Thursday, October 25, 2007

FOR THOSE VISITING

I have noticed that I have had visitors spreading this blog's message throughout the state of Indiana and Illinois. I have also had visitors googling Suemma Coleman Home for Unwed Mothers.

I wonder if those emailing this address all over that part of the country what are you saying. Do you agree with the message? Do you disagree with the message?

If you disagree with it, this is my response.

I am an adoptee who should have access to the very records that accurately record my birth and the six weeks that followed. It is about me. I did not have a choice in this adoption. It was a contract created between the adoption agency, my natural parents, and my adoptive parents. Why am I held to a contract that I did not sign? I am now an adult. I have served my country. I am a working mother. I am married. I vote and follow my civic duties as I should. Why can't I have access to something that rightfully belongs to me.

Don't give me the hogwash about the right to privacy. The right to privacy is the right to be free from governmental interference. So whose right is really being violated here? It is my rights. I am responsible enough to pay taxes, vote, fight for my country, and even drink. I am not responsible enough though to have access to my documents.

Another issue that all living adoption need to be aware of. The government is now requiring accurate birth certificates. Mine is not complete. It does not have the date that it was filed on it. According to the Department of Homeland security, I would be a suspect for terrorism because I can't produce documents accurately recording my birth. I am thereby a prisoner in my own country. I can leave it but I would not be able to return. Even though I am a military veteran who has gone to war for her country, I would still be suspect. Adoptive parents this includes your children. Do you have the documents accurately recording the birth of your child?

If you really believe adoption is the cure of abortion, here is my argument against that even. In familial privacy, women are practicing the right to privacy with abortion, contraception, and parenting. In two of those subjects alone, it is a medical issue. In parenting, a mother has the right to raise her child as she sees fit. In adoption, the mother is relinquishing her rights to include the right to privacy from her own child. She does not have to deal with governmental interference unless of course she wants to reunite with her adult adoptee. Then the government won't let her have access to the same documents. It is the same for many adoptive parents. If they chose to help their adult adoptee search, they too can't have access to the very documents that record their adoptee's birth. Sealed birth certificates is about one thing. Covering thy proverbial ass. Many adoption agencies then and now are scared to death of what is in those records. They violated the rights of mothers because they were single. Motherhood back in the day was only defined by a woman's marriage. It was not defined by giving birth to a child. In Oregon, the adoptee access law promotes adoption. In states with adoptee access, they are historically got lower abortion rates and higher adoption rates than compared to the national average.

If you are concerned with what I and others have said about the CI laws in the state of Indiana. You should be very afraid. They control the exchange of information and the reunion. They say and do things that disallow you from contacting both of your parents. Even though the law states "birth" parent, there is nothing prohibiting from one contacting her/his natural father if the natural mother refuses. Somehow someway this is included. The Department of Vital Statistics manual says nothing about prohibiting contact. Trust me I have read it over and over. There is a law that allows an adoptee to make contact with their pre-adoption siblings. I had one. I have a sister. I can't contact her because she is my natural father's daughter. Again my mother supposedly refused.

If you are here because you agree, please please spread the message. Write the Indiana state legislators. Attend the Adoptee Rights Protest in July of 2008. The links are on the side. Step up and fight back against a system that violates our rights as those living adoption.

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