James M. Hamilton, after a heroic battle with cancer, passed peacefully at his home in St. Paul, Minnesota on Tuesday, June 18. Jim was our friend and ally, a husband and father, a lawyer, a world traveler, and adoptee rights and adoption reform soldier. An honorary Bastard God…Jim was our friend. He always had time to talk to people . He opened his home and his heart to his extended adoption-related family and to us. He believed in us. His friendship, support, and work gives the lie to the “evil adopter” trope that a certain band of online adopted people carry. He loved us and we loved him. Hopefully, we are all a little smarter and even nicer because of Jim.
Continue readingTag: Minnesota
Minnesota: OBCs Open on July 1. Join the Run-up Events!
July 1 is just around the corner –and Minnesota adoptees will be able to obtain their Original Birth Certificates. No exceptions. No conditions. This has been a long time coming . The law that kept OBCs sealed was the most complicated convoluted secret and sealed records system in the US. Minnesota-based Greg Luce, founder and director of the Adoptee Rights Law Center and the Minnesota Coalition for Adoptee Rights navigated the 2023 campaign that cracked the vault. Two events are scheduled to explain, educate, and celebrate the new law.
Continue readingJuly 1, 2023: 2 New States Join the Bastard States of America!
On July 1, 2023, Vermont and South Dakota became the latest states to unseal without condition or restriction, the Original Birth Certificates of their state-born adoptees. And there’s more to come!
Continue readingMinnesota Becomes 15th State to Acknowledge Adoptee Birth Record Equality
Minnesota’s long history of sealed records and complicated, confusing, convoluted “rules,” including an incomprehensible intermediary system that made it nearly impossible for adoptees to obtain their Original Birth Certificates, ended Wednesday when Minnesota Governor Tim Waltz signed SF2995 an omnibus health bill that contained OBC access provisions. Those provisions came from the earlier stand-alone SF279 stuck in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee for carryover to the next session. The Minnesota Coalition for Adoption Reform (MCAR) and the Adoptee Rights Law Center directed by Minneapolis attorney Gregory Luce, negotiated with legislative leaders to get the provisions added and onto the floor of both Houses which passed the bill on May 22, 2023, the last day of the session. (Senate: 34-32; House 69-64)
Continue readingMinnesota SF1279 Moves Along!
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!
Continue readingMinnesota: Attention OBC activists! Help needed!
Any Minnesotans interested in working on records legislation this session, please contact Jim Hamilton a note. He informs us there are three committees to focus on: House Health and Human Services Policy, House Civil Law, …
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