Massachusetts
Sealed: 1964
Access Status: Insealed November 3, 2022
- Available to all Massachusetts-born adoptees 18 and older.
Through a special arrangement with the Adoptee Rights Law Center, Bastard Nation is linking our individual state pages to ARLC state access law links and summaries. In addition. our state pages include information specific to Bastard Nation actions and activities in each state..
Read about current OBC access legislation with links to current and past years bills at our”Keep Informed” legislative pages (middle sidebar.)
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- 2022 Legislation: HD2294/SD1440 (OBC); H2005 (Safe Haven)
- 2121 Legislation: HD1543/SB1142 (OBC)
- 2020 Legislation: HD 1892/SB1267 (renumbered HD1821/SB302 (OBC) A3468 (medical history)
2019 Legislation. All held over for 2020
Records
- HD1801
- SD1123
Medical
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Hearing: Massachusetts Committee on Public Health, May 10, 2021. Witnesses and committee members. Committee wondered why the current law was written the way it is: “What were they thinking?” Some of the testimony presented at the hearing. Claudia Corrigan D’Arcy Mass. first mom/ Associate Executive Director of Communications at Adoptive and Foster Family Coalition of New York), Marley Greiner (Executive Chair of Bastard Nation) and Greg Luce (Director and Founder of the Adoptee Rights Law Center/Adoptees United)
LINKS
- Mass. Senate passes birth certificate legislation for adopted people and parents, WLLP,-TV Springfield, August 2, 2022
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Happy Day in Massachusetts: Black Hole is Gone! OBCs Unsealed for All!, Bastard Nation, November 3, 2022
House Passes Bill Opening Access To Adoptee Birth Certificates, WBZ-AM, November 4, 2021
- Adoptees still seeking their origin stories, Boston Globe, May 23, 2021 (editorial endorsement–paywall)
- Our View: Time to end birth certificate ‘lockout’, North Andover Eagle-Tribune, May 14, 2021
- Neville Testifies on Adoptees’ Access to Birth Certificates Legislation, Chelsea Record, May 13, 2021
- Bill would life birth certificate ‘lockout’ many adoptees face, Dorchester Reporter, May 13, 2021
- Bill would lift birth certificate “lockout” facing many adoptees, WLLP-TV Springfield, May 10, 2021
- Former Boston City Councilor Tito Jackson Reunites With Birth Mother, WBUR-FM, Boston, May 10, 2021 (includes link to broadcast)
- Tito Jackson found his birth mother. Their family’s journey is a tale of Boston history, Boston Globe, April 14, 2021
Bastard Nation Links
- Massachusetts: Delivered, Signed, and Unsealed!, Bastard Nation, August 6, 2022
- Massachusetts Passes! Joins the New England Pack, July 29, 2022
- Massachusetts House passes H2294. Now it’s the Senate’s turn, Bastard Nation, November 5, 2021
- Massachusetts: Bastard Nation Testimony in Support of H2294/S1440: restore OBC rights to all Massachusetts-born adoptees, Joint Committee on Public Health, May 10, 2021
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- Massachusetts: Bastard Nation Testimony in support of H189.S1267–unrestricted access for all, December 10, 2019
- Action Alert: Massachusetts H1892/S1267 Fill the gap. All MA adoptees deserve their OBCs, December 3, 2019
- Massachusetts H3468: Redundant, Dumb, or Obstruction? Daily Bastardette, September 24, 2019
- Do I look like I need protection? Claud Corrigan D;Arcy, March 13, 2019
- As I See It: All adoptees should have access to their birth certificates, Worcester Telegraph, April 7, 2019
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- Massachusetts Update: Good news! H1163/S1195 passed out of committee, May 31, 2017
- Bastard Nation Submitted Testimony to Joint Committee on Public Health in Support of S1195/H1163, May 16, 2017
- Bastard Nation Action Alert, May 11, 2017
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- Bastard Nation Submitted Testimony to Joint Committee on Public Health, June 23, 2015
- Massacuusetts: Tuesday June 23, 2015 – Hearing on Clean Access Bill
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- Massachusetts: Deb Goldberg’s Bizarre Political Ad: “When you adopt you learn deep down that opportunity is everything.” Daily Bastardette, September 9, 2014
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- Massachusetts Timeline: Chronology of a Sell-out as Published by The Daily Bastardetette, September 13, 2007 (Guide to over 2 dozen blogs written by Bastard Nation Exe. Chair Marley Greiner on the 2005-2007 OBC access campaign and how Massachusetts adoptees were set up and sold down the river by friends and enemies alike.
Janet Allen, Nina Greeley. Marley Greiner, Beacon Hill, October 27, 2005
Videos
2019
Representative Garballey, Sponsor of H. 1892 from Jean A. S. Strauss on Vimeo.
Updated November 3, 2022
I vaguely remember that as late as 1990, bastard was still a word of art in Massachusetts probate law.
Can anyone one confirm this?
What are the potential psychological and emotional challenges that individuals labeled as bastards may face in their lives?Tel-U