Indiana’s Senate Bill 352 vs. Adoption Attorney Steve Kirsch

I’m very happy to share the news that our friends in Indiana, Hoosiers for Equal Access to Records ( HEAR),  are moving forward with a piece of Adoptee Rights legislation. Last week they testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Committee then  voted 8-2 to advance the measure to the full Senate. Pam Dixon Kroskie who is heading the effort along with Marcie Keithley as asked for phone calls to go to the Indiana Senate as the bill is prepared to go to the Senate for a full vote:

“Start your calls to your Senator for SB 352- Adoptee Rights Bill – starting at 8:30 am -4:45pm – just call 800-382-9467.”

Great Media Coverage of the IN Bill to Date

In addition, as always, it’s great to share articles on social media and comment to help further educate the public. While some of the articles below don’t allow comments and others are just repeats of originals, it is always good to give Adoptee Rights media coverage some love. It shows the publishers and reporters that if you right about adoptees rights, we pay attention. And so, the numbers of FB shares and tweets generated, do make a difference.

• http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/indiana/2015/01/15/bill-increase-access-adoption-records/21830293/
• http://www.greensburgdailynews.com/news/adoptees-hope-to-crack-secrecy-around-birth-records/article_859e7c6b-efec-56e7-9454-ee219f94d1fb.html
• http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20150116%2FNEWS%2F150119761
• http://www.ibj.com/articles/51331-senate-bill-would-increase-access-to-adoption-records
• http://www.theindychannel.com/news/local-news/should-ind-adoptees-be-allowed-to-find-their-birth-mom
• http://chestertontribune.com/Indiana%20News/senate_bill_would_increase_acces.htm
• http://m.newsandtribune.com/news/jeffersonville-woman-leads-charge-to-open-birth-records/article_53e23404-9dd6-11e4-95cb-778dfcba2de6.html?mode=jqm

Indiana’s OBC Opposition? One Steve Kirsch

Meanwhile; their opposition is, surprise,  primarily an Indiana Adoption Attorney, Steve Kirsch of Kirsch and Kirsch.

Mr. Kirsch has been on the other side of the fence of this issue for quite a while. Of course, his main concern is protecting the “poor poor birthmothers“.  You can hear him for yourself on this video:

I have taken the liberty of pulling these few main points from his little speech:

“Prior to 1994, it is my opinion that birth mothers believed that there adoption would be confidential, and that no one would contact them about their adoption, unless they gave express permission. ”

“My concern about the bill is that birth mothers may not know that they need to file the non-release form. Remember, we are talking about adoptions that happened as long as 30, 40, 50 years ago. Some of those birth moms are very old. “

His main point is that this bill is unfair;

“…those women are going to get a knock on the door that they are not expecting, and they are not going to have any idea that they needed to file a non-release form. I think that it is not fair.”

So broken record time;

The so called promises of “confidentially”  if they are given at the time of relinquishment does not mean that the state is indebted to issue false documents to protect a citizen from perceived further embarrassment or some imagined emotional discomfort. Really, any “confidentiality” basically means that the agency or attorney isn’t going to go adding your name to a legal newsletter or mention you publicly at a church prayer service or send in a baby announcement in the local paper. It doesn’t mean that everyone has to help you hide from your kid the rest of your days. Seriously, if that’s what you want to do, then just do it, but that mythical birthmother should not hide behind a skewed interpretation of the law.

Oh, and this bill, by the way, does give “those women” the option to grant that “express permission“. It’s called asking.

Then there are those nasty little things that get in the way of Steve kirsch’s way of thinking. I called  them facts:

• The historical  date and researchdoes not hold up that the majority of mother fear contact with adult adoptees. The number is less than 1% when given the choice to allow adoptees OBC access.
• The actual surrender documents prove that there were no legal promisesand in truth, the BIRTHMOTHERS were told to stay away.
• DNA and social media searches both make any concept of privacy null anyway.
• The “promises” that were given by adoption attorneys were in fact, lies.

Why is it Always the Adoption Attorneys” Fighting Adoptee Rights?

Once again, if a mother relinquishes and therefore has forfeited ALL her rights AND as the OBC is NOT sealed until the adoption is final; then the OBC remains a matter of public record if perchance the intended adoption  falls through. And THAT is something that a mother has no right to control and therefore, any adoption attorney could NOT promised 100% that the OBC will be sealed.

I wonder if Steve Hirsch worries that perhaps he has promised, perhaps  too strongly and with a false sense of certainly, to all the mothers he took relinquishments from. I still strongly suspect that these attorneys who are so strongly against OBC access are more about covering their own mistakes. I do think the concern is that IF these Adoptee Rights bills pass that MAYBE  that ONE odd mother MIGHT get upset and in our very litigious nation and especially in the extremely litigious world that attorneys live in; they are more concerned about being held accountable for being wrong.

But here’s another thought regarding Steve Kirsch’s comment: when is it that the state is so concerned about its citizens being aware of every law that might affect them? Now granted, every government has enough PR folks and media contacts that they could easily pull off a neat little public service announcement if needed and often, the government will do that sort of thing.  Heck, they have even been known to outsource that kind of campaign and have someone else run it. Perhaps Steve Kirsch could donate his YouTube Channel to the cause if he is so concerned?

But what really amazes me is that the “not knowing” is being used as reason enough to not change a law that is without a doubt unfair and hurts people for sure, based on the imaginary perceived difficulty?   Since when does any government make sure that legislative changes are “known” by those that might be affected by it?

I mean, say they change the speed limit on a road close to me and lower it  by 20 MPH. It’s up to me to pay attention to the newly posted signs and obey the new rules.  If I don’t and I get pulled over, claiming ” I didn’t know” won’t get me anywhere. Based on Steve Kirsch’s logic, the law should never have been changed because I might not find out and I might not see the sign and I might get a ticket.  Of course, the flip side is that I could see the new signage and pay attention and  not get the ticket. Then, because I was driving slower, I might not get into a bad accident and die.

The one thing that is kind of neat about making up all these stories about the “unknown secret birthmothers in hiding” is that I can have a great imagination and make up stories too.

Sadly, despite speaking  erroneously on the behalf of for birthmothers that probably have not given Steve Kirsch their “express permission” to speak for them and make decisions on their behalf, Kirsch and Kirsch won’t discuss their views. They made it very clear on their Facebook update on January16th, saying that FB is not the place to debate the merits of the bill.  (Hint;  the comments are open still on YouTube)

Funny, they left all the comments there saying how great they are. However, If find it very interesting that every single comment there is form a mother who not only speaks of their praise, but also speaks of the joy of reunion  and ongoing contact, not secrecy.

33 Years, Created at least 3,500 Denied Adoptees to Discriminate Against

Meanwhile, Kirsh & Kirsh, P.C. has been in the business of adoption for over 30 years. Steve is a bigwig with a founder and former president of the Quad A’s under his belt. And truth be told, I don’t hate everything on the website. Granted there is a bunch of typical promotional pro adoption rhetoric there, but he gives a nod to transparency which I will acknowledge.  Part of me wants to believe that this guy is just in so deep that he really does think that he is on the side of good. I will admit I sense some sincere, however misguided, concern on his part. Maybe.

I wonder what would really happen if Steve Kirsch took it upon himself to really find out what the birthmothers he represented would like him to say. Maybe he should put his money where his mouth is and ask them for their “express permission” to lobby on their behalf?  It seems to me that he has just assumed what he has interpreted from his observations, yet he alone actually has the ability to poll a nice sized sampling of mothers to be affected directly. If he is so worried about mothers not finding out about the existence of the non-release form, then why would he not contact all the mothers he personally dealt with over the years and tell them about the pending changes? Would it not be the perfect opportunity to then ask these mothers directly, now, years after the fact, when they are no longer young and scared; would these mothers want their child to be treated equally even if it means they would have the names of said mothers.

Steve Kirsch Knows Family is Important

This is what gets me; he founded the firm with his brother, Joel and is now joined by his son, Grant. Apparently, he employs his sister in.. ready for this… being the confidential intermediaries and performing adoption searches. They do state that they will help local Indiana Adoptees searching for no change, but I believe that they also change a few hundred dollars to search when they can. I do believe there is a slight conflict of interest when  you are making a profit on both ends of adoption; breaking up families and then reuniting, but again, it almost feels like he does believe he is doing the right thing. He doesn’t totally dismiss Adoptees as wrong for wanting to know and searching, but still gets stuck on the false promises issues. The lack of factual logic just makes me nuts, especially when you could just ask. Couple the fact that it seems Steve Kirsch alone is drumming up all the opposition. If there was just some way that he could open his mind to what mothers really want. If he would just listen.

Until then, the battle continues; I hope 2015 is a good year of Indiana! I do hope that you go to the site, sign up for the email list so you know when to calla and wire letter.  Share the Video below:

Get Inspired from Pam:

If Not Us, Who?  If Not Now, When?

By Pam Kroskie, President of HEAR

Since the 1970s, adult adoptees have been working to educate the public and legislators about why it’s so important to have access to our original birth certificate—our history, and the chapter one of our lives.  Some days, it may seem like an uphill battle.  But, in the years since adoptees began this fight, we have managed to get the adoption placement community to understand that it is healthy for adoptees to ask questions, and crucial that they get answers, even if they are tough ones. There’s been important research done by organizations like The Donaldson Adoption Institute that back up our claims.  And most important, 13 states have since rolled back sealed records laws so that adoptees, for the first time, can hold their original birth certificates in their hands.

For the last four years, we have tried to get a bill passed in the Indiana State Legislature that would equalize adoption law for all adoptees.  Year after year, powerful interests in the adoption law community have ensured that it never got out of committee. This time, it’s going to be different.

How? For starters, we have enough donations from adoptees to put together a real professional organization and lobbying effort. We are taking our fight to the media, starting next year.  And we are taking our fight to you, the adoptee community.  We have now done enough education in the legislature   that many of our elected officials are beginning to understand our issue, and come around to our side.  And our bill is off to a great start in the Senate, being carried by Senator Brent Steele, to whom we are very grateful.

This website, www.indianahear.org,  is going to serve as a central point for information, and our Twitter and Facebook pages will serve as sources for breaking information. I encourage you to sign up for our email newsletter, and forward links to our website to everyone you know in the adoption constellation—birth/first parents, adoptive parents, and ethical adoption placement professionals. We need legislators to hear our voice!

SB352 has the potential to impact a lot of people in our state.  We don’t have any hard statistics, because adoption records have never been centrally kept or counted by the state of Indiana.  But we can offer an educated estimate, based on this premise:  If around 2 percent of the American population is adopted (which we know), then it is possible that about 350,000 people are alive today that were adopted in Indiana during the closed records era (1941 to 1993).  When you factor in the birth/first parents and adoptive parents, this law could affect well over a million people.

Make no mistake about it, this bill can benefit everyone in the adoption constellation, including:

Birth/first parents—who have often lived a lifetime without the sense of closure they need, not knowing whether their child is alive and well.  They could now have the peace of knowing that if their child is searching for them, they can be found.  Also under this bill, birth/first parents who do not wish to be contacted will have the ability to sign a form expressing their wishes.

Adoptive parents—Adoptive parents agreed to give a home to children who needed them.  Now that those children are adults, they are still unable to answer their child’s questions about their heritage.  Many watch helplessly as their grown children are unable to get critical family medical history that their children or grandchildren need. They will no longer have to live with an enormous secret at the center of their families.

Adoption placement professionals—Adoption agencies will no longer be fielding calls from adult adoptees, only to tell them “no.”  It is a big burden off their shoulders, administratively.  All they will have to do is look in the file to see if a non-consent form exists, and if it doesn’t, they can forward the adoptee’s information.  We have asked our adoption agencies to be enforcers for secrecy when in most cases, there should be none.

For those adopted in Indiana in 1994 and beyond, the laws are already in place for them to access their information. It’s working well. Let’s change the law to be fair and accurate for the rest of us—the adoptees from 1941 to 1993. It’s time every adoptee in Indiana had the same privileges.
Please join us, and spread the word.  This is the best shot we have had at passing this bill, and we need to speak with one clear voice, together.

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