records would do so only with the tacit permission of their birthparents, and not as a right. For the DAC to accept such a veto was not a real violation of their principles; whether the breaking of an promise with another organization in exchange for support was such a violation is for them to decide.
Marley Greiner,
Shea Grimm,
Cynthia Bertrand Holub,
Mary-Lee Lutz,
Ron Morgan,
Damsel Plum
