Yesterday Minnesota SF1279 was voted favorable out of the Senate Judiciary and Public Health Committee. We thought the bill would be held over until 2024, but due to the vagaries of legislation, it was suddently put on the agenda. Bastards are on a roll!
The bill dismantles Minnesota’s seriously complicated and archaic OBC access law, eliminates the intermediary system, and sunsets all in-place Disclosure Vetos, letting biological parents who do not want to be contacted to submit a non-binding Contact Preference Form (CPF).
Greg Luce from the Adoptee Rights Law Center in Minneapolis, Penelope Needham from the Minnesota Coalition for Adoption Reform, and Jacqueline Steele from CUB testified in favor of the bill. No opposition testified, though one member of the committee made it clear during the Q&A that he opposed. Our side really kicked it!
You can watch the hearing here (marker 3:18:20)
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Thanks to Rudy Owens for video link
New York Adoptee Rights Coalition
Thanks for providing the big picture overview. As for the opposition voice, Sen. Warren Limmer (R, Maple Grove), it was a remarkable performance of centering what is, technically, hearsay evidence: an unnamed source, who he claims called him, who he could not identify) as the state premise for opposing legislation to restore rights and supported by adoptees and birth mothers. Sen. Limmer, according to coverage one can find on multiple news platforms, is against gun safety measures and supports the decision to end safe and legal access to abortion. At least it is clear who he his and how he views women, women’s rights, abortion, and the issue of adoption. He was quoted also as saying this after the overturning of Roe: “This historic decision turns the issue of abortion over to the individual states…We can do more like streamlining the adoption process as well. Ultimately, we all must work together to offer compassion and support for moms in crisis while finding common sense consensus that would protect both mom and baby. Nothing is more important than protecting innocent life.” (Source is here: https://ccxmedia.org/news/devastating-day-for-women-local-abortion-providers-react-to-roe-v-wade-overturn/)
Thanks for bringing this up! There is almost always somebody with some anonymous “horror story.” Louisiana had one last year that didn’t fly, delivered in each house. The second rendition was worse than the first. Years ago in Texas, there was an anon. bmother who allegedly told a lawmaker that if the bill passed she would drive herself off a cliff. We suspected it was the leggie herself. 25 years ago I got into it with the Does’ lawyer in the Oregon SC case after the passage of M58. We had just concluded a panel I was on regarding OBC access. He tells me that he knows all sorts of terrified women waiting for the hammer to drop, including one that for oe for over years has not answered her phone or the door for fear that it would be the ungrateful little bastard (well he didn’t use that phrase). I told him that in that case, she should seek therapy. That’s not normal or healthy. His reply was “I expected better from you than that.”
Thanks for bringing this up! There is almost always somebody with some anonymous “horror story.” Louisiana had one last year that didn’t fly, delivered in each house. The second rendition was worse than the first. Years ago in Texas, there was an anon. bmother who allegedly told a lawmaker that if the bill passed she would drive herself off a cliff. We suspected it was the leggie herself. 25 years ago I got into it with the Does’ lawyer in the Oregon SC case after the passage of M58. We had just concluded a panel I was on regarding OBC access. He tells me that he knows all sorts of terrified women waiting for the hammer to drop, including one that for oe for over years has not answered her phone or the door for fear that it would be the ungrateful little bastard (well he didn’t use that phrase). I told him that in that case, she should seek therapy. That’s not normal or healthy. His reply was “I expected better from you than that.”
Virtuous, powerful men frequently lie in order to protect their interests, particularly in matters of paternity for which they are responsible. My own birth story is an example of that, but this “meta story” is repeatedly documented regarding matters of so-called “unwanted children” when such men are in elected positions (big examples being GOP Sens. Strom Thurmond and Pete Domenici, who each fathered kids outside of marriage). Projecting one’s personal interest from one’s own failures onto the so-called virtue of an anonymous woman deprived of power and decisions when confronting an unexpected pregnancy has been around as long as society has created categories of “illegitimate children” and “fallen women.” Men in these positions will always serve their interests first at the expense of women and unwanted kids. I found Sen. Limmer’s testimony symbolic of the larger lie/myth. I appreciate the extensive years of work you bring to these moments of legislative conversations. Now-deceased Domenici’s story speaks volumes concerning the past that such men in his position fear the most: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2013/02/20/172498747/former-sen-domenici-reveals-son-born-in-secrecy
The bill was heard in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee on Friday, March 24, and laid over for possible inclusion in the Senate HHS Omnibus Bill. That bill has been released and includes 1279. The next step is to convince the Senate/House conference committees to include it in the final bill.
Thanks, Jim. I noted this under Legislation, but haven’t written about it yet. Hopefully, this will get the measure passed. I need to look up the bill. I didn’t it was already out there. If this doesn’t as soon we need to send a bag of wolverenes to the storehouse.
As someone who is trying to get up to speed with MN adoption laws, can someone please help me with a 10,000 foot picture of what this bill means if it’s passed? If I was born in the 1960s in Hennepin County, will I be able to request OBC even if my birth parent(s) filed a request to not disclose information?
Is obtaining a court order feasible under current legislation? How easy is this to accomplish? Is retaining an attorney my best bet? If so, is someone that specializes in family law who I should look for? Lastly, I’m noticing information that seems to imply there is no way to obtain a certified birth record – is this true? I would be using the records I obtain for a citizenship application in an EU country so I would require certified copies to lodge a successful application.
Is there any other information that I am overlooking? Thank you – I am having a difficult time finding information about this complex issue.
It’s a very complex deal in MN. I am asking someone very familiar with MN to respond.
The current bill sunsets all existing affidavits of non-disclosure, effective July 1, 2024. That is, they are no longer effective after that date.
If the bill is passed, there will be no need for a court order to obtain your original birth record.
You would not receive a certified copy of your original birth certificate. If you were adopted in Minnesota and received a new birth certificate bearing the names of your adoptive parents, that certificate is considered your legal birth certificate.
Rick:
Yes, under this bill, if enacted, you would apply for your original birth record, pay the required fee, and in a few weeks receive the record in the mail. It’s possible a contact preference form, completed by a birthparent, would accompany the birth record but the contact preference form is optional and cannot interfere with your receiving the OBC.
There is no need to go to court under this bill.
A longer description of the bill is here: https://adopteesunited.org/legislation/state/#mn