HAWAII'S GOVERNOR VETO OVERRODE BY STATE LEGISLATURE

The state legislature of Hawaii overrode the veto of the Governor on safe haven laws. In Hawaii, there has not beena baby dumped since 1996. The Hawaiin people have a practice called Hanai where if the a naturl parent can not care for a baby, family members and the communtiy step up to care for that child. It keeps the child within his community and helps the child know his identity and heritage.

Safe haven laws decriminalize women/adults dumping their children as long as the women do so at a safe place like a hospital with no questions asked. As an adopte, I feel that these laws deny me my right to my identity and heritage. It also denies parental rights to the father. Some of these laws allow an adult to dump a baby at a safe haven without ever proving biological connections to that child. So parental rights of both parents could also be denied with this child. No one bothers to ask for the mother's health, both physically and emotionally.

What might stop this from happening? I think sex education would be one way. Advising young men and women about the consequences of sex. Sex comes with a responsibility, priviledge, and rights. I think we must as a society to remove the shame of single unwed motherhood. It still exists. Society still blames a woman for the consequences of sex even though it takes two to create a child.

The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute did a study on this and addressed many of the concerns of these laws. It notes that despite these laws being in place babies are still being dumped. It is not solving this problem.

The National Council for Adoption supports these laws primarily to circumvent the child's identity and denial of a father's rights. Keep in mind that the NCFA supports adoption agencies who would profit greatly from this type of thing. This group dismisses the adoptee's right to know as irrelevant and not important to a child's well being. They continue to push that if adoptee had their original birth certificate, there would be more safe haven dumps and abortion in the country. They claim that a natural mother's right to privacy forever trumps the adoptee's right to a document that accurately records their birth. In the states that have allowed adoptee access, natural parents have overwhelming proved the opposite. They do not want privacy from the very children that they relinquished to adoption.

To be honest we have tried it their way. It has shown that it doesn't work. Why not show support for these women? True support. In states that have allowed adoptee access to their records, adoption is on the rise and abortion is on the fall. These laws continue to allow the adoption industry to profit greatly at the expense of women and children. Why not provide counseling for these women? Why do we continue to allow women and children to be punished for doing what is natural in most respects?