Let Missouri Lead the Way

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.


Albert Einstein, US (German-born) physicist (1879 - 1955)










In Missouri, the state where my son was born, and where I laid eyes on him for the last time for over 30 years, there is a budding movement,  to begin anew the push to open the Original Birth Certificate.  State after state has had their movement, has worked toward opening the birth certificates for adoptees.  There have been varying degrees of what some would call success, but which really, in the bottom line, are failures.

The first movement state that is in the modern era, Oregon, I was peripherally involved in, or about as involved as one can be when one is only just becoming aware and lives half a continent away.  I was aware that mothers were working with Bastard Nation and other groups to open the birth certificates for adoptees, only.  I signed the petition and my name is on the now famous newspaper ad that sealed the deal.  However, not really being aware of all the ins and outs, I listened and learned more than contributed. 

Recently, a bill addressing adoptee rights passed in IL.  Melisha Mitchell, a natural mother from the  EMS took a huge beating from the adoptees, who blame her and the senator she works with, whether rightly or wrongly, for a  bill that is so convoluted that it took 83 pages to print out, and was so intricate that it took a magnifying glass to figure out.  There were parts of it that are good, there are parts that are awful, but the biggest thing wrong with it is that it leaves adoptees out in the cold, forever, or at least until the issue comes on the legislators plates again, which, if I know my state, will be NEVER...or at least not in our lifetimes.  It has been dealt with, it is finished.  They have finished legislation that they can tout. 

On Melisha's part, she did what she had to do, to work within the parameters of already existing legislation.  In order to pass a law, one cannot simply ignore the current statutes.  You have to read and understand them and then build a law that works within those parameters to reach a place that can be agreed upon.  IL, as some other states, have tightened up their legislation in the past few years, partly as a reaction to the Oregon legislation, but largely at the behest of a panicked industry terrified of what will be made public if the laws allow the records to be opened.   If any doubt that, please read the history of the sealed records in Australia and even closer, in Canada.   The more convoluted the laws become, the more intricately the bills must be written.  Hence, the bill drafted by Melisha Mitchell of the White Oak Foundation.  She didn't do anything wrong...she did what she had to do to work within the present laws and it was a MESS!

The one thing that has been consistent with pending legislations is that they keep doing the same thing over and over, they present the same tired arguments, and then are surprised and disappointed when the legislations they work so hard to promote don't pass.  I would be surprised if they DID!  Einstein said it best in the quote above.  I don't think that those who are working for opening the records in various places are insane, but I am surprised that they  expect a different outcome from the same old tired stuff. 

Here is a thought...get creative!  While the people who wish to change things are stuck in the same old rut, the industry, hell bent on keeping things the same, has changed the laws, updated the statutes and morphed to accommodate the changes in legislation in other states.  That's one reason why the proposed legislations become more and more convoluted.  Working within the current statutes, they HAVE to!   As more and more laws, decisions, and legislations are enacted to maintain the status quo, the proposals to change them have to become more and more intricate to adjust with them. 

I believe one reason why there have been few laws passed opening the Original Birth Certificates to adoptees is, in part, due to one giant ommission.  The mothers are not included.   The laws are not equal and balanced if the mothers, one of the parties to the adoptions, are not represented in the law.  That ommission allows the Evan B. Donaldson Institute and NCFA to step up and deem themselves representative of the mother's interests, because the mothers' interests are unrepresented!  We leave them that opening.  We also write bills that will not, I don't believe, pass a Supreme Court challenge. 

In our nation's Constitution, we have a guarantee of equal protection under the law.  It is impossible for a citizen of the United States to surrender their Constitutionally-guaranteed rights, and the guarantee of equal protection is one of them.  I believe that the interpretation that has been the one most commonly interpreted by adoptees and others who support them has seen this as a protection FROM each other.  I don't believe that is what the meaning of that is at all.  I see this as a guarantee that there will be equal protection of the rights of each individual and to create laws that respect the rights of two parties to a transaction and disregard the rights of the third party cannot pass the Supreme Court challenge.  If the adopted adult and their adopters wish to have identifying information on the mothers, typically the only name on the birth certificate of unmarried women, and the agencies already know it, then the only party in the transaction who has no identifying information is the mother.  That creates an unconstitutional, unequal protection of the rights of two parties with a complete disregard for the rights of the third party.  I am sure that the legislators understand this, whether the advocates do or not.  No one really wishes to be associated with a law that cannot withstand a Constitutional challenge.

I would be so bold as to even go one step further.  One reason the laws are so convoluted is that they are based on lies.  Then more lies and more legislation has to be created to maintain them.   The lies must be protected so more lies are told to support the original lies.   How about this....make a state or federal law to REPEAL the lies and we can start that by making it illegal to falsify Vital Public Records, or the Amended Birth Certificate that is unique to adoption.   The birth certificates do not belong to the person that they address.  They are a government acknowledgment of birth, a government record of the birth of that individual.  They belong to the government.  There are amendments made to the birth certificates of others besides adoptees.  However, when that is done in other instances it does not require that they be sealed, removed from the section of the courthouse where the regular birth certificates are handled and placed in another location under lock and key.   They are AMENDED.  Amend

Amend at Dictionary.com
–verb (used with object) 1. to alter, modify, rephrase, or add to or subtract from (a motion, bill, constitution, etc.) by formal procedure

Note that nowhere in the above does it say seal and replace.  That is unique to adoption, in almost all cases.

A federal repeal of the fraudulent documents, calling them that, and noting that they are legalized lies, would go a long way.   Each state would have to address the situtation, then and either approve or deny it.  While there are still some counties that remained dry after the repeal of Prohibition, by and large we were  not a dry nation.  Now we seem to be drunk on adoption!  If we can repeal a bad law that binds people to the mores of a few, why can we not repeal laws that bind people to the lies of their ancestors, both natural and adoptive.  The mothers would enjoy equal protection under the laws because the laws would be the truth. 

The beautiful thing about REPEAL is that it could be done at either a state or federal level.  A few states could repeal the laws in their state and, since modeling is common in legislation, there would be others. 

Repeal.  It is simple.  It is neat.  It is doable.  Let it begin in Missouri.  Let it begin.....