Ohio Adoptee Searches: News and Views on Ohio Adoptee Rights, Search, and Support

More Information, More Questions in Troy Child Sex Assault Investigation

2012-03-04T14:47:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to the Dayton Daily News for the bang-up reporting it's doing in the Kenneth Brandt child rape investigation. I was concerned that coverage would be superficial, but he Daily News has has stayed on top of things. (I've long been a fan of the Daily News's dedication to actual journalism). Today's Child-rape case shows safeguards failed. is an important read. The long feature contains new information on ACTION, Inc., child shuffling between Texas and Dayton, and Brandt himself. It brings up the yet-to-be-answered question of whether Brandt was living off foster/adoption subsidies. (I'd love to know how the unlicensed insurance agent Brandt convinced ACTION, Inc that he actually had a job.)

I'm writing another project today that was due last week, and don't' have time today to comment much, but I wanted to get something up with a couple comments.

There's one disturbing piece from the piece I'll point out here before I go for the day. According to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, in the last seven years "28 adopted children from the state (Texas) have been placed in homes thorough Dayton-based ACTION." In 2006, 12% of ACTION's placements came from Texas.

I believe this child relocation is common, but I've never understood why. I'm no doubt naive, but outside of an occasional special circumstance (excluding kinship placement), why are foster children shipped across state lines? Interstate newborn placement is bad enough, but the outsourcing of foster children is ripe for sex abuse not to mention government and individual financial shenanigans.

The Daily News interviewed University of Dayton Political Science Lecturer Tony Talbott, who teaches a class in human trafficking. . He says, "I'm looking at the news coverage, and the residents of Troy are shocked and appalled, which they should be, but they really should be surprised. This is something occurring throughout the state of Ohio throughout the United States and internationally."

We've certainly seen enough rot in Ohio to have a good idea what goes on here, most of it protected by "professional secrecy" promoted by the self-serving child welfare industry: "confidentiality" "privacy" and "child's best interest."

As I wrote yesterday, I don't have any sense that ACTION Inc was involved in any illegal activities, and I'd be highly surprised if they are. Nonetheless, the agency's involvement in the placement of at least three boys who were repeatedly raped by their forever father and his friends needs exposed and investigated.

The Daily News also mentions a series of ACTION, Inc videos. (ACTION's YouTube channel is here.) I found them this morning before I read the article which also references them. I had originally planned to post a couple today. I've now posted three below, introductions by Patricia A. Hill and two staff members. They are very short. I was quite taken aback when ACTION, Inc director Patricia A Smith introduces herself as the adoptive mother of 22. A Kid Kollector to boot!

Where the Action Is: ACTION, Inc.identified as agency in Troy child rape cases

2012-03-03T19:36:00.000-05:00

Well, it's official! The name of the Dayton, Ohio agency that handled the adoption of four children by accused adopta pedophile and trafficker Kenneth Brant has been published--ACTION, Inc; full name: Adopting Children Today Information/Option Network with the tagline. "dreams can come true,"

A few days ago I heard that ACTION, Inc was involved in the adoptions but had no documentation and held back until there was verification.. It has now been reported by the Dayton Daily News.(Man used private Dayton adoption agency in alleged child rape, prostitution case)

The Ohio Secretary of State's business services section verifies that ACTION, Inc. is incorporated as a non-profit child placing agency in Ohio. It's director is identified as Patricia A. Hill from New Lebanon, a Dayton suburb. The agency itself is located in a single family home at 6000 Philadelphia Drive, Dayton. Hill's name and home address in SOS documents matches a list of Ohio independent licensed social workers. (I am researching Hill and the agency's staff and board which I'll post when completed, probably in a couple days.)

According to the ACTION, Inc. website, the agency

...began in 1994 as an adoptive parent support group. In 1997, members of the group began the licensing process to open an adoption agency. ACTION continues to proved pre- and post-adoptive services to families as a 501 (c)(3)non-profit corporation.

Our Adoption Services Include:

Weekly adoptive parent support group
Infant, child and sibling placements
Birth parent adoption plans
Assistance with locating family resources and services
Specialized educational courses for adoptive families

The page gives no information about the agency's qualifications as child placing entity, nor does it list the names and qualifications of the owner/operator and staff. (older links with that possible information I found on Googledon't work) Outside of saying ACTION.Inc is a 501(c)(3), the page offers no accreditation or licensing information, although the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services says that it is licensed. An older ODJFS page contained a directory of Ohio accredited agencies, but the new page doesn't.

The Action, Inc.page features two pictures, one of a churchy-looking group of women (the staff? ) and another of a woman ( also in the group picture; Ms Hill?)) with two spiffy-dressed little African-American boys taken in what appears to be a courtroom.

.

"For more information" about ACTION, Inc.we are directed to its "full website." At the top of that page we are informed Actionadoption.org is COMING SOON to REGISTER.COM which links to register.com for for us to set up our own register.com domain..

While we wait for ACTON, Inc's full-blown webpage to hatch, we find in its place a cheap list of adoption "topics" with links to other adoption topics and sites that are attached sometimes to the spam marketing pest ztomy.-- but nothing about ACTION, Inc. Perhaps this is filler. Bad filler. In fact, when I went to the "full website" yesterday I got filler for video games! I regret not taking a screen shot to post here.

When I began to write this piece this morning, one of the headers, now gone, was called "Hot Deals," an unfortunate choice of words under the circumstances. That's disappeared, and we now have the equally unfortunate "Hot Favorites" which links to among other topics, "Adoption Child Photolisting" and "Available Child for Adoption." that connects to more links which connect to more links. which connect to who knows how many more links deep into the cyber. hole. Occasionally, there's a link to a real webpage, which I assume pays to be linked
.
The curious "full website" contains a search engine, too Just for fun I typed "ACTION, Inc" into it, and this is what popped up:

Action A Inc

Cheap Prices and Huge Selection. Action A Inc on Sale!

www.Calibex.com

Action A Inc: Cheap

Best Value for Action A Inc. Find NexTag Sellers' Lowest Price!

www.NexTag.com

So far I have no sense that the folks at ACTION, Inc are part of a pedophile or trafficking ring They're just stupid.

******

Back at the Dayton Daily News we learn some new information about the investigation:

---the four children are now in the care of Kenneth Brandt's mother; the girl who has not been finalized, will probably be returned to Texas for redistribution

--Brant, following the pattern of many adoption./fostercare abusers, was beginning to socially isolate his victims, through alleged home schooling.

I say "alleged" because we don't know if he actually bothered to. Brandt's qualification for Ohio schooling under Ohio: evidence that he had a high school diploma and the submission of "proper curriculum."

Whatever went on, one boy was enrolled in Troy schools from August 18, 2011-January 2, 2012; another from August 13, 2010-Feb 13, 2012; and the third from Dec 17, 2010-February 13, 2112. .Reports so far don't indicate when Brandt started to hand off the boys to his Internet acquaintances, but I wonder if that's around the time he began to pull them out of school. That is, when his hobby became a money-making deal.

Three is no word yet on what Texas adoption agency, if any, worked the other end. Texas Department of Family and Protective Services says they "will review the case." ODJFS, of course, is horrified, by the sexual assaults, especially since it licensed the agency that handled the adoptions, It;s investigating "how the adoption took place."

Finally, on March 1, the Dayton Daily News published an article, .Man accused of child rape, describing a little of his personal life and the reaction of his neighbors to his arrest. A couple interesting points are made:

---Brandt, although he did not hold an insurance agent license in Ohio, owned Brant Insurance Services. There is no webpage for the business, but the incorporation can be found o the Ohio SOS page. How he supported himself, unless illegally, hasn't been revealed and I haven't found anything yet.

---Neighbors report Brandt was selling his house. Then, shortly after his arrest, a man and woman were spotted moving out furniture and household items. The man reportedly told someone (no source of the quote): " “I’m so ashamed. I don’t have anything to say. ”

---The children were only occasionally seen outside; neighbors reported that Brandt watched them carefully. One of the boys was never seen by neighbors..

More later.

Announcement: Ohio Birthparent Group Meeting - March 18

2012-03-03T09:57:00.000-05:00

OBG's March birthparent meeting will be held on Sunday, March 18th from 2-4pm at the Whetstone Public Library (3909 N. High St. Columbus, OH 43214). All birthparents are welcome and no RSVP is required. Join us for an amazing group support experience in a private, birthparents-only setting!

OBG in the Community

OBG presented a program titled "Grief, Loss and 'Getting Over It': Accounting for Birthparents' Experiences in Public Narratives of Adoption" at the Winter/Spring continuing education series sponsored by the Columbus Society for Clinical Social Work and Ohio State's Counseling and Consultation Service.
On March 25th, OBG's Kate Livingston will present at the Alliance for the Study of Adoption and Culture's 4th International Conference in Claremont, CA.

OBG Promotional Materials

Does your organization need printed materials to help spread the word about Ohio Birthparent Group's post-adoption support services? OBG brochures and business cards are available! Donation suggested. Contact ohiobirthparents@gmail.com for details.

Historic Pictures of Ohio Orphanages and Children's Homes

2012-03-01T21:51:00.000-05:00

Tuscarawas County Children's Home, New Philadelphia

I've added a series of historic pictures of orphanages and children's home, public and private, in Ohio to our Facebook page. Many of these were still in operation into the 1970s, though chances are no newborns were going through them by that time.

I knew two girls, Vickie and Vicky, who lived in the hell hole that was the Fairmount Children's Home in Alliance. They were neither orphans or adoptables, just kids with rotten, dysfunctional parents. The Vicks were sent to Fairmount by Children's Services as punishment for running away from their tormentors. They continued to run away, this time from Fairmount, until the Juvenile Court judge finally emancipated them.

I've got more pictures to put up, but it will be a few days.

Fairmount Children's Home, Alliance


Odd Fellows Children's Home, Springfield

B'nai Brith Jewish Orphanage, Cleveland

Go the our Facebook page for more pictures.

More Details in Troy Adoption Pedo Case: Boys tell police assaults began shortly after coming to Ohio

2012-03-01T16:26:00.000-05:00

The pedo adoption story in Troy has hit the national media. UPI, CBS News, and Huffington Post and even the London Daily Mail has picked it up, and I suspect more will follow. The Dayton Daily News, however, offers the most detailed coverage . This morning we have FBI to pursue charges against the men in child sex case.

I won't post the entire article here, but these are the highlights:

---Kenneth Brandt, the adoptive father of the boys, is the former president of the Foster Parent Association of Miami County.

---Brandt has a history of "bringing children from Texas to Troy as supposed 'foster children,'”(No details; currently under investigation.)

--- Quote “We will be looking at the process (Brandt) was using to get the children into his custody,” said [Tim] Ferguson, [supervisory senior resident agent at the FBI’s Dayton office].adding that the FBI has not determined why the children were adopted or removed from Texas.

---the fourth child in the home is a girl. (It appears so far that she was not prostitutedo r assaulted).

---the 9-year old boy , whose adoption had not been finalized, was probably prostituted (various reports are unclear)

--- Troy Police seized four laptops, a cellphone, iPod, printer, a flash drive, account ledgers, two wooden paddles and a video camera from Brandt’s home, according to the search warrant affidavit.

---Brandt is being held on $800,000 bond in Miami County charged with three counts of rape and one count of felonious compelling prostitution.

---Jason Zwick is being held on $500,000 bond in Miami County on charge of rape.

---Patrick Rieder is being held with no bond in Montgomery County and charged with four counts of rape

Other reports:
WDTN: Kenneth Brandt is a 7-89th grade Troy Basketball League, but police have no indication that Brandt engaged in "inappropriate conduct" with any of the boys.

WOIO: the 10-year old boy was initially afraid to cooperate with police out of fear of being separated from the other children. After being assured that they would stay together he told authorities he had sexually assaulted by Brandt 2-3 times a week as as soon as he arrived from Texas. The 9-year old says the sexual assaults stated about two weeks after his arrival.

Here is Rieder's online arrest record in the case.

Again, it is imperative that the media release the name of the adoption agency/agencies and foster care providers involved in the placement of these children. ODJFS is "investigating" and needs its feet held to fire on this one. It's gotten away too long with covering and slapping the wrists "adoption professionals."

Ohio Adoption News UPDATE:New details in Bevercreek adoptee sex arrests

2012-02-28T18:12:00.000-05:00

Kenneth Brandt,.Patrick Rieder, Jason Zwick

I found more information on the story directly below this, on the arrest of Kenneth Brandt charged with prostituting at least one of his adopted sons. The other men involved are Jason Zwick and Patrick Rieder. It looks like more arrests may follow. Police believe Brandt made his alleged sales connections through the Internet. The boys are 12, 10, and 9 years of age. All were adopted from Texas within the last three years.

According to WOIO-AM Dayton and other news sources:

Zwick was arrested during a traffic stop by Beavercreek police. He was charged in Troy on one count of felony rape, police said. He is being held without bond and will be arraigned Wednesday morning.

Investigators in Troy said Zwick is accused of meeting Kenneth Brandt of Troy online.

According to police, Brandt allegedly set up the meeting between Zwick and a child between the age of 9 and 12. And, it is not the first time Brandt has allegedly done this, police said.

Officers said another man, Patrick Rieder of Dayton, is also in custody. He also allegedly met Brandt online, too.

Police said Brandt allegedly brought a child to Rieder's home in Dayton, where that child may have been raped.

As for Brandt, he is accused of raping three young boys. He is also accused of promoting prostitution.

The news video below (after ad) says that the arrests may be the "tip of the iceberg." This report was filed before Zwick's arrest.

Troy man accused of prostituting son: wdtn.com

I'm trying to find learn more information on the men, but so far not much. Zwick doesn't show up yet in Montgomery Country Clerk of Courts records, and Miami County has no online court records access.

Police in Beavercreek, Dayton, and the FBI are investigating.

Ohio Adoption News: Beavercreek man arrested for pimping adopted son(s)

2012-02-28T15:28:00.000-05:00

And then three's the bad news.

This breaking story: Troy man accused of prostituting son. There's not much yet, but here's the lede:

TROY, Ohio (WDTN) - Beavercreek police arrested a man accused of having sex with boys. Jason Zwick, 29 was arrested Tuesday morning. Detectives said he was one of three men accused.

Troy police said Zwick's victims were the sons of another suspect, Kenneth Brandt, who adopted the boys in Texas. Brandt, 39, was arrested Friday night after police served a search warrant at his house. Brandt is accused of sexually assaulting his adopted sons and prostituting one of them for sex.

The boys are 12, 10, and 9 A fourth boy in the home (so far, at last) appears to have gone unmolested.
Traditionally, adoption agencies involved in abuse, neglect and even murder cases hide behind a veil of anonymity, which their lawyers argue protects the child victim's "privacy" even if that child is sold, raped, starved or murdered. And if t agencies are exposed, they cry innocent.

I'm going to post a comment on WTDN right now. This story will be getting more coverage, and I urge all of you to demand that the media release the name (once known) of the Texas adoption mills, home study agencies and social workers responsible for placing these boys with Brandt.

Ohio Adoption News: Father and daughter reunion

2012-02-28T14:24:00.000-05:00

One of the purposes of this this blog is to distribute news article about adoption in Ohio or with an Ohio connection. Some stories are good; others bad.; some political.

Sunday, the Cleveland Plan Dealer published a good story: 20-year search bring father, daughter together. about the reunion of Andrea Luane and her father Jim Cole (aka Jimmy Ray Griffin--the name change is a big part of the story.) I'm not posting the entire article, but here's a couple excerpts:

She didn't know that her father -- who had served in a clandestine Special Forces unit in Vietnam, working with the CIA -- had changed his name after the war to Jim Cole (the name of his mother's second husband).

He got married and he and his wife, Danielle, raised two children.

Cole, now 69, of Berea, said he changed his name because he wanted to avoid being connected to some of the military operations that were classified for more than 30 years, and possible retribution for his role in those missions.

Laune said she and her birth mother eventually drifted apart. "A lot of times these things don't really work out, and that's OK," she said.

She still had a father to find...

and

"Never a doubt, but regrets," he added. "If only I had known, things could've been different. She wouldn't have had the difficult childhood that she had. She could've lived in a loving home, with a father who loved her"...

Congratulations to Andrea and Jim! You beat the system.

Who Do You Think You Are 3rd Season: Family History is a Mystery to be Solved; We Are a Mystery to be Solved

2012-02-02T18:29:00.000-05:00

The third season of NBC's Who Do You Think You Are kicks off tomorrow night (February 3) at 8:00 PM..est.

I'm fortunate that both my natural (on one side) and adoptive families are history oriented. Growing up, I heard lots of stories about my adoptive family and "social ancestors." When I was too young to appreciate them, I was "subjected" to Sunday afternoons with old people born in the 1870s who liked to ruminate on the Civil War stories of their fathers and World War 1 exploits of dead cousins.

I was not so fortunate to have that firsthand history from my biological family, but at least through my 32-year reunion, I have a basic family picture and structure (some taken from a very detailed paternal family history done by a second or third cousin) that I can research further.

At one time I had no biological relatives and now I've been able to identify hundreds. I also have hundreds of "social ancestors" via adoption. Interestingly, a branch of my adoptive dad's family and a branch of my birthfather's family may be very very distantly related through the Quaker Lees from Virginia and Ohio. My birthmother's husband may have been related to the Boone branch of the Lees. If I look hard enough, maybe I'll learn that I'm my own grandmother!

My bio grandmother Miss Violet, 100, and me, Canton, OH 2007

Watching Who Do You Think You Are?, or simply reading genealogy forums, I'm ~~surprised~~ aware of how little many families know about themselves. I expect that adopted people to a large degree won't know their roots, but I still wonder when people from intact bio families can't name their great grandparents. This invisibleness has something to do with the re-invention of identity that is ingrained in the American psyche, resulting in the ahistorial notion that "everything starts with me," the progenitor of the "blanks slate" theory of adoption, which says, "everything begins with you." But, there are other reasons. Some people just don't talk about family history for any number of reasons from so-called family secrets (or embarrassments) to the bizarre (to me) reason that they're not interested and can't imagine why their children might be. As I worked on adoptive family history last summer I was quite surprised to learn that cousins on both sides of my adoptive family knew very little about their histories, while I was its repository of stories, documents and pictures. Even my birthmother knew little of her history. She, thought, for instance, that her father was born in Wales, when, in fact, he was born and reared in Somerset, and for some reason claimed he wasn't. It was a strange feeling--me, the prodigal daughter, telling her mother she hardly knew, her own family history.


Adoptive gggrandmother Rebecca Greiner (1824-1912) and descendants, Salem, OH, c 1908

I've only seen Who Do You Think You Are? a couple times, but I find it strangely moving. Part of that is the adoptee in me, but the other part is that universal need for rootedness and context. No matter your birth or family status, genealogy, to me is the unfolding of mystery. The only difference is that biologicals usually have the ability to access their genealogy if they want and go backwards; adoptees, under the secret adoption system and its sealed records, don't. By default we are the beginning. Under color of law, we can go forward, but we can't go back..

The Who Do You Think You Are? "cast" this year includes, in no specific, order: Martin Sheen, Helen Hunt, Blair Underwood, Marisa Tomei, Rob Lowe, Edie Falco, Reba McEntire, Jerome Betis and Rita Wilson.

Ohio Birthparent Group: Next meeting Feb 19

2012-02-01T08:46:00.000-05:00

OBG Welcomes 27 at First General Meeting

Supporting the life-long needs of birthparents in Ohio means that we must critically engage the larger community in re-thinking- and ultimately transforming - a culture of adoption that has traditionally obscured the experiences of birthparents. In January, OBG took an amazing step toward that goal by opening our doors to the public and holding our first General Adoption Support & Discussion Meeting. We were thrilled to welcome 27 participants at this first meeting in Columbus, a group that included adult adoptees, adoptive parents, birthparents and many extended family members!

Next General Adoption Support & Discussion Meeting:
Sunday, April 15th from 4:30-6:30pm
Gahanna Public Library, 310 Granville St. Columbus, OH 43230

OBG Promotional Materials

About Ohio Birthparent Group
What We Do Ohio Birthparent Group is a non-profit organization committed to supporting the life-long needs of birthparents through peer support, advocacy and community education. Learn more about us .		Upcoming Meetings Next Monthly Birthparent Meeting Sunday Feb 19th, 2-4pm Gahanna Public Library Visit our

Copyright © 2012 Ohio Birthparent Group, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:

Ohio Birthparent Group

P.O. Box 9791

Columbus, OH 43209

Add us to your address book

A Girl Like Her: New Adoption Documentary by Ohio Adoptee Ann Fessler

2012-01-29T20:23:00.000-05:00

Ann Fessler, with author Craig Hickman, Boston 2007

I've been involved in adoptee rights on a very active level for about 20 years and much longer in a less active way. During that time I've seen a continued unawareness--even incredulity--among some adoptees that out of wedlock pregnancy was once a shame and a scandal; that often girls and women with an unmarried pregnancy had no "choice" other than adoption. Unfortunately, this has caused a lot of misunderstanding for some adoptees about the reasons they were surrendered for adoption. Instead of looking at the status and role of women during what is now called The Baby Scoop Era--the patriarchal control of family, church, school, and state that proscribed women, especially sexually active women, to limited opportunities and options--they place individual blame for genuine adoption grievances on their natural mothers. I'll write more about this some other time, but I'm mentioning it now by way of introduction to the new documentary A Girl Like Her by my friend Ann Fessler.

Ann Fessler is an Ohio adoptee (and OSU grad!), filmmaker, author, and professor of photography at the Rhode Island School of Design. For the last few years her work has focused on adoption, especially its effect on first mothers. Her book The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v Wade (2006), a collection of birthmother oral histories with historical analysis, received strong reviews from The New York Times , Mother Jones, Newsweek, and other major media. The book was a 2007 finalist for the National Book Critics Circle award, and last year made the Ms Readers" Top 100 Best Feminist Non-Fiction Books of All Time. It's a very important book, and essential reading for anyone who wonders how we (adoptees and birthparents) got to where we are today, still entangled in sexual, gendered, and cultural stereotypes, state sponsored adoption secrets and lies, and the continued confiscation and sealing of our birth records in Ohio for "your own good"--or somebody elses.

Last month Ann released a new documentary A Girl Like Her, I haven't seen the film, so I can't comment on it. Here, is a description of it though, from the film's website:

A GIRL LIKE HER combines footage from films of the time period about dating, sex, “illegitimate” pregnancy, and adoption—that both reflected and shaped the public’s understanding of single pregnancy during that time—with the voices of these mothers as they speak today, with hindsight, about the long-term impact of surrender and silence on their lives...

...Between 1945 and 1973, an unprecedented 1.5 million women in the United States surrendered children for adoption due to enormous social pressure. They were expelled from high schools and colleges and forced to leave jobs as teachers and nurses because they were pregnant. They were sent away to distant relatives or to maternity homes to make the “problem” disappear. These women gave birth to their first child, left it behind and returned home, where they were expected to keep their secret, move on and forget.Many of these women have remained silent and as a result their collective story has remained untold. The space created by this absence has been filled with myths and stereotypes that continue to affect them, their adopted out children (now adults), and current adoption policy. A GIRL LIKE HER brings this hidden history to light as the women’s stories collide with the authoritative voice-overs and images from films that purported to represent them...

and the trailer

A GIRL LIKE HER film trailer_Fessler from Ann Fessler on Vimeo.

The only scheduled screening at this time is at the American Adoption Congress' annual conference in Denver at the end of April. I'm sure it will get around, and maybe even to Ohio . I hope so.

Ohio Adoptee Rights Historical Archives: HB 419 (1995-1996)

2012-01-25T22:06:00.001-05:00

I will be posting documents and news articles pertaining to Ohio's archaic three-tired original birth certificate access system of Yes. No. Maybe. The documents will not be posted in chronological order, but I"ll tag them "Ohio Adoptee Rights Historical Archives" with a date of issuance if known, so they can be found easily under "labels" in the sidebar.

******

In 1995, HB 419, (not online; in my personal possession) an omnibus bill to reform Ohio adoption and foster care law was heard in the Ohio Legislature. One very short section of the bill restored the right of all Ohio adoptees to their original birth certificates by rescinding the post-1963 prohibition. If passed, the state would have once again recognize the right of all Ohio adoptees to equal treatment and due process under state law.

Unfortunately, this didn't happen. Instead of eliminating the two-tier system which had plagued post-1963 adoptees for over 30 years , by making those OBCs available by court order only, the bill was amended to create a third tier which not only kept post 1963 adoptees in their black hole, but gave adoptees born on or after September 18, 1996 the ability to access their OBCs as pre-1964 adoptees can--unless a birthparent had filed a "disclosure veto" with the state to bar access.

Willke and Folger Porter 2011, Coumbus

Although the original records access section of HB 419 had wide support among the adoption reform and legal communities, state agencies, and adoptees, birth and adoptive parents, it was opposed by Ohio Right to Life (Janet Folger (now Porter) and Dr. John Willke--founders of the current Ohio Pro-Life Action) which claimed that OBC access for adult adoptees would drive women to seek abortions. Conflating "confidentiality" and '"anonymity," OBC access and abortion, and implying, as Pat Robertson did a few years later, that adoptee rights advocates are stealth "choice" advocates, Folger Porter wrote in her autobiography True to Life:

...we fought the effort to make "open adoption records" the women's only choice. We didn't want those women who felt they needed confidentiality and wanted their records to remain closed to be driven to abort their child, and so we fought the very strong 'open records" adoption lobby and won. Women were given an option to choose, something my opponents from NARAL fought against.

Folger Porter fails to note that her demand that new records be sealed by default and open only by in opt-out "permission" was replaced with an open default and an opt-out disclosure.

The end result was the name, though. Adoptees remained second class citizens.

With a desire to "get something passed" Ohio adoption reformers agreed to the ORTL compromise and pushed for the opt-out disclosure to 'save" what they could. The result was the creation of a new access tier, a new level of OBC bureaucracy, and a strengthened status quo, The compromise, with its "special rights" for third parties, has made it virtually impossible for Ohio adoptees ever to regain full and equal access that HB 419 offered.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer covered the HB 419 hearing at which I testified. If only wish I knew then what I know now! The article is not available on line, but the text is below:

Bill would drastically change adoption laws

By Mary Beth Lane(Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 11, 1995)

COLUMBUS - A sweeping bill aimed at improving Ohio adoption laws by speeding up children's placement in permanent homes is expected to he on the house floor for a vote next month.

The House Family Services Committee is continuing to hold hearings on adoption, an emotional subject that evoked tears yesterday from some of the Ohioans who told their stories and from others who listened"Anything to reduce the wait is good," said Terri Kowaliw, a Galloway woman who adopted one of her foster children, now 12, after enduring a long wait. "We have tried to fill a hole in him left by 5 1/2 years in and out of the foster-care system."She wiped away tears as she spoke. "I'm sorry" she said. "It's a very emotional thing for me."

Marley Elizabeth Greiner, a 49-year-old-Columbus woman who was adopted as a child, told the committee of her prolonged search to learn her birth roots. She strongly supports provisions of the bill to open more records to adult adoptees."Is there anyone here today who can look me in the eye and say I do not share the right of the rest of the people of Ohio to know who my mother, father, sister and brother are?" she asked.

The bill. sponsored by Rep. Cheryl J. Winkler, a Cincinnati Republican, and drawn from a report issued by an adoption task force named by Gov. George V. Voinovich, has drawn broad support from a variety of groups involved in adoption.

Among its key elements are:

Reducing the four years it now commonly takes to remove children from foster care and other publicly funded placement and give them a permanent adoptive home. Public children's services agencies currently have custody of about 3,300 children who could be adopted.

Hastening the process by ordering courts to render a decision in permanent-custody cases within 200 days.

Helping foster parents who decide to adopt by counting time spent in foster care toward the six-month probationary period before an adoption is considered final..

Prohibiting public agencies from delaying adoption based solely on the race of theprospective adoptive family..

Opening adoption and birth certificates to adopted children when they turn 21 unless birth parents deny access.

Currently, adoptees have no access to adoption records unless they and their birth parents have registered with the state.

Although there is general agreement on opening adoption records, if the birth parentapproves it, the issue of how to open them has created a dispute that may put substitute provisions in the bill.

Adoption groups now support a process, now in the bill, by which the birthmother would have to specifically decline to release the records. If she didn't decline, the records would automatically be open.

The Ohio Right to Life Society wants to substitute a "yes" or "no" box the birthmother would check off.Voinovich aide Jacqui Romero Sensky said the governor has not decided which process he would support."I don't think anyone is backing away from open records," she said. "The trend is to more and more openness. We just want the birth mother to make a conscious informed decision."

The Simplicity of Language: Don't let your rights be hidden behind legalized special interest gobbledygook.

2012-01-25T00:58:00.000-05:00

In the United States, nearly every bill that is introduced to restore the right of adoptees to access their original birth certificates is full of convoluted, confusing language that lets some adoptees receive their OBCs as a state-granted favor--not a right--and excludes access to others

Some of these convoluted bills have been over 60 pages long! They serve no purpose other than to divide the adoptee rights movement and to further the agendas of certain elements of the multi-billion dollar a year adoption industry, as well as special interests, across the political spectrum usually not directly involved in adoption, Depending on who you talk to, these interests view adoptees and their birth families as expendable, ungrateful, vaguely disturbed, and even dangerous. (Lock up your axes!) Politicians may throw a sop to pretend they care and hopefully make the issue go away. Remember though, once that sop becomes law, it will not be revisited.and repaired. In Ohio, OBCs were sealed in 1964, and they are still sealed despite several attempts to rescind. Even Ohio's "new" access law, passed in 1996, extends OBC access favors for some, but makes that access dependent on third party consent Unlike the not-adopted our birth records are dependent on the kindness of strangers.

But getting back to language... Alabama, New Hampshire, Maine, and Rhode Island passed short, readable, inclusive bills, only a few pages long, that restored the right to access for every adoptee born in their respective states. (Kansas and Alaska never sealed). In other words, in those states, our birth records are not hidden behind legalized special interest gobbledygook.

Oregon passed Ballot Measure 58, which is as simple as it gets, U an posting it below, but also in the sidebar.

Upon receipt of a written application to the state registrar, any adopted person 21 years of age and older born in the state of Oregon shall be issued a certified copy of his/her unaltered, original and unamended certificate of birth in the custody of the state registrar, with procedures, filing fees, and waiting periods identical to those imposed upon non-adopted citizens of the State of Oregon pursuant to ORS 432.120 and 432.146. Contains no exceptions

To illustrate the simplicity of language, read a piece I wrote in 2008, The Simplicity of Language: Successful Records Bills a response to an egregious bill promoted by so-called friendly legislators in Illinois and passed in a slightly different form two years later with virtually no support from state of national adoptee rights and adoption reform organizations. I've read this bill at least a dozen times and still find it incomprehensible. At times, even the sponsor seems confused about what her bill does.

Simplicity of Language includes the text of each successful bill except Rhode Island's which was not introduced and passed until 2011. Unfortunately it is problematic in that the age of access is 25 not 18 or 21. Otherwise, the language is nearly identical to that of New Hampshire and Maine. We hope the age differentiation will be fixed soon..

Over the next couple weeks I'll be posting pieces I have written about the last two attempts to unseal records in Ohio as well as as other documents of historical interest.

Welcome to Ohio Adoptee Searches News and Views!

2012-01-21T21:54:00.002-05:00

Welcome to Ohio Adoptee Searches: News and Views on Adoptee Rights, Search, and Support!

Ohio Adoptee Searches has served the adoption community for nearly 45 years with expert search services. Started with a single personal search in 1967, OAS has grown to locate and reunite thousands of Ohio adoptees and first families. We are an independent company with no professional or financial ties to the state or the adoption industry. YOU control your search, and we will never do something you don't want us to do. It's YOUR information , you have a right to it, and you're our boss!

Although our name is Ohio ADOPTEE Searches, our clientele is not limited to adoptees. Many of our clients are birthparents, and grandparents, adoptive parents, and birth and adoptive siblings,all of who want information and relationships with family members separated by secret adoption laws. None of us are state secrets, no matter what archaic adoption laws, passed decades ago, claim.

OAS is currently in a transition stage and will become much more visible and accessible to the Ohio adoption community. This blog is part of our growth. I'll be posting commentary and fact sheets about current records access laws in Ohio (and sometimes other states), support group events and information, news articles about adoption in Ohio, and any other adoption topic that you (or I) find interesting. .

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As some of you know from bitter experience, the Ohio legislature has, over the last 48 years, divided its adoptees into three nonsensical classes.

Those adopted before January 1, 1964 can obtain their OBC and adoption decree by submitting a notarized Affidavit of Adopted Person , sufficient identification, and $20.00 to Vital Statistics. Those whose adoptions are finalized between January 1, 1964 and September 18, 1996 cannot receive their OBC without a court order, which is extremely difficult to get. The state runs an alleged family reunion registry for these folks, but it is near useless. In over two decades of adoptee rights activism I've only heard of two people who made a hit on the registry, one a birthfather, and the other an adoptee who did her own search successfully and learned later that her birth dad was on it. At the moment, I can't even find a link for it. Those adopted after September 18, 1996 can receive their OBC at the age of 18 if their adoptive parents request it, and at the age of 21, in their own name--UNLESS a birthparent has filed a disclosure veto with the state which authorizes the state to bar release. This veto goes straight into the state-locked up adoption file without any tracking so no one, not even official Vital Statistics bean counters, knows how many vetoes have been filed. The number, however, appears to be small.. I'll be writing about disclosure vetoes and how they harm us all, in a future entry.

In the next few days I'll be posting some news articles and opinions/blogs from previous legislative campaigns to restore the right of OBC access to all Ohio adoptees. Some are my own work; some the work of others.The last attempt to fix Ohio's broken access system took place in 2008 ,but the bill died in the Ohio House Health Committee. Although no opposition as voiced publicly--plenty was said behind closed doors. These pieces will appear as blog entries, and also be linked to the original sources (if possible) in a sidebar.

Thanks for joining us here If you have any questions about Ohio law, activism, search and support, please drop me a line at marleyoas@gmail.com or post them here as a comment.

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The Simplicity of Language: Don't let your rights be hidden behind legalized special interest gobbledygook.

Welcome to Ohio Adoptee Searches News and Views!