Adoptee Denied Driver's License In Florida

If you would like to know what it's like to live a day in the stigmatized life of an adult adoptee, I would like to introduce you to my friend Cynthia, or Chynna as she is known. I met her through an adoption support group, where she shared a recent experience that I would like to share with you.

Before we begin, let's review the difference between an adoptee's original birth certificate (OBC) and their amended birth certificate (ABC). When an adoptee is born, they have an original birth certificate with their birth mother's and possibly father's name. In a sealed-records adoption this document is amended (e.g. legally falsified) when the adoption is finalized (NOT when relinquishment occurs). The adoptive parents' names are substituted, "as if" having given birth to the adoptee. If an adoptee follows standard procedure to obtain a birth certificate, the amended one is the only one they can get, unless they happen to be from one of the handful of civilized (open records) states.

Chynna recently tried to do something very mundane: obtain a new driver's license. Yet, because she is adopted, her trip turned into a confrontation with police over the legitimacy of her birth certificate. I quote the following with her permission.

Yesterday, 10-26-2008, I went to my local DMV to finally change my much overdo license to the state in which I was residing, my hometown no less, Miami, Florida.

I brought with me the proper things necessary to legally & easily get a Florida license & finally be legal! I had my previous states license and my microfiche ABC, with proper seal. This is what the State Of Florida sent my parents as my amended ABC and what I have used since I was 18 for all purposes where a birth certificate was needed.

I am there for hours and finally reach the counter. I fill out forms, take the eye test, sign everywhere, etc. I think I am ready for my fabulous license photo so I fix my lip-gloss in a mirror as quick as possible!

I am asked to come back to the counter and do so quickly. One of the DMV people proceeds to question me about my birth certificate. Where I obtained it, they need the original, etc. I am not really stunned as it is typical for an adoptee. I am defensive as I think, “No one else here but, ME, is getting harassed & humiliated in this manner…no one, but ME.”.

I proceed to explain that I am adopted . She is reacting as though this is something she has never heard of and like I have some kind of contagious plague. It was clear that she didn’t believe me. She keeps my ABC even though I requested it back. She asks me to take a seat and she will be right back.

A policeman comes out and once again I am asked up to the counter. All eyes in the place are on me. I make no eye contact, except with the Officer. I reach the counter and pull myself up so I don’t feel so much like a child being scolded as I am only 5' and the counter was at head level. So here I am if you can picture it, standing on my tiptoes, trying to balance, trying to stay calm in light of my humiliation & anger.

The Officer proceeds to tell me that I need to bring my REAL BC in before they can give me a Florida license. I must admit that I heatedly said, “Are you kidding me? Have you never seen an ABC before? I can’t be the only person in Florida with an ABC.” Now at first I thought he just didn’t want the microfiche copy. I confirmed this was not the case. As it had the seal, the book #, registrar #, etc. I said I could bring my original ABC, which my AP’s finally received later. He said no we need your REAL BC.

I explain to him that I am an adoptee and we ONLY HAVE by law access to our amended or in his layman terms a FAKE BC. Hey, I agree, it IS fake. We go back & forth for 10 minutes or so until he finally says there is nothing he can do. I am asked to leave to allow others to go about their rightful business. I should come back with my REAL BC and they will change out my license.

Their rightful business? Those with identity have rightful business and me without an identity has no rights and therefore no business that they recognize as worthy. Can you imagine the humiliation?

I tell the officer and the DMV staff member and anyone in ear shot that “If I even had the same rights as a dog in this state I would be happy to bring back my REAL BC. My REAL BC with my REAL ID that proves I am a REAL person” and I leave to go to my car feeling totally obliterated.

While at my car the officer approaches me as he can see that I am very upset. He confirms that with immigration here and post 9/11 they are much more skeptical when anything out of the ordinary comes about. So I should feel good right? A policeman is telling me I’m out of the ordinary. Meaning special right?

I go back the next day, on my 2nd day of vacation no less, with my original BC and my adoption decree. I ask for the Policeman as that is what he said I should do so I wouldn’t have to wait in line again. I know it was truly because they thought I was trying to pull some kind of identity fraud. But, I am out of the ordinary remember? I am special. Well, I would like to just be ordinary with identity.

So let's get this straight. Chynna takes her amended birth certificate--by Florida law, the only one she can obtain--to the DMV, and gets treated like a criminal. Near as I can tell from her description it was indeed a certified copy, as is typically required. In email she also told me that she had problems obtaining her Connecticut driver's license too, except her husband was there to talk man to man with the DMV dude. I guess it's easier to humiliate adoptees when they don't have backup.

I asked Chynna if she was able to obtain her Florida driver's license. She said:

yes. But I had to bring another ABC and my adoption decree. I truly believe that if I didn't bring my decree they might not have given me my new license.

The Florida DMV requirements are here. They say:

US Citizens

State of Florida law requires identification, proof of birth date, and social security number - if you have been issued one - from all US citizens before a drivers license or state ID card will be issued. As a US citizen you must submit the following:

One of the Following

• Original or certified United States birth certificate
• Valid United States passport
• Certificate of Naturalization

In addition one of the following secondary documents is required:

• Social Security Card
• Parent Consent form of Minor
• Marriage Certificate
• Florida or out of state drivers license, valid or expired

"Adoption decree" is not on this list. Chynna's previous driver's license and the ABC should have been enough. She was treated like a second-class citizen simply for being adopted.

How many other adoptees have experienced the stigma of their adopted status? Far more, I suspect, than is generally known. As Chynna says:

To say the least this was incredibly frustrating, exasperating and downright humiliating. It, this dreaded adoption aftermath, continues to make me feel like being adopted was some sort of curse or punishment and it will continue to whollop me when I least expect it.

Yup. This is the wonderful world of being adopted.

I hope you will join me in expressing outrage at the Florida DMV for failing to honor adoptee rights, and consider this a call to action that we should not be treated like second-class citizens.

Adoption Reform Illinois Letter To Legislators

Please see the Adoption Reform Illinois letter to legislators (pdf) and press release (pdf).

Adoption Reform Illinois
October 20, 2008

To The Members of the Illinois State Legislature:

On behalf of adopted adults born in our state, Adoption Reform Illinois and its supporters around the country request that you vote against Illinois House Bill 4623. As written, HB 4623 offers some adopted adults a chance to access their original birth certificates but bans others from access to theirs. This bill turns the matter into a question of search and reunion instead of addressing the civil right of all persons, without exception, to access their records.

We formally request that you will sponsor a new bill to restore the right of access to original birth certificates to all Illinois adopted adults. We propose the following alternative to HB 4623:

“All adopted adults, upon reaching the age of majority and upon written request, shall be able to request and receive a copy of their original birth certificate without any restrictions or falsifications on the certificate, in a manner identical to that of all other non-adopted citizens of the state.”

With the state budget in crisis, we urge our legislators to forgo HB 4623 and its enlargement of the Illinois Adoption Registry and Confidential Intermediary programs. These programs are rarely successful (by their own statistics, a match rate of less than 17% through March 2008*) and charge fees that are to expensive for many. By returning the right of Illinoisans to access their adoption-related records, we could eliminate the cost of these expensive and ineffective programs.

Please support the right of all Illinois citizens to access their records equally.

Sincerely,

Anita Walker Field
Illinois Open
obc@ilopen.org

Triona Guidry
Midwest Coordinator Green Ribbon Campaign For Open Records
triona@guidryconsulting.com

* see www.73adoptee.com/il-registry-stats-march2008.pdf, as originally posted at www.idph.state.il.us

Ann Wilmer
Founder
Green Ribbon Campaign
for Open Records

Lorraine Dusky
Author, “Birthmark”

Marley Greiner
Bastard Nation:
The Adoptee Rights Organization

Mary L. Fuller
Founder, FamAdopt
Illinois Born and Adopted

James R. Marsh, Esq.
The Marsh Law Firm PLLC
ChildLaw Blog, www.ChildLaw.us

Joyce Bahr
President
NY Statewide Adoption Reform
Illinois Birth Mother

Patricia Marler
Oklahoma Open Record Org.

Amy Burt
Indiana Open
Coleman Moms and Babes

Margaret S. Lyburtus
Illinois Birth Mother

Keli Galvin
Illinois Birth Mother

Peter Kristian Mose
Illinois Born And Adopted

Bonnie Pierce Spinazze
Adoptee And Illinois Resident

Nancy West McGuire
Reunited Adoptee

Theresa Hood
Adoptee

Lisa Kay Floyd-Morash
Adoptee

Gerald H. Bailey
Adoptee

Action Alert: Illinois Open Records Legislation

If you are an Illinois adoptee or birth mother, let your voice be heard on pending adoption records legislation.

Adoption Reform Illinois opposes Illinois House Bill 4623, a bill that permits some adoptees to access their original birth certificates while banning others from doing so. We hope you will join us in opposing this bill and supporting unrestricted original birth certificate access in Illinois.

If you would like to participate, please contact me at me-at-73adoptee-dot-com.

Targeted For Adoption

It's a dirty secret that children are targeted for adoption. This time it's happening in my own backyard. Check out this story from the Chicago Tribune.

The lawsuit charges that authorities "tore a healthy and happy toddler from her innocent parents." Then, it alleges, child welfare investigators "held the toddler hostage until the parents agreed to forfeit their constitutional rights to live without unwarranted restrictions."

Two child welfare investigators and two Tinley Park police officers visited the Evans home and found her "safe and well-cared for," the lawsuit said. Days later, DCFS social workers took the child from her parents for several hours.

The social workers then, according to the suit, threatened the parents with the continued custody of their daughter and placement in a shelter "unless they signed a so-called safety plan restricting their custodial rights."

Note that the initial investigation found her "safe and well-cared for," yet Illinois DCFS shows up days later to take the child. Also note the mention of a "safety plan restricting custodial rights," because that's how it begins. Once an allegation is made, no matter how wild, parents are considered guilty and are hard-pressed to prove otherwise.

Why target children for foster care and adoption? Because it's lucrative, as explained in this article about babysnatching in Britain:

Meanwhile, millions of pounds of taxpayers' money has been given to councils to encourage them to meet high Government targets on child adoptions... This sweeping shake-up was designed for all the right reasons: to get difficult-to-place older children in care homes allocated to new parents. But the reforms didn't work. Encouraged by the promise of extra cash, social workers began to earmark babies and cute toddlers who were most easy to place in adoptive homes, leaving the more difficult-to-place older children in care.

The secrecy surrounding foster care and adoption works to the snatchers' advantage. From the same article:

Crucially, the courts' culture of secrecy means that if a social worker lies or fabricates notes or a medical expert giving evidence makes a mistake, no one finds out and there is no retribution... From the time a child is named on a social services care order until the day they are adopted, the parents are breaking the law - a crime punishable by imprisonment - if they tell anyone what is happening to their family. Anything from a chat with a neighbour to a letter sent to a friend can land them in jail. And many have found themselves sent to prison for breaching court orders by talking about their case.

Another example comes from Kentucky, where social worker whistleblowers accused the state's Child Protective Services of pressuring birth families and staff to boost adoption rates. Further, those in positions of power were actually able to place orders for children:

The high-adoption trend apparently began in 2004, when adoptions in Kentucky ballooned to 724 while the federal bonus money more than doubled from $452,000 the previous year to more than $1 million.

"The Cabinet puts pressure on stats because federal and state money come from statistics," said another social worker who wants her identity concealed for fear of retaliation against her family. "You get praised. The Cabinet praises you for terminating rights and adopting kids out immediately."

She said the concerted effort to take children away and put them up for adoption was so brazen, she actually saw someone successfully place an order for children.

"Someone could not have a child and wanted a child so within the community," the social worker said. "This person saw a family in distress, having a hard time, relayed to workers that they would like those children, and that's exactly what has happened."

And a former CPS supervisor, who also wants anonymity for fear of retaliation, said if an order for a child was delayed or denied, her supervisors would overturn local decisions.

"This one family was promised a child, and when it happened that this child was going to be reunified with the parent, they called our regional office, and our regional office came in our county and they harassed the birth parents and that kind of thing because they didn't agree with our decision," the former supervisor said.

There's no guarantee that a child will be protected once in foster care. In a recent case in Georgia, the natural parents were scant weeks away from getting their child back when the foster caregiver let the girl suffocate in a van. One little boy named Donte May from Peoria, Illinois, is remembered only in a scattering of blog posts:

All wars have casualties, and the war against child abuse provides no exception. In the state of Georgia alone, 433 of our children have died while in the hands of the state over a period of some several recent years. Even a cursory review of recent press accounts reveals: In Peoria, Illinois, the state's child welfare agency "rescues" Donte May from a neglectful and possibly abusive mother, only to place him in a foster home where he dies suspiciously from bleeding in the brain.

Of course, the canonical example of targeting children for adoption is the recent Texas "sect" case, in which officials were clamoring to adopt the kids out practically before they even raided the compound. And, as we all know, Texas was forced to return those kids. That's the exception, not the rule.

Illinois DCFS has had a boatload of problems in the past, charged with failing to provide basic services and allowing negligence and abuse. And it appears to be common knowledge that Illinois DCFS targets children for adoption. Such targeting is more widespread than is generally believed, so much so that there are web sites and blogs dedicated to helping people fight false allegations and try to reclaim their kids.

I hope this lawsuit sheds light on this reprehensible practice, and that these families can find some healing after such horrific experiences.

Adoption-Fortified Pro-Life Slogans

This election really has me in a lather, as far as the abortion debate. Some pro-lifers seem hell-bent on stopping abortion with no thought whatsoever to *gasp* actually supporting mothers and children in need. Instead they chuck those infants into the adoption mill, which is about as savory as a puppy mill. The message "abortion is murder" implies that adoption is salvation, but adoption can be murder too, as sadly memorialized here, here, and here. Please take a moment to light a virtual candle for murdered adoptees, and those who still suffer abuse and neglect.

I think it's high time we added adoption to anti-abortion slogans. In the spirit of the marvelous yet truly disturbing Adoption Apparel Translator (baby bibs reading "Born In Africa, Loved In The USA," perfect for publicly humiliating your infant adoptee), I humbly offer the following Adoption-Fortified Pro-Life Slogans. Delicious, nutritious and chock-full of all those inconvenient truths that seem to be missing from the Right To Life brand. And it's melamine-free!

• Abortion Stops A Beating Heart...
  Adoption Sells It To The Highest Bidder
  
• Abortion Kills...
  A Perfectly Good Chance To Make A Buck Selling Babies
  
• It's Not A Choice, It's A Child...
  Buy Yours Today - Or Be Like Brangelina And Adopt A Complete Set!
  
• One Abortion: One Dead, One Wounded...
  One Adoption: Two Life Sentences
  
• Abortion: Infant Genocide...
  Adoption: Human Trafficking
  
• Abortion Is Like Magic: It Makes Babies Disappear...
  Adoption Is Like A Fun-House Mirror: It Distorts The True Picture
  
• Abortion: The Hand That Robs The Cradle...
  And Pockets The Proceeds
  
• Pregnant? Scared? We Can Help...
  Ourselves To Your Marketable Infant
  
• Adoption: The Caring Option...
  Caring About Our Agency's Profits
  
• Keep Your Laws Off My Tiny Body
  But Feel Free To Adopt Me To Pedophiles And Murderers
  
• Blacks Didn't Choose Slavery, Jews Didn't Choose Genocide, Babies Don't Choose Abortion
  We Don't Choose Adoption Either, But That's Not In The Brochure
  
• Smile! Your Mom Chose Life!
  Frown If She Was Forced To "Give You A Better Life" Through Adoption

and a personal favorite:

• Choose Life
  But For Heaven's Sake, Don't Give Those Bastards Their Birth Certificates Or It Will Be THE END OF THE WORLD!

Birth Mothers, Tell Michigan You Want Open Adoption Records!

Please see this action alert from Bastard Nation regarding twin Michigan bills HB 4896 and HB 6287. If you are a birth mother (from Michigan or elsewhere) and believe in open adoption records, I urge you to ask Michigan Senator Mark Jansen (senmjansen@senate.michigan.gov) to reject these bills.

Here is the action alert from Bastard Nation:

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO FORWARD

Michigan House Bills 4896 and 6287 are simply taking up space right now in the Senate Committee for Families & Human Services. Senator Mark Jansen, Chair, has not yet set a hearing for these bills.

WE NEED TO GET THESE BILLS PULLED RIGHT NOW. WE DON'T WANT THESE BILLS TO EVER SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY. ASK SENATOR JANSEN TO KILL HB64896 AND HB 6287.

Senator Mark Jansen
Assistant Majority Caucus Chair
Committee for Families & Human Services Chair
senmjansen@senate.michigan.gov

If possible, can you please c/c Senator Dennis Olshove, Assistant Democratic Caucus, Whipsendolshove@senate.michigan.gov and House Representative Lisa Wojno, Sponsor, HBs 4896/6287, lisawojno@house.mi.gov

Here's why we have to write!

Word is out to all BIRTH MOTHERS in Michigan to write to the Senator in support of the bills. The proponents of the bills say they don't stand a chance of passing their bills unless birth mothers write and tell Sen. Jansen and the Committee how good the bills are because they contain a disclosure veto. In fact, the bills are now being touted as bills about birth mothers' rights to privacy.

The supporters of the bills are telling adoptees that it's okay for them to write to the senator too, but the adoptees must remember that the bills are now about birth parent privacy and not about them.

I know. It's hard to believe!!! The supporters of the bills hope that the addition of a disclosure veto will be the clincher to getting a "pass" recommendation from the Committee.

Somehow, this strategy is called playing politics. Adoptees will get a restricted bill passed if birthmothers will support the veto. Go figure. Personally, I feel insulted. I feel as if this is an outrage to all the adoptees who are trying to pass good adoptee access bills all around the country.

Adoptee Bastards, even if you wrote once, I ask everyone to write now to Senator Jansen, Chair of the Committee, right now! Let the good Senator know what the only good adoptee assess bill is – unconditional access to obcs for 100% of the adoptees in Michigan. Nothing less than 100% is acceptable!!

Birthmother-Bastards, please let Senator Jansen know how you all feel about a bill that is restricting adoptee's obc access under the guise of birth parent privacy. You all weren't promised privacy and you don't want it now. Let the Senator know that you only support a bill which gives all adoptees equal access to their obcs.

REMEMBER, HB 4896 AND HB 6287 WILL NOT GIVE OBC ACCESS TO ALL ADOPTED ADULTS.

Thanks, everyone.
Anita

Anita Walker Field
Bastard Nation