We are asking that access to birth records re-instated to all adoptees, not just those who were adopted after 1993. Adopted persons deserve the same rights to access documents that pertain to them as non-adopted persons.
Back in the 1940s Washington became one of many states that began sealing adoption records. Based on my research I believe that at the time Washington (and other states) began keeping adoptees from their birth records no one understood the very negative impact not having access to one’s own past, identity, and documents could have on the adoptees. Professionals at the time stated they were making an effort to protect adoptees from the stigma of illegitimacy and birth parents from the stigma of having been pregnant. However, secrecy compounds stigma creating shame that can destroy a person’s self worth. Many of the people involved, including many adoptive parents, birth parents, social workers, and legislators would not have agreed to the law if they had more information at the time, but they didn’t.
REMINDER! The next WA-CARE meeting will THIS COMING SUNDAY, March 13th at 1 pm. We will be meeting at the Commencement Bay Coffee Shop, 2354 Jefferson Avenue, Tacoma WA 98402. We’ll be discussing Senate Bill 5178, House Bill 1267, possibilities of initiatives/law suits, as well as other topics.
Please let us know if you’ll be able to attend so we can get an approximate headcount!
Thanks!
SB 5178
SB 5178 sponsored by Sen. Carrell, has not been scheduled for a hearing and we don’t believe that it will receive a hearing this year. At our next meeting we will discuss how to proceed given that we will likely continue to hit the same road-block as long as the power positions in the Senate remain as they are today.
Next Meeting
The next WA-CARE meeting will be Sunday, March 13th at 1 pm. We will be meeting at the Commencement Bay Coffee Shop, 2354 Jefferson Avenue, Tacoma WA 98402. All are welcome and encouraged to attend.
Adopted: For the Life of Me
The documentary by Jean Strauss, aired on KCTS Channel 9 (Seattle) and KYVE Channel 47 (Yakima) this month. Thanks to Jean for making this great film that documents the difficulties faced by older adoptees as they attempt to access sealed birth information. We hope many people were able to watch the documentary especially those who may have been unaware of the unequal treatment of adoptees across the United States. To learn more check out: http://www.adoptedforthelifeofme.com/
Questionnaires
We will be emailing questionnaires out to all those on our mailing list within the next few weeks. Our goal is to gather information about our supporters, i.e. connection to adoption, membership in groups that could give support, in which district they reside, etc. We believe a data-base with these types of details could be very useful in becoming better mobilized as we continue our efforts in the future. We will not share this information with anyone.
Last week we learned that Senator Mike Carrell had sponsored bill SB 5178 with Senator Val Stevens as co-sponsor. This bill would amend RCW 26.33.345 in such a way that would allow adoptees access to their birth certificates but would also extend the “affidavit of non-disclosure”. This means that all birth parents, past and present, would have the right at any time to file a document blocking an adult adoptee from obtaining their original birth certificate.
WA-CARE does not support this bill.
On Monday, we met briefly with Senator Carrell to let him know where we stand and to request an amendment to SB 5178. Although Senator Carrell is willing to work with us to create a bill we would support, we learned that the chair of the Senate Human Services & Corrections committee, Senator James Hargrove, is unlikely to allow any bill regarding adoptee rights to even be given a hearing, which is a required step prior to the committee voting on the bill.
Because any adoptee rights bill will most likely end up in the Human Services & Corrections committee, and because Senator Hargrove is steadfastly against making any retroactive changes pertaining to adoption laws to the point of not even allowing hearings or votes, we’re stumped as to what to do next.
WHAT WE NEED FROM YOU: We need ideas for how we might be able to get the law changed without going through the Human Services & Corrections committee. We’re especially interested hearing from individuals that worked on legislative changes in other states. You can either post your suggestion to the WA-CARE blog (https://wacareblog.wordpress.com) comments or email us atwashingtonadopteerights@gmail.com.
REMINDER: Please keep all comments/feedback constructive and respectful. All negative posts and/or posts with derogatory language will be deleted.
We were surprised to find that a bill, “relating to access to original birth certificates after adoption finalization” was filed today in the Washington State Senate. Senate Bill 5178 is being sponsored by Senators Carrell and Stevens. This is not a bill that WA-CARE has had a hand in nor is it one we endorse at this time.
The bill merely eliminates the words “For adoptions finalized after October 1, 1993” from current law. It does not remove the affidavit of nondisclosure created in 1993.
Because the proposed language would further restrict the rights of adult adoptees WA-CARE is opposed to the bill in its current form.
The change gives more birth parents special rights to refuse adult citizens access to their own birth documents. Birth parents relinquished all parental rights and should not be granted an new special right to deny another adult citizen access to documents that pertain to his or her birth and identity. While Washington’s 1993 law did give post October 1993 birth moms this option expanding that to pre October 1993 birth moms is a step in the wrong direction.
We could support SB5178 if in addition the phrase, “unless the birth parent has filed an affidavit of nondisclosure” were either also removed or if the affidavit of nondisclosure were changed to a contact preference form.
Though this bill is not one we can support right now we are hopeful that our legislators will want input from the people this law affects the most!
The bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Human Services and Corrections.
We ask you to join us in contacting the senators involved with a message of your own or the following (Senator contact information is below the sample message):
Dear Senator,
I am writing to ask you to amend SB 5178 so that it does not discriminate unfairly against adopted adults. I appreciate your interest in adoptee rights. I am an adoptee (or birth parent or adoptive parent) and a Washington voter (or your constituent) and I also am very interested in this topic.
I support the right of every adult adoptee to access his or her own birth information. This right should be equal to every other citizen in the State. In order for me to support your legislation, the right of a birth parent to file an affidavit of nondisclosure (created in 1993 for post ’93 birth parents) must be removed from the statue. That affidavit gives a birth parent a special right to deny a fellow adult citizen’s access to their own birth documents and identity information. This is unfair and unequal treatment.
Adopted people should not be treated differently than every other citizen in the state and in order to have equality EVERY adult adoptee must have a right to their own document. The law indeed must be changed but we must do it in a way that doesn’t leave any adopted person behind.
Thank you for your attention to this important issue. To discuss this matter further, please contact representatives of WA-CARE, washingtonadopteerights@gmail.com.
Respectfully,
Name, email, phone, address
Contact Information for Members of the Committee on Human Services and Corrections:
Senator James Hargrove (committee chair), District 24: Clallam, Grays Harbor (partial), Jefferson
hargrove.jim@leg.wa.gov, (360) 786-7646
Senator Debbie Regala (committee vice chair), District 27: Pierce (partial)
regala.debbie@leg.wa.gov, (360) 786-7652
Senator Val Stevens (bill sponsor), District 39: King (partial), Skagit (partial), Snohomish (partial), Whatcom (partial)
val.stevens@leg.wa.gov, (360) 786-7676
Senator Mike Carrell (bill sponsor), District 28: Pierce (partial)
carrell.michael@leg.wa.gov, (360) 786-7654
Senator Doug Ericksen, District 42: Whatcom (partial)
Doug.Ericksen@leg.wa.gov, (360) 786-7682
Senator Nick Harper, District 38: Snohomish (partial)
Nick.Harper@leg.wa.gov, (360) 786-7674
Senator Rosemary McAuliffe, District 1: King (partial), Snohomish (partial)
mcauliffe.rosemary@leg.wa.gov, (360) 786-7600
WA-CARE will meet on January 20th, 2011 at Noon at the Cutter’s Point coffee shop located at 5750 Ruddell Road SE, in Lacey, WA.
All are welcome to attend.
During the fall, WA-CARE members contacted and met with several different legislators in an attempt to find a sponsor in the upcoming 2011 legislative session. Unfortunately we’ve been unable to find a sponsor yet that we feel confident will fully support WA-CARE’s goal of access to OBCs for every adopted adult.
We will continuing to contact other legislators and are hopeful we will find more support as well as someone to champion our bill. You can help by contacting legislators and asking where they stand on the issue and discussing it with them. If you’ve already contacted your own legislators, try branching out and contacting others.
WA-CARE also has been discussing the possibility of an initiative effort which appeals to us but would require a massive fund-raising effort. If anyone out there has fund-raising expertise – please use this blog to share your ideas or to offer up your knowledge, time and/or energy to the cause.
We also plan to research a possible lawsuit in the future. If you have other ideas, please feel free to share them on the WA-CARE blog site.
Our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, January 13 at Noon. Meeting place to be announced, please check back for details.
History: Prior to 1943, Washington adoptees had access to their original birth certificates and adoption records. The records were sealed due to concern for the social stigma of adoption with respect to adoptee and birth mother; the psychological concept that a baby was a blank slate; and the theory that both mother and baby would be able to sever the tie without negative consequences. This theory has since been proven false. Mothers did not easily recover from the loss of their relinquished children and babies were also affected by the loss of both their original families and their identity information. Though a sealed identity might be necessary in some cases while adoptees are children, there is no excuse for a state to deny access to one’s own birth documents from an adult, merely based on the way they entered their family.
While there hasn’t been a post in awhile I have been quietly fighting with the blog, behind the scenes. I am trying to figure out how to get it to do all the things I know it can do.
With the primary swiftly approaching many state legislators are out campaigning at local events. If you see yours please take a moment to mention that you are interested in, or passionate about, or (fill in your own words here) re-instating the rights of adult adoptees to access their birth documents.
Another way to get word to your legislator is to use the “Legislator E-mail Services” available at the Washington State Legislature home page. There are email lists for those of you who know the names of your Senator and Representatives or you can click the “Find Your District” tab to search. Once you’ve written an email to one of your legislators you can simple click the box that says “Check here if you wish to send a copy of this message to your other legislators (followed by their names)”. You can also check a box asking for a response.
Since the legislature is not in session this is a perfect time to ask for a meeting with your legislators without needing to travel to Olympia if you are so inclined.
In order to keep our message consistent we do ask that you speak for yourself and not for WA-CARE unless the board has specifically asked you to represent WA-CARE. If you’re nervous and would like a member of the WA-CARE board to go with you for moral support send us an email and we’ll see what we can do.
Our next meeting will be 10:30am, August 19, 2010 at Cutter’s Point 5750 Ruddell Road SE, Lacey WA.
For those of you who live in Washington, but can’t make it to WA-CARE meetings would you be interested in posting fliers near you? If a flier were made available to you either through e-mail or here on the blog would you be willing to post those fliers in libraries, coffee shops, community buildings, and other locations where posting such fliers are allowed? Let me know in the comments if this is something you’d be willing to do.
Sorry about the short notice I thought I had posted this before my vacation, however I’d saved it as a draft instead.
There are several things WA-CARE is doing to prepare for the next legislative session and one of our priorities is getting the word out. For those of us involved in the adoption community open records is a high profile issue. We need to raise its profile with those who have no ties to adoption.
The question is how to inform them. Keeping in mind that we are a small group (four active members) with limited financial resources (basically none) leave suggestions in the comments of ways you think we can get the word out.
Do you think (or know from experience) that posting fliers is effective? Then where would you recommend we put them?
Do you know of an event where we can get permission to distribute brochures (for free or a very small fee)? Let us know.
We’re currently working on an informational video. We’re struggling with how to make it short enough that people will watch and still make sure we get all the information across, any suggestions?
If any of your suggestions contain information best not left in a public comment (contact info etc) please use the WA-CARE email address: wa-care (at) wa-care (dot) org
We know that many would like to help, but can’t make our meetings due to distance or scheduling so please use the comments and email to make your input heard.
Our next meeting will be in July, I’ll post more information when the details are finalized.
WA-CARE's Blog 