Help Needed in Opposing Colorado Bill!

Ray, I have sent emails to the parties above. Although I reside in Florida now, I am a birthmother who went through the Colorado system and I strongly feel that HB 1286 should not be passed.

I have sent my thoughts on the subject although not a resident of Colorado. Until Men develop wombs they should butt out of deciding what is best for a woman!! You are right it is the adoption industry o nce again lobbying, and they are underwritten by whom? Did you know that in 1978 President Carter submitted an adoption reform bill that would have provided nationwide access to adoption records?. This was shelved of course when President Reagan was elected to office, and with the installed president in the white house now? well he owes his allegiance to the right wing and they are the same group who stopped the bill that Carter proposed back then. Rosalind

Thank you ladies. Please encourage others you know to write and call as well. I just recieved this email from a Senator: Keep it going. Excellent point Rosalind....wait a sec... Rosalind... Are you the First Lady? Ray :)

Nope think she is Rosalynn There was a fear in uk last year that the government was trying to curtail the open records laws over there especially to birth families. Well, there was information on every adoption site and there was a massive letter and emailing effort to the elected representatives and newspaper s. Do not know how much that helped (perhaps there were some who do not listen to focus groups lol) but the law was passed and just recently signed into law. Do not know if there is much of an adoption industry left in England, from what I understand it is quite limited. The agency that handled my adoption one of the largest in the uk was a leading opponent of the open records rule that passed in 1975, and they closed their doors when the law passed. and who could have financed that lobbying effort I wonder? They claimed that they had promised their clients complete secrecy. Hmph I was never asked, as were no other birthmoms I have met on message boards, but then the secrecy laws were never for the birthmother's benefit. Rosalind Birthmother 1959

I received a reply from Mr. Isgar and thought I would pass it on..... quote I am studying this bill. Most of the mail I have gotton is negative on this bill. Thanks for your letter. Jim Isgar __________________________ And from Senator Evans: quote Dear Ms. Tavernier, Thank you for taking the time to contact our office on this matter. Your views were welcome and appreciated. Senator John Evans Senate District 30 __________________________ From Senator Takis: quote Thank you for sharing your story. I will remember it when the bill comes up for consideration. Senator Takis

Yay, democracy in action. by the way meant to say in previous post the roll backs in England were not passed and now birth relatives have similiar rights to adoptees.

The bill is in the Senate on Monday. If you are able to make Phone calls and Faxes, The 10th is the last day to try and effect the outcome! Ray

I am forwarding you this report on the hearings from Karen Kottmeier in Colorado: 3/10/03 Do Not Be Discouraged!! Everyone did a wonderful job with their testimony! In spite of the vote, which was 6-1 in favor, it was about what I was expecting it to be. I am hoping we can get this thing amended, and I think we have a chance for that to happen. Senator Gordon, as you know, if you were at the hearing, voted against HB1286. He asked the agency person "If you could expedite the court hearings (she had complained that it took 4 or 5 months to get a relinquishment hearing) would that fix the problems you are having with the process?" She said "yes", so he voted against the bill . Obviously, all that stuff about birth mothers "needing to get on with their lives" was irrelevant. And, we knew that. It might help if we had some recent stories about agency dishonesty, corruption, or manipulation, but some of us testified about things that happened fairly recently, so I am not sure that it would matter. The conflict of interest is clearly there, with the agencies having a business interest in placing babies, and the birth parents having an interest in exploring their options. Then, you have the adoptive parents paying for everything, which creates another conflict of interest. Senator Evans finally began to see this . He noted that what the agencies called "birth parent protections" was not what was written in the bill. He also said that the agencies had all the control. I brought copies of the yellow pages adoption ads and Melanie passed them out. I wanted the committee to see the business interest in adoption. Senator Dyer and Senator Arnold are both pro-life and they saw this expedited relinquishment process as a pro-life issue, which I suspected they would. Of course, that is illogical. People choose abortion, or not, usually very early in pregnancy. It is only later that they make the decision on adoption or raising the child. We have had to deal with the same illogic coming from pro-choice people, who have felt that the "adoption choice" is just like the "abortion choice." A couple a years ago , I read that the pro-choice and pro-life factions in government and the private sector had decided to "lay down their arms" and compromise. The compromise they decided upon was adoption. They decided to promote adoption, rather than argue about pro-life and pro-choice causes so much anymore. So, we are caught in the middle, because they have decided that all adoption legislation is a good thing and they will promote it without knowing much of anything about it. One pro-life activist I read about said that when she started looking deeper into adoption, she realized that it was much more complex than she had thought. We are experiencing some of that kind of legislation now. Another problem we have is that the state is hundreds of millions of dollars in debt and I am afraid that will really affect the court system. But, there may still be a solution there. Magistrates are cheaper than judges. Politics is about compromise. I have never heard such excellent testimony as I did today. You were all sharp, professional sounding, you made your points, and I felt proud to have been associated with all of you. It was definitely made clear today that 44 states do NOT have pre-birth relinquishment by mothers with finalization 72 hours after birth. At this point, what we must try to do is gain support in the rest of the Senate, so that we can at least try to amend the bill so it is not so bad. Every one should contact Senator Gordon, who voted against it, and ask him to lobby against it. Tell him, again of your concerns. His e-mail , phone, etc. is on the Colo. Home page ([url]http://www.state.co.us[/url]). Please thank him for voting against the bill. We want him to contact other Democratic senators who might be of help. They need to understand this is not a "choice "issue for women. We need to clear up that confusion. Voluntary is not voluntary if you cannot get out of it when you most need to. Allowing a parent to sign a relinquishment too soon and then finalize it is like allowing people to drive without a seat belt on. People used to argue against seat belts but it was proven that they were good for the public. The same for infant safety seats. There are some things that you just shouldn't allow people to do, and giving up their kids too soon is one of them. Amy was right. There are some choices we just shouldn't allow people to make. Especially when they cannot get themselves out of it!! Then it is no choice at all. Next, contact your own senator. You can find out who that is by contacting your County Clerk's Office. Your own senator represents you. This should be done immediately, as the bill will soon be read and debated, and voted upon on the senate floor. There will be no more public hearings but we can still write letters, send emails, and phone, or fax them, until they have voted on it. After you have contacted your own senator, contact as many of the rest of the senate as you can. Express your same concerns. Keep it short. One senator you should definitely contact is senator Linkhart . He is a Democrat, an adoptive parent and I have already talked to him. He is interested. He sponsored our open records bill a few years ago. Please remember that there are forces beyond our control. Just as there are people who are working to keep the records sealed, there are people who are working to expedite relinquishment. I have been doing this work for a long time and I have noticed that once an idea gets started it takes awhile before it plays itself out. None of us did anything wrong today. We all did very well. Most of them had their minds already made up before the hearing (they usually do, I am told) and I am pleased that they asked as many questions as they did. The agencies were clearly much less comfortable than they were in HEWI. If we keep working at it, we may be able to get it amended to something we can at least live with. Thank you, all of you, for your very hard work. Forwarded by, Ray Buffer [url]www.raybuffer.com[/url] [url]www.adoptee.2ya.com[/url] Director Adoptees Caucus for Truth (ACT) [url]http://act.vze.com[/url] Board Member and Registry Owner Florida Search Network [url]www.floridasearchnetwork.web1000.com/[/url] [url]www.reunion.vze.com[/url] Moderator Adoptee Activists [url]www.activist.vze.com[/url] SIGN THIS PETITION: [url]http://obc.2ya.com[/url]

Latest status on HB 1286 from Karen Kottmeier I received word late on Friday that the bill had been laid over until Monday. We can expect that it may be heard on the senate floor on Monday, possibly amended, and then voted upon. We, of course, would love to have it killed but I never really thought we had much of a chance for that. A number of states have revised their statutes in recent years to place parents in these high pressure situations. I also think some of our lawmakers think that if we make adoption "easier" maybe we won't have so many "abandoned" babies in dumpsters. The problem with that kind of thinking is it is so hard to disprove. I think this bill has been misinterpreted as both a prolife and a prochoice bill by lawmakers on both sides of those issues. But, if HB 1286 goes into effect, only the agencies will have the choices. We still have the rest of the weekend to email senators, or FAX them or leave voice messages. I will be voice messaging them, myself, this weekend. Their voice mails at the capitol run 24 hours. They have home office numbers, too, which are also listed on the Colorado Home page at: [url]http://www.state.co.us.[/url] When I send a voice message, I write out several little speeches, so I can hit several different issues. I leave my name, and where I live. I also leave my number if I would like a call back (sometimes they call back ). I read my speech and then I say thank you. Of course, I ask them to vote against the bill. Be sure to mention the number of the bill in your speech. It gets to be very easy to do this after awhile. I have been doing this work for a long time and this bill really was no surprise. Of course anyone can write a bill and they don't have to share that knowledge with anyone else until they introduce it into the legislature. Until we had a chance to see what it looked like we couldn't react to it. Of course, since these agencies had already worked with Pat Taylor and me for many years on the Task Force and on the Access to Records bills, we were already known to them.. Adoption is really a family issue and needs to be viewed as such, in my opinion. Parents who go to an adoption agency are looking for help. They should not be viewed as suspect. Birth parents will always be connected to their children, even if they have to relinquish them for adoption. That connection should be viewed in a positive manner. Children cannot always live with all of their parents, but they will always be part of them. Our family system needs to be based on support, not competition and destruction. Anyway, we are now a known group. Take care, Karen ============================== Forwarded By, Ray Buffer [url]http://adoptee.2ya.com[/url]