Michigan Votes Forum

Introduced in the Senate on June 19, 2007

Click here to view bill details.

increase abortions. maybe thats what these libs want.

What is Sen. Dennis Olshove thinking? It doesn't matter young girls are still going to get abortions or leave these babies somewhere. For us adoptees, we should have the same birth right as non adoptees. This government has kept us in the dark long enough. We are human beings and NEED to KNOW and we should have the RIGHT to KNOW Who were are and Where we came from. I am a 54year old adoptee and to say I have no right to my birth right is unexceptable. I have been searching for over 30 years and you still want to KEEP the SECRETS and LIES. When are you going to realize these laws are out of date; especially with the open adoption laws, etc. We need closure. The puzzle finished for good. We are important. When are you going to realize we need this information so when medical emergencies arise and questions are asked WE can make corrective judgements. It's about time the government stops making discissions about our lives. We are competant to do so ourselves. Other states are coming to this realization and making orig. BC available to adoptees. Stop hurting the adoptive communities. Let us have the same rights as non adoptees. Put a stop to the cover-ups. Also remember we are Voters too. Pamela (Stickel) Evans ISO bmother/bfamily 7/26/53 Battle Creek, Michigan

Sen. Dennis Olshove. I want to apologise for what I said to you. I unfortunately read the wrong comment and thought you were the author. No. I want to thank you for you introduction. We need more like yourself and Sen. Wojno. Please for give me for using your name in the comments I wrote. I'm so sorry. Unfortunatel I am so passionate about this that I sometimes open mouth and insert foot. I want my comment to be addressed to ANONYMOUS. Sincerely, Pamela Evans

How much more of jenny can Michigan handle? Lets fire it.

This has nothing to do with abortions. This has to do with the birth right every person born in the State of Michigan. Currently the state treats me like a second class citizen, and is trying to "protect" me from the truth that I already know. Just provide me with the Original Certificate, just like every citizen that was not adopted, and I and thousands of other adult adoptees will be happy. OBC are available to adult adotees in other states and it has had no effect, I repeat NO EFFECT, on abortion rates.

"and it has had no effect, I repeat NO EFFECT, on abortion rates." And how would you prove this. Get over yourself and live your life. Quit whining and forget about it. You are not a victim. You would have been a victim if you were raised by a crackhead or ended up in a bucket at the baby murder clinic. If these girls know that in 20 or 30 years their offspring can pop back up there will be more baby murders.

This addressed to anonymous, who will most likely not look here again. Perhaps others who share his/her thoughts might like to consider this information. A am an adoptee and I have worked with both adoptive parents and birthparents for more than 20 years. I am a nurse-midwife and deal with expectant women on a daily basis. Most adoptions these days have open elements. Many familes continue to foster relationships with the birthmothers of their children. Those birth mothers who do not wish to do that still supply basic medical history for the future welfare of the child. This is not the 19th century. Secrecy and fear of being ostracized because of an unwanted or unplanned pregnancy is rarely a factor in a woman's decision between abortion and adoption. It is essentially a non-issue. Linda Roberts CNM,MSN Fort Wayne, IN ISO birth family DOB 9/13/52 (or 9/14) Highland Park, MI

"Most adoptions these days have open elements' You might as well throw the kid under the bus. I know of two of these "open" adoptions that are nightmares. We ain't talking about a schnauzer here, this is a kid and the worst thing you can do is keep them in limbo their whole lives. This kind of feel good liberal idiocy is ruining lots of kids.

Please pass this. Please. Both my brother and I were adopted in the 1960s, and can find out nothing about our birth families. There was a fire at the Detroit Baptist Home/Judson Center which destroyed even the non-identifiable information. Please. Adoptees in other states have this right... please give it to use Michigan adoptees. Help the birth Moms and Adoptees heal. Know that each other is OK. Do you really think the Moms stopped thinking about the babies they gave away?? Do you really think those children, even those raised in wonderful homes, don't wonder about their birth families? Their origins? Their health history? Whether they have brothers or sisters??

Move on with your life and be glad that your mother didn't murder you in the womb.

If you were to do any research whatsoever, Mr. or Ms. "Get Over It", you would find that in ALL of the states who have instituted adoption reform, adoption rates have risen and abortion rates have DECLINED. Kansas and Alaska, the two states that have always had open adoptions, have statistically posted the lowest abortion rates in the country, while having among the highest adoption rates. So, I would suggest that you be the one to "Get Over It" and move into the 21st century, where all people are supposed to be treated equally under the law.

Hi, Pamela! Just wanted you to know that Senator Dennis Olshove introduced the bill on behalf of the adoption triad; he is not against passage...he is the primary sponsor of the legislation in the Senate! :O)

For those who believe this will lead to more abortions, Michigan's adoptions are open now and have been since 1980. At the age of majority (18), an adoptee can find out his/her birthparents names as long as the birthparents have not filed a denial. This does not happen in most cases. I am an adoptee and after three difficult years of searching and waiting, I have found my birthmother, and possibly my birthfather (although he is deceased). My b-mom is excited to get to know me, as are her parents and she is in the process of telling the other members of her family as well as her other children. This is not a negative thing. I don't NEED them as a family, because I have a wonderful adoptive family and in-laws, but it is exciting to know that I will soon have a third family and a better understanding of my background and heritage. And PS, if I had been aborted, I wouldn't be here to know about it or be worried about who my family was.

As an adult adoptee I have a legal right to my original birth certificate! Just because I was adopted does NOT mean that I should be treated like a 2nd class citizen. For most of my life I've felt like I was in the witness protection program. My name, my heritage, my birth families, my medicial information, everything was taken away from me at the finalization of my adoption. Yet even without my OBC I found both sides of my birth families and was welcomed with open arms. My adoptive family was great, but there was a hole in my heart that needed to be healed. Abortion is NOT an issue here. Abortion rates are lower in the states that give adult adoptees access to their OBC's. Reunited Adoptee

I read once that the goal of adoption was to assure that all children grow up in safe, permanent families and have the help they need to be successful in life. Why doesn’t the State of Michigan acknowledge the damage caused by further alienating of blameless children from the “truth” of their existence? Relegating adoptees to “mutt” status is very damaging, on so many levels, to many of us. Anyone born before 1940 or after 1980 has rights I am being denied. It’s discrimination. In my case, I was not even ‘given-up’ for adoption by a parent in the 1940’s. I was taken from my ailing birth mother by relatives who could not raise me and later gave me to the State. So my birth parent is not seeking ‘confidentiality’. She was the real victim. As a state ward, being moved from home to home, I was unknowingly entitled to my birth records for the first twelve years of my life but when I was adopted at age twelve, that right was rescinded. I feel like my wish to learn more about my bio-mom was squashed by an empathy deficiency on the part of the legal system. Where was my advocate?

Are you serious? Are you an adoptee? I would bet not. Are you a birthmother, who was told "get on with your life, and forget your child"? I'd bet not. Well I am a birthmother. I was told back in 1961 to forget about my child. Forget about my child? How do you forget that you carried this precious life for 9 months? I was never told that I had total anonymitity from my child. All I knew was that his birth would not be published. I had no idea that his records would be sealed and the search process would be so expensive. My son is like any other son born in this state, and deserves to the right to have his original birth certificate. It's a basic human right. I am in total support of this bill, and hope that all mothers will support it too.

You sound like an very angry adoptee who was probably told untruths about your Birthparnets so you would not search and so that your adopted family could continue to "live the lie". Life is a crap shoot. You never know what you'll get. But, why should anyone have the right to deny adoptees born between 1945 and 1980 the right to their OBC? All of those people are now at least 27!!! They are definitely adults. And yet they still have no idea who or what their birthparents are. As an adult they should have that right.

The adoption industry is fighting this bill . Are they afraid that if they open records for the adoptee's that records are closed they will be held accountable for unethical procurement of infants given over to their care. Adult Adoptee's are not children, they are grown and deserve their constitutional rights just as every citizen who remained with their biological families. Birth mother's were never promised anonymity. Even with these closed records reunions take place. I urge the legislator's to stop and think how they would feel if they had their constitutional rights violated. I think they would be infuriated, I know I would be. EQUAL RIGHT FOR EQUAL PEOPLE!

"Birth mother's were never promised anonymity" Wrong "are closed they will be held accountable for unethical procurement of infants given over to their care." Wrong again. If these records can be opened for any reason then adoptions will get even more rare and abortions will go up. "stop and think how they would feel if they had their constitutional rights violated." Exactly which one of your rights were violated? I read on this board and see a bunch of whiny little narissists. I too am adopted. I have never had a problem getting a drivers license. I have never had a problem getting a passport. If my mother hadn't told me I would never have known. You folks need to get over it. The world don't rotate around you princess.

I am an adoptee. I am also a birth mother. I am writing in support of bill #0592. As an adoptee, I have the right to have my original birth certificate. All of those adopted before 1945 have the opportunity to get theirs and all of those adopted after Sep. of 1980 have the opportunity to get theirs. The abortion issue has nothing to do with adoption. But, if it did, the Right To Life group states that abortion rates have dropt in MI 46.5% since “87. That is after the adoption records were re opened. So open records did not cause abortion to go up, in fact, may have helped them to go down. I was given up in June of ’45 and the final papers were signed in Dec. of ’47. Until then, my original birth certificate was my only birth certificate. If I had not been adopted, there would never have been any other birth certificate. So where is the privacy issue? It seems the big argument is the privacy of the birth parents. I fail to understand why just one group of birth parent needs privacy. I gave birth to a daughter in 1966.There was no way I was going to be allowed to keep her. Because I had a wonderful adoptive family, I finally agreed to give her up. No one made me any promise, except, “you will forget her after a while.” Any parent knows that is not true. Last year I finally found her. We are building a wonderful relationship. I truly believe that most birth parents are not afraid of what may come. Most will welcome the opportunity to find their “lost” children.

Have you actually read the Constitution and the Bill of Rights? If not try again. I do not understand the mentality that equates abotion to open records. Try looking up the statistics. They are an eye opener. As to which of my rights have been violated. None - but if I were an adopted person then my God given right to equal access would be denied. *** Try reading on Michigan's Right to Life website how this group views ADOPTION PROMOTION. They are targeting low income and women who depend on public assistance. Talk about morally incomprehinsible!!! EQUAL RIGHTS for EQUAL PEOPLE

A law or policy that applies to everyone gives parity to all. In this case, original birth records are given to some adoptees and taken from others. If the law only applies to those adopted before 1945 or after 1980, it is discriminatory. I want the same rights all other adopted adults are afforded. Of course we can say that this disparity does not bother some of the people affected but we all deserve equal rights.

of the parent who gave up the child to remain anonymous? i'm sure that if that parent WANTS to be contacted, they will make every effort to be contacted. it's not the state's job to determine if they want to remain anonymous or not. it's the CITIZEN who gave up the child for adoption.

God given right to equal access would be denied.

>7) what about the rights [by Anonymous Citizen >on March 11, 2008] of the parent who gave up the >child to remain anonymous? As a birthmother, I can tell you that there was never a promise of anonymity given to any of us! Never!! >i'm sure that if that parent WANTS to be >contacted, they will make every effort to be >contacted. You'd hope that was true, but the fact is that it is hard to find them. This new bill will allow those birthmothers who have relinquished the right to disallow contact. >it's not the state's job to determine if they >want to remain anonymous or not. it's the >CITIZEN who gave up the child for adoption. Are you saying that the child who was given up for adoption, under no fault of his/her own, is NOT A CITIZEN? That those citizens can't have the same rights of you and me? And to all adoptees born before 1945 and after Sept. 1980? Those "citizens" are now between 62 and 26 years old!!! This is an American Human Right's issue. Pure and simple.

"This is an American Human Right's issue" What part of this is about your so called human rights?

simply because you were given up for adoption, it doesn't give you EXTRA RIGHTS under the constitution. your WANT TO KNOW doesn't trump the birth parent's WANT TO REMAIN ANONYMOUS. you might WISH it were so, but it isn't. if they don't want to be found, it's not the state's job to LET them be found. it's the adoptive parent's job to LET THEMSELVES BE FOUND IF THEY WANT TO. now, i'm not sure if i'd want to talk to someone who gave me up for adoption. most people don't. that's why the state has chosen to honor the anonymity of birth parents.

I, too, was adopted from the Detroit Baptist Children's Home (Judson Center). I, too, was told that my adoption file burned in a fire. When I asked when the fire occurred, no one could tell me. I called the Royal Oak Fire Department; no fire ever threatened files at that location (there was one in the "living room" area at one point). I called the Redford Twp. Fire Dept.; no fire ever threatened files there, either (there was a dumpster fire, a waste basket fire, and a construction trailer fire in the parking lot). I was lied to. I KNEW that they had my file, because I spoke to someone two years earlier who actually had my file on her desk. If you need your non-identifying information, call the Judson Center and DEMAND that they retrieve your information from the court in which your adoption was finalized. Tell 'em Dee Lindeman sent you!

"Be glad my mother never murdered (me) in the womb"? Is that the most educated answer you can post? You don't know the circumstances surrounding MY birth, or you would know that I was wanted, even AFTER my birthmother gave me up. Get off of the abortion argument, already. It does NOT apply where this proposed legislation is concerned. EDUCATE YOURSELF!

"Do you really think the Moms stopped thinking about the babies they gave away??" If the ones that kill their babies "stopped thinking about them"

I had a very hard time getting my first passport in 1975 because the birth certificate they gave my adoptive parents was a modified one; it does not even look real. She was told I didn't really exist, since I didn't have a birth certificate!! My adoptive mother had to go through lots of paperwork to get a copy of the adoption order-they did accept that. I know my "real" identity is in the County building downtown; and I can't even see it. How unfair is that????

Nor does it revolve around you. If you don't want your bith certificate, don't ask for it. But, I want mine. I am a birth mother also. I was never promised anything by anyone. Most of us want to know that the child we were pretty much forced to give up is okay. Most of us want contact and we have no way of getting that with out this bill.

We don't want EXTRA rights. Just the same rights as all of those people who are not adopted. Everyone has the right to have, own, see, their birth certificate. Everyone, that is, but those that were adopted between '45 and '80. Nothing extra, just equal.

now, i'm not sure if i'd want to talk to someone who gave me up for adoption. most people don't. You are wrong there. Are you adopted? Maybe not. If you will go to the internet you will find 100's,no thousands of people looking, searching for birth families. If you aren't adopted, you can't possibly understand. I have the right,as an American, to have a birth certificat that has not been changed. There is very little on my BC that is true. It has no hospital. No time. No weight. No doctor. It gives the names of my adoptive parents, whom I love very much, but they were NOT there. They were not even in the picture until I was 6 months old.

Vitalchek.,different adoptions need different laws Why doesn't courts honor OPEN adoption Agreements, Because Proadoptive Parents can say anything to get birthparents to sign consent,MISrepresentation and lied Get visits,then after you sign, NO VISITS visitation agreement should be honored laws. SEPARATE AGREEMENTS 710.44-5(b,d). Courts should offer it or ask,but they doNot,on AdoptionFORMS It is the LAW,but laws are ignored by lawyers. Michigan only has one adoption law, DIRECT,closed. Write to Legislators,ask for Michigan to demand that all adoptions need to be REvised,REcoded. DIFFERENT ADOPTIONS NEED DIFFERENT LAWS for each. Future adoptive children should NOT to cheated out of rights to records,rights to visit by relative, Direct adoptions,new family but(right to records) Relative adoption,Notnewfamily(rights to visits) GranparentAdoptions(NotNewfamily(rights to visits) Open Adoption (Honor agreements to visit by parent