ADOPTEE RIGHTS IN THE NEWS

Looks like adoptee rights was in the news again. Peter Franklin wrote a letter into the Daily Record out of New Jersey

Here is his letter.

Eradicate archaic secrecy laws

To the Editor:

It is time New Jersey adoptees stop behaving like good house slaves, content with archaic adoption laws. Secrecy serves no one and only protects the unscrupulous. If all adoptees knew why records were sealed (to keep birth mothers away from the newly formed adoptive family), how birth mothers were treated (ostracized from society, many coerced into giving up their babies), what percentage of birth mothers welcome contact (nearly 95 percent) and who wants to keep records sealed (Catholic bishops), perhaps they would march on Trenton and demand change.

Why do adoptees wait until they or their family members need life saving family medical history before they get involved? Why do they wait until they unwittingly commit incest by not knowing their biological relatives, before they get involved?

Why do they wait until they search for relatives, before they get involved. Sadly, secret adoption has made them feel ungrateful to question a system that is made to feel as if it is the foundation of their existence. I challenge adoptees to shed their complacent attitude and embrace the idea that their existence and rights are endowed by their creator, not adoption.

It is time adoptees demand equal treatment. They should demand that Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts, D-Camden, let our elected representatives vote on A752, the Adoptees Birthright bill.

PETER W. FRANKLIN

Haskell

Granted the letter is somewhat harsh, the author does have a point though.

One way to stand up is to attend the Adoptee Rights Demonstration in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania next year during the National Conference of State Legislators during the week of Jluy 21,2009. We as adoptees, natural parents and adoptive parents can make a difference.