Bastard Nation: the Adoptee Rights Organization
PO Box 4607
New Windsor, New York 12553-7845
bastardnation3@gmail.com
bastards.org 614-795-6819 @BastardsUnite
April 17, 2021
RE: SB122 Safe Haven Baby Boxes – Please vote DO NOT PASS
Dear____________:
Bastard Nation: the Adoptee Rights Organization is the largest adoptee civil rights organization in the US. We support only full unrestricted access for all adopted persons, to their original birth certificates and related documents We oppose SB 122 Safe Haven Baby Boxes and urge you to oppose.
The causes of newborn discard are not addressed by SB122.
- poverty
- inability to secure affordable medical treatment/care
- denial/ignorance of pregnancy
- Draconian immigration policy/practice
- substance/physical/sexual abuse
-
shame, crime, mental illness, family dysfunction, social isolation, & poor communication skills.
SHBB proponents play down and ignore adopted persons’ opposition except to claim that we “hate adoption.” No. Instead, we hate deceptive relinquishment practices, rooted in shame and secrecy that lead to drastic permanent solutions to temporary problems. We demand ethics and accountability in adoption and related childcare practices, not a band-aid solution to social, political .and mental health problems that cause newborn discard to occur.
Bastard Nation and adoptee rights advocates believe the implementation of Baby Boxes:
- Creates a parallel child welfare system that rejects informed consent and a full record of identifying information and social and medical histories of the newborn. Their use eliminates adoptees’ right to identity by denying their access to original birth and heritage records.
- Replaces professional best practice standards with unprofessional and unethical “relinquishment” by letting parents abandon solely for convenience or out of ignorance with no counseling, paper-signing, or discussion on family preservation alternatives
- Denies the non-surrendering parent the right of custody and to rear their own child. There is no mechanism in place to prove that the “surrendering” person has the legal right to do so. Abusive, embarrassed, or frightened partners, spouses, or family members can use drop boxes without consent or knowledge of the (other) parent with no repercussions.
- Disenfranchises natural parents –particularly the non-surrendering parent (usually the father) –their right to due process
- Creates at-risk adoptions due to possible litigation from the non-surrendering parent or biological family members seeking custody.
- Contravenes the family reunification guidelines of the federal Adoption and Safe Families Act and parts of the federal Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) which can cause federal litigation.
- Encourages women to keep problematic pregnancies a secret by discouraging them from seeking family and professional communication, assistance for sexual/physical abuse, mental illness, substance abuse, and social isolation—factors that cause nearly every newborn discard.
- Discourages women from seeking pre-and post-natal care and to give unsafe unattended birth.
- Hides crime such as rape, incest, and spousal/partner abuse.
- Preys on undocumented and refugee parents who can’t or won’t seek medical and social services for fear of arrest, deportation, loss of other children,. It forces them to give birth dangerously and secretly and to secretly abandon them if they can’t care for them.
- Does not decrease infant mortality rates. as suggested by promoters. According to NIH, the main causes of infant death are (1) birth defects. (2) preterm birth and low birth weight, (3) Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, (4) pregnancy complications, and (5) accidents. The nobody-has-to-know-you-had-this baby ideology of Baby Box promoters exacerbates 1, 2, and 4.
Please vote DO NOT PASS on SB122.
Adoptee Rights /reform organizations that oppose: Bastard Nation; Adoptee Rights Law Cente, Texas Adoptee Rights Coalition, Missouri Open; New York Adoptee Rights Coalition Equal Access Oklahoma, Oklahoma Original Birth Certificates for All Adult Adoptees, Florida Adoption Council, Abrazo Adoption Associates
Yours truly,
Marley Greiner
Executive Chair
