A march on the mall, Washington DC

Brian, I see you were born there, but are you still local to DC? I applaud your emotion. I have considerred organizing demonstrations and marches, including DC. However, with today's political climate I am afraid any publicity from such an event would be a three sentence paragraph buried on page 27 under an advertisement for a car dealer. The current administration is very 'pro sealed records'. The Bush family has financial and personal ties to Gladney, and Jeb the Florida Governor is very conservative in regards to adoption reform. I think the way to go is through Congress. I have a petition that has been circulating since November with around 5700 signatures. It continues to grow. Plans are to allow it to continue to grow until November of this year and then to take it to a statesman or statesmen who will support its aim. The aim of the petition is to have a constitutional amendment for adoptees, granting all United States adoptees the right to possess their original birth certificate upon reaching the age of majority, regardless of which state they reside in. It is a single focused, yet Federal request. As unlikely as an amendment seems, I think the presentation of the idea will at least bolster discussion of federalizing adoption, which may allow us to achieve our goals just the same. I think it is important to be focused on one demand. I believe past efforts fail because everyone has separate issues. If we can stand together to tackle one issue at a time, the rest of the issues will become steadily easier. Depending on the quickness of war and the coming months events, the Adoptees Caucus for Truth along with activists from other adoption reform organization may stage some rallies and demonstrations. I would like to see a march in DC, but I also would hope that it is focussed on one principal and staged at the right time for maximum effectiveness. If you would care to support our petition, it can be signed online and is at [url]http://amendment.cjb.net[/url] A paper version which can be printed and distributed to people without computer access, or at your workplace, shopping centers, churches, etc... is available at [url]http://change.to/paper[/url] The paper version allows up to 20 signatures per page. Completed petitions can be mailed to Adoptee Caucus for Truth 16033 Warmington Lane Huntington beach, CA 92649 Or, those who use the paper petition can simply enter the information themselves using the E Petition at [url]http://amendment.cjb.net[/url] Best Regards, Ray Buffer [url]www.raybuffer.com[/url] [url]www.adopteerights.cjb.net[/url] Ray was born 09/02/1969 in West Palm Beach, FL, [url]http://adoptee.cjb.net[/url] and is the Moderator of Adoptee Activists on Yahoo at [url]http://groups.yahoo.com/group/adopteeactivists[/url] "I feel the greatest gift we can give to anybody is the gift of our honest self." ......Fred Rogers

Ray I read somewhere that Senator Carl Levin was in favor of open adoption records, and as I mentioned in prior post I know that President Carter indeed had that ready to go till the Right wing and Reagan squelched it. Just a thought that perhaps the Senator and even the Carter center might help you. Yep the Bush family's son adopted, and I remember calling in when Bush the senior came all out for overturning Roe and spoke ever so glowingly about adoption. I told him that when he had womb and woke one morning to find himself alone and pregnant, then he and any other male could make that decision. Many other right minded people called in with the same opinion as me. Though right now I am more concerned with the length of the war and the safety of our young men and women over there, one of the 300,000 being my Grandson. Having been a child in London in WW2 and remembering only too well the fear when the sirens went off and the bombs fell. Well...... So I agree that at this moment in time the much needed adoption reform would get short shrift. Just my thoughts Rosalind

Ray I do still live in the area, I actually work in DC. I do agree that the timing does need to be right, in order to draw a large audience, but this is Washington DC. Any draw of a thousand or so people would create quite a stir. Right nowe we are getting some coverage from the "TODAY SHOW", but the coverage is not showing a true picture of the trials and tribulations that Adoptee's and Birth Family's must endure to reach thier goal! Gat a large mass to gather here in Washington, maybe for the Adoption awareness month in November. File for a liscense to march on the MALL, Capital HiLL, the Supreme Court. At least create the attention, and the coverage from that will continue to escalate.. Something seems to be better then what we have now. I have read that several States have opened the sealed records, If we can open more minds, try for the majority, then go for the Federal levels, with the backing of the State supporters.... But what the hell do I know, I'm a corperate travel consultant.....

Brian, Four states offer unconditional access: Oregon, Alabama, (and Kansas and Alaska which never had sealed records). There are other states such as Tennessee that do offer open records if you sign an agreement to a contact veto, which forces you to promise you will not contact the birthfamily, if the birthmother requests no contact be made. Violation of a contact veto is a crime. On principal, many activists are against contact vetos because they work like a restaining order when no offense has been made to deserve one. Contact Preference forms are different, and are acceptable. They are exactly what they state, a preference with no criminal penalty. From there you have a handful of states that use intermediaries (go betweens who will find and talk to your birthfamilies for you to see if contact is welcome, and if not, then you are out of luck as far as getting identifying records) And the rest of the states are just plain closed. You must get a court order (usually given only in cases of dire medical need and adoption fraud/black market) just to get them to assign an intermediary, which costs the adoptee money. Anyway that is a rough breakdown of where we are today. Tomorrow is a new day. ...Ray

I had read some where that Washington State??? was going to open the records then someone filed a lawsuit against the state that it violated his costitutional right to privacy. The judge more or less ruled that the right to his privacy was more important then the right of the adoptee!! Does the 4th amendment not cover our constitutional right to know, they are our original birth certificates (papers). I will admit that I am really new to the issue of the politics that follow (adoptee rights), but we really to be screwed by the system if someone decides that we do not have a right to know!!!

There are arguements for both sides. Unfortunately not many individual adoptees sue the state for their rights, and in the past when organizations have tried they got shot down. That is why the ACLU does not support adoptees, even though we say our civil liberties are being trounced upon. Money talks and that is what the adoption industry and it's rich supporters have in spades. I understand that in the UK, records are now open. I also understand that their adoption industry is now very small and privatized. Our U.S. Adopton Industry is afraid of losing "sales", especially in the overseas market where baby traffiking is extremely lucrative. Successful activism efforts need funding. Funding for demonstrations, and funding to hire professional Lobby meisters. You might find some useful links to activism sites which can give you more information on the history of adoption and today's arguments pro and con for opening records at my personal website: [url]http://adoptee.2ya.com[/url] Or you can refer to a listing of sites I manage at [url]http://adopteerights.cjb.net[/url] The best thing I can suggest for you since you say you are new to this and wish to learn and get thing moving is join a group. "Bastard Nation" has been around for a while. There is also the "Green Ribbon Campaign", and on the more extreme side, "Abolish Adoption" is another group. I also manage a group called "Adoptees Caucus for Truth" and you can find the yahoo newslist (adopteeactivists) which is a forum for A.C.T. members, below in my signature line. Click on that link and join the mailing list. There are a number of high profile people on the front lines of adoption reform from various activism groups that take part in this list. You will learn by reading, absorbing and participating. A.C.T. is all about getting people from a search and support venue and turning them into the activists of tomorrow. We regularly team up in letter writing and email campaigns, and share news and developments and debate with each other freely but respectfully. There currently is not a membership free, your interest in the subject matter is your ticket. You can als0 opt out/unsubscribe at any time. Many states introduce bills to open records and get them shot down. Right now Missouri has a bill in motion and can use your emails/phone calls/letters. If you do a search on my member name, you should find a thread about "Missouri Needs Your Help". Best Regards, Ray Buffer [url]www.raybuffer.com[/url] [url]www.adopteerights.cjb.net[/url] Ray was born 09/02/1969 in West Palm Beach, FL, [url]http://adoptee.cjb.net[/url] and is the Moderator of Adoptee Activists on Yahoo at [url]http://groups.yahoo.com/group/adopteeactivists[/url] "I feel the greatest gift we can give to anybody is the gift of our honest self." ......Fred Rogers