On April 28, much of AdoptionLand donned party hats, tooted their horns and celebrated the enactment of New Jersey’s long-flogged Adoptee Rights Birthright Bill. The only problem is that Governor Chris Christie, a long-time opponent of OBC access. has “conditionally vetoed” the core of the bill: .parental identification information can be denied in certain cases.
The Governor and the bill’s sponsors agreed to sell out adoptee civil rights for state-granted favor and privilege. Under the last minute compromise agreement, birthparents have 2 1/2 years (until December 31, 2016) to file a contact preference form indicating that they want or don’t want contact with their adult adoptee or to request the state to redact their name from the OBC all together. This is accountably considered a victory
No copy of the agreement, if it actually exists in writing, has been published, so we have only news reports to go by. So far, it appears that all the state’s adoptees will be able to receive a copy of their original birth certificate; but some OBCs will be mutilated by state bureaucrats to make a few disgruntled birthparents emotionally comfortable. I haven’t heard if it is only the parent(s) name that will be blacked out (as per the new Ohio law) or if the original name of the adoptee or other information that could be deemed as “identifying” will go, too. This is nothing more than the old black-out/white-scheme that’s been around for decades and rejected repeatedly. Until now..
Redaction of an birth certificate is unacceptable
After Ohio passed its recent “access” bill that allows for redactions, I doubted that this kind monkey busness would remain isolated. Politicians and deformers alike are always looking for ways to “accomodate” eatc other.New Jersey proves my fears correct. Now that New Jersey, a stronghold of resistance, has embraced mutilation of official state documents, I believe that redaction and mutilation will be the wave of the future. States that pass such laws will be celebrated as “open record states” when they are not.
Probably only a handful of adoptees in New Jersey iand Ohio will remain in their black holes, but as long as those states and others refuse to restore the right of access to Class Bastard, original birth certificates remain in those jurisdictions, a favor and privilege not a right. The damage that these redactin distraction will cause current and future access campaigns can be enormous. Adoption myth and lies have been codified, third parties given access rights over documents that do not pertain to them, and the movement perceived by politicians as frivolous.
As I understand, the New Jersey legislature will have to come back and approve the Christie amendment. There is no reason to think that it won’t or that Christie won’t sign. Still, I don’t trust any of them. Adoptees is is hardly a set piece for career climbing..
I don’t begrudge anyone who will get their OBC in 2017 (and that’s another bone to pick)., but people will be left behind. What happens to them and their rights? Oh, that’s right. The OBC is not right.
New York Adoptee Rights Coalition
