We are happy to announce that long-time adoptee rights activist Mari Steed has been named Vice President of Bastard Nation. Mari has been with us from the beginning and has played an invaluable role in our formation and success.
Mari is the mother of a daughter relinquished to adoption in the US in 1978. She is also an adopted adult born in Ireland in 1960 and trafficked to the US in 1961. She has been joyously reunited with her daughter since 1997 and with her mother, now recently passed, since 2001. Mari serves as US Coordinator with Adoption Rights Alliance and with The Philomena Project, an initiative started by Irish mother Philomena Lee (whose story serves as the basis for recent Oscar-nominated film Philomena), Philomena’s daughter Jane Libberton, and Adoption Rights Alliance. The Project has taken the issue to the Irish State, Washington, DC and even the Vatican. In 2003, she co-founded Justice for Magdalenes (now known as Justice for Magdalenes Research), an advocacy organization which successfully campaigned for a State apology and restorative justice for survivors of Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries. She currently serves as the group’s Committee Director. Mari has been interviewed, written and spoken extensively on Ireland’s adoption exportation, intercountry adoption practice, US adoption activism and the Magdalene Laundries. She has also testified on the US ratification of the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption and both Pennsylvania and New Jersey adoption legislation.
Please welcome Mari!
New York Adoptee Rights Coalition
Congratulations on your new role, Mari! Best of luck to you.