Adoptee Mary Gauthier; Adoption Music "The Foundling"

Amazing find today via Googel Alerts! I have "adoption, birhtmother and adoptee" loaded up and get daily alerts which i *try* to go through and share links that seem worthy of interest ( usually on Twitter or Facebook).
 Anyway today I got this one and followed the link, quite unsure of how adoption plays into it:

Mary Gauthier’s New Album;Experiences as an Adopted Child

Celebrated singer-songwriter Mary Gauthier’s album promises to be the most personal of the lot. The Foundling, due May 18 from Razor and Tie, was written and recorded over the last two years, and produced by Cowboy Junkies Michael Timmins. It’s an album-long narrative that tells of Gauthier’s experiences as an adopted child.

“I was born to an unwed mother in 1962 and adopted shortly thereafter,” explains Gauthier. “When I was 45 years old, I searched for, found and was denied a meeting with my birth mother. She couldn’t afford to re-open the wound she’d carried her whole life, the wound of surrendering a baby. The Foundling is my story.”

“I envisioned writing a song cycle about relinquishment and adoption, but for years the songs I was trying to write didn’t have an emotional center. When I found my mother, I found the emotional center of the album, as well as the explanation for the ‘orphan feeling’ I’d lived with since I was a child.”

The Foundling is the followup to 2007’s critically-acclaimed Between Daylight and Dark. Gauthier will launch a national tour in May. Check out the dates below:

Super Excited Now: 4/21 is in Rosendale!

Mary Gauthier Upcoming Concert Dates

• March 4 Nashville, TN Bluebird Café
• April 16 Northampton, MA Iron Horse Music Hall
• April 18 Somerville, MA Somerville Theater*
• April 20 Larchmont, NY Watercolor Café
• April 21 Rosendale, NY Rosendale Café

And it's SUPER Small!!!

• April 22 New York, NY The Concert Hall*
• April 23 Fall River, MA Narrows Center for the Arts
• April 25 Indio, CA Stagecoach
• May 6 Minneapolis, MN Cedar Cultural Center†
• May 7 Cedar Rapids, IA CSPS†
• May 8 Chicago, IL Old Town School of Folk Music†
• June 13 Bellows Falls, VT Rockingham Meeting House

*Special Guest to Cowboy Junkies ( LOVE the Cowboy Junkies!!)

Here's More from her Webiste

On The Foundling, Mary explains via her website (www.marygauthier.com), “the songs tell the story of a kid abandoned at birth who spent a year in an orphanage and was adopted, who ran way from the adopted home and ended up in show business, who searched for birth parents late in life and found one and was rejected, and who came through the other side of all of this still believing in love.” Mary’s “compass” was Willie Nelson’s Red Headed Stranger, his classic concept album of 1975 (with “Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain”).

Written and recorded over the course of two years, The Foundling was produced in Toronto by Michael Timmins of Cowboy Junkies, using local musicians and his sister Margo Timmins on vocal harmonies. “Margo added another layer of emotional punch in the right places,” says Mary. She praises Mike’s ability “to capture my story and create moods around it, a dream soundscape. The musicians breathed their hearts and souls into my songs, and they brought them to life. I am pleased beyond my wildest dreams at how the record came out.”

Those familiar with the bones of Mary Gauthier’s life may find it difficult to choke back the emotion of the album, from the Gypsy-flavored opening of “The Foundling” (“a baby unwanted, unloved, and unblessed/ Left on a doorstep, an unbidden guest”), to the upbeat bluegrass groove on the bittersweet “Good Bye” (“I hit the wall then I hit the highway/ I’ve got the curse of a gypsy on my soul”); from the crushing phone conversation with the mother who refuses to meet her, “March 11, 1962” (“You say that I’m a secret, nobody knows/ And you can’t talk about it now, and you really gotta go,” co-written with Liz Rose), to the final epilogue of “Another Day Borrowed” (“I shook my fist at my father’s rage, I cursed my mother’s sadness/ But every home I tried to call my own, washed into a river of madness,” co-written with Darrell Scott).

I am so there!!! Who wants to go with?? Let's have an adoption concert party!!

Adoption Carnival: Racism

I don't really have much right to talk about Racism and Adoption

That's just the plain honest truth. Give me discrimination. Give me injustice. Give me prejudice, but I'm pretty much at a loss when it come to writing about Racism. What do I know?

I mean What DO I Know About Real Racism/

White chick, grew up in a white town, went to a pure bred white school. There was one mixed race guy in the whole school. One. I married a white man and I have all white babies; not because it was a choice, but because what just was. I know what Racism is. I know it's real. I know it's out there and I know it sucks. But I'm not a raciest and I don't teach my kids to be.

But still, I have a much right or as much ability to talk about Racism from a real and organic point of view as I could write about being a duck.

I'm not a duck. I can't imagine what it is like to be a duck . I could research and pontificate about the ideals of being a duck. I could try to be understanding and empathetic regarding the blights facing a duck. Maybe I could try to compare my life to a life as a duck? I could imagine how it's like to be a duck, but I don't know what I am talking about. I am not a duck.

I could be real and write about stereotyping, but that's not racism; it's more of a action that can be caused by racism. I could talk about prejudice, but that's only a part of the whole picture too. I could talk about discrimination as it relates to adoptee rights again, but that's not based on race. It's based on legalities. Actually, there is no racism in adoptee discrimination because all adoptees get screwed out of their original birth certificate no matter what color they are.

Of course there is racism as it applies to adoption:

We can talk about how to deal with racism if a nice white chick like me adopts a black baby and has to deal with the racism that their child will see, feel, live through. I suppose that's like raising a duck to be a duck if you have never been a duck.

We could think about whether there is some deep set racism in the American adoption culture because we like going to other countries and adopting their children to give them that US bred "better life". But that's even reaching in many ways, I think. Yes, people go and "save" babies in the name of adoption. Yes, it does imply a that the families of those nice Chinese, or Guatemalan or Ethiopian babies do not have the ability to raise their own children properly, but I don't think true racism is the motivating factor there. It's not based on race, in my opinion. It's more based on poverty, American superiority, a disrespect of other cultures, little regard for identity & genetics, , the desire to "get" a baby and the guarantee of it through an international adoption, and more. But again, while the American superiority is almost a form of reverse racism, we are not a race.

Then, adoption shows it's ugly side of racism when we see white children with higher "price tags" than black or Hispanic kids. I think it's pretty safe to say that we all think that it is just gross, but it is true. Adoption has historically been a "white" thing, and so white babies had a higher demand. I dio remember thinking, when pregnant with Max, how I was high in demand. Yes, I was a white chick carrying a white baby, but I also though that part of the packages appeal was that We are a capitalism society after all and adoption is an industry.

Plus, again historically, it was the middle class white girls that were the favored prey of adoption agencies especially pre-RoevWade. Rich girls could pay of their abortions or had enough money (power) to keep their kids. Poor girls just went on welfare. Babies born to black women who weren't ready were absorbed within the extended families. It was the middle class, pretending so hard to have perfect virgin daughters in order to impress their suburban neighbors, that found it in their hearts to hide their children in the maternity homes and force their grandchildren to strangers. But that's not really Racism. Did they only conspire to take the white newborns of the white middle class knocked up chicks because they favored the white babies and because the black babies were inferior? Or was it that we were most vulnerable? That we had no fails safe in place. That culturally, the unwed mother just had no one to care about her rights as a mother?

Adoption overall is pretty much the anti-racist proving ground in many ways. When there got to be that shortage of white newborns to adopt, the adoption industry was quick to find racially mixed kids to be valuable to keeping the profit train moving. When middle class white girls don't make enough babies to give up, the industry has learned to target women of color in ways that make to them and make it seem like they have come up in the world. And isn't adoption from outside your own race basically a public statement that one family does NOT concern themselves with racism? Not saying that is the motivation, but it's out there.. you know?

I don't know. This is all thought, not real honest life experience, I just don't have it. I am and always will be in many ways of a privilege class..middle class pure white and pasty and I don't think that makes me better than anyone else even if some people might. My kids are pure white and pasty too and I doubt they will ever experience racism either. So, I have no right to even pretend I can talk about racism and adoption.

I am just not a duck and I ain't gonna pretend to be one.

Quack.

***
How do you handle racism? GIMH knows that some of you may not have encountered this in adoption but what WOULD you do if you were to encounter it? Thats' why the Adoption Carnival at Grown in My Heart is about racism! Click on back to read other posts about Racism and Adoption!


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All is Right in My Adoptionland

Something in the Air with Birthmoms?

Being a birthmother is definitely and added life complication. Granted no one gets a planned itinerary with life, but at least "normal" folks have some sort of role model. There is that generic-like "this is what you do in life" concept that is presented by popular culture. Like how it's expected that you get cold feet before a wedding, or nervous before a job interview. Normal stuff.

Nothing Ever Normal About being a Birthmother

After living years without knowing if your child lives or dies, much less what their name is who they look like and anything else, reunion is so often seen as the great holy grail that removes all the former yucky stuff and makes it into a thing of the past. Live it long enough, however, and we learn that adoption can never really be in the past and it's so the "gift" that keeps on giving. More new situations arise. New emotions develop. Still no road map and I doubt anyone is immune.

Now I'm not complaining. I know in many many ways, as far as adoption stories and birthmother statistics, I'm one of the lucky ones. Not only did I find my son, while he was still young, and he was good; he called me mom from that first perfect message. You can't get much better than that. That's like birthmother fantasy material.

In fact, really nothing bad ever really happened at all. But still... I hadn't talked to him in almost two years. Reunions fears set in and time passed. The worry began to take hold and still, I did nothing. Ok, I did some stuff. I sent him emails to mail boxes that i just knew he had no idea what to log in with . I looked at his MySpace page ( not signed in for over 2 years), his Facebook page ( same 6 friends in two years, did Google searches on him and I knew..he was just offline and I was dealing with other adoption triggers and crap that needed my attention too. What I had left was an address ( afraid to mail something) the birthday card that I was afraid to mail, a phone number sitting in a long dead cell phone which I was convinced was long dead and...the fact that I was still friends with the ex girl friend on Facebook. But I didn't want to put her in that position.

And so, it festered. People asked if I had a relationship with him and I would say yes. It felt like I was lying. I couldn't decide if I was or not. After all, nothing bad happened so we had a relationship still. We hadn't fought or broken up. We still had a relationship, but just hadn't talked to each other in a while. Like over a year, An maybe that's very bad if it's a "normal" mother and child relationship, but this is adoption.. so what's normal?

I would have doubts ; maybe he is not online because he is avoiding me, Maybe it's a pull back. Maybe he IS angry. Maybe he is punishing me. Maybe I suck because I don't send more cards more often .. (but really I SUCK at card.. the fact that i bought him one is as close as I get with just about anyone!) still, my guts said that nothing bad happened and it was all still ok, but we are both just lame.

Anyway, so I didn't know it, but last night was the night for that all to be over!

First, I had a call from another momma friend who was in the very beginning of contacting her own 19 year old son. That was actually the other day, but I feel her excitement. I hear her and have her on my mind. It brings me back to the days that I lived through that insanity of searching.. the finding. the first contact...Maybe it just brought it close to the edge of my mind?

Crazy how as much pressure I put on myself to HAVE TO DO SOMEHTING, when it happens it's just real and natural.

Sitting on Facebook, Caitlin posted an update mentioning ex-boyfriends and being obsessed with women curling and without thinking, I commented back something like "oh noo say it isn't so" where she told me not to worry and then I said that I could not avoid worrying.. he's been MIA for too long.

Not two seconds after that she was in my chat window asking me about it and we chatted for quite a bit.
Have I ever mentioned that it seems my sons really do have great taste in women and so far I really really love all their girlfriends? Is that normal? Yeah, Caitlin rocks.

I realized, as we talked that it was the first time that I had ever spoken about Max to someone who actually KNEW him.

Usually, when I talk about him I am the one who has the most information and honestly, that's not much. As least not as much as mothers are supposed to know about their kids! It was great. It was heavy and mind blowing for that reason alone! And, she could tell me things that I never knew and had no place to ask.
Like yes, that my gut of him just being lousy at calling and emails is just that.. he is lousy. And no, none of the weird doubts had any real value. And, yes I am glad she had read the blog ( I wave!) and are we stalkers sitting here chatting about him, And, most importantly he was fine. And, even more importantly she knew a current working cell phone number.

Did I say that I loved her? I do.

I had her repeat the number to me twice. Its safely stored in my cell phone now. And just KNOWING that it would work.. I texted him.. immediately. No time to get neurotic. No time to doubt. No weirdness anymore.
"Do you ever check your email messages anymore? EVER?"

"no dude" I laugh. I know he has no idea that it's me. I can have fun with this.

"I KNOW!" I write, but he does not respond. He is bored I think. He thinks I'm just some dude. I can't think of anything witty to say. I don't want to play anymore. So I text;

" So how is your mother ever supposed to know that you are alive?"

He knows now and my phone rings two seconds later.

ahhhhhhhhhh

And you know what? Everything is fine in it's never gonna be normal why is adoption so weird but we'll deal the best we can way. Like good fine excellent great.. pick up where we left off as if we didn't leave off and resolve not to leave off again because it's just stupid though it's no one real fault. How is it that we are both so alike to let this happen, but not like that it happened but not really do anything but be happy and thrilled that it's not happening anymore and just be cool? Coz we are. He tried to apologize for not getting in touch, but it's not his fault when I could have done it too. I tried to explain how I became obsessed with the phone number not being real, and he told me how he had looked for my phone number again but had no idea what scribble of paper it was on. Like we are both worried that the other will be angry about what we know are lame excuses but neither of us really care!

Like I am just SO HAPPY that he's just a pure spaz that is busy and self absorbed and loses phone numbers and makes and forgets email accounts all over the internet.

He used the same exact word that I have been saying for two years almost: He's offline.

We did, however, have a serious talk about the beauty of Goggle. I told him that really, he needs to embrace his inner geek more and Google is his friend. Apparently he digs himself some Wikipedia, which is fine I love myself some Wiki, but I don't get how you GET to Wiki without Google, you know? Like I need Google to tell me that Wiki has what I need! I explained how Google knew exactly where to find me and he could always ask Google. That he could put in "Claudia, adoption max" or any combination like that and Google would know. Actually I could honestly say to him that he could literally ask Google exactly where I was and Google would tell him, and then I just tried it myself and it works: "find my birth mother Claudia who place me her son max for adoption" brings you to the blog! Bingo!

Did I say how great it was? It was great. Yes, lets plan a visit. Yes, things are good. Yes, we all miss him. No more stupid lazys for us.

What I feel now is a great huge sense of relief. Of just being whole again. I didn't know how tightly I was carrying this until I suddenly put it down. I didn't know how tense it had made me inside until it was done and today, it feels again like the world is as it should be.

Almost as normal as it can be again in adoption and I know he is not lost again. Whew!

Oh and alos. the ability or non ability to ever do a cartwheel is also genetically passed on.  I cannot, have not, ever, completeld a half way decent cartwheel. Either has he. Poor Scarlett too.

An Open Letter to My Womb

Warning: Serious TMI Talk of Girly Bits Ahead
Dear Uterus and Ovarian Pals,

I know we haven't always had the easiest of relationships though it hasn't been that bad really.

I mean, in many ways you have been great to me. I have heard and seen so many of my sisters in womanhood suffer mightily from cramps and bloating and other womanly issues, and for the most part, you guys have been great. Oh, it's not like those stupid commercials where I really have a "happy period", but your consistent and relatively dependable.

Perhaps, you work too good and that has been the cause of our conflicts. I try to understand that you have just been trying to do the job that you were meant to do, but you always have seemed to want to take it a bit too far. It still shocks me that you love making babies so much. I come from a line of difficulty getting pregnant and only children, and then WHAM! you guys want to prove everyone wrong. Maybe you just take after some old uber Catholic recessive genes? Back from the days of my Italian heritage or maybe it was the Irish? I think you would be happy if you had kept me barefoot and pregnant from age 18 until now, but that's really not what I wanted, you know?

And so we have battled for many years. You have kept me in fear of your fertile power. Your ability to thwart all forms of birth control and attract sperm cells from the most unlikely places have given me great difficulties and conflicts over the last 25 or so years. You never have let me call the shots except once! Only one time did I give you the permission to do what you were meant to do and wow, did you jump on that opportunity real quick! You know, sometimes in getting pregnant part of the fun is supposed to be trying, but nooooo.. you don't even let me have one month of trying. The minute I said ok, you jumped on that chance before I could have even thought to change my mind.

I don't want to sound ungrateful to you all, though, You have produced four absolutely beautiful and amazing children for me. And no matter how much I might resent the lack of control over it, I am very happy and content with the ways ( most ) things have turned out. And, truth be told, even when things haven't ended up as a happily ever after, that hasn't really been your fault. I know I am better off when I have let you do you thing and accepted what you give me.

But ladies, can you calm down a bit? Please?

I mean really, you have done your jobs. Almost too well. You are like the over achievers of uteruses and ovaries. I feel like a type A personality outside and inside. We have successfully procreated quite enough and if this is a Darwin thing, my genes have been spread to future generations. We shall evolve. We shall live on. A friend to population control, we are not. You don't have to prove anything to anyone anymore. Calm down.

I know it's hard. I have gray hairs. I know we are getting older, but you don't have to get all wiggy. Can you stop announcing when you are going to arrive with those migraines? They really make it hard to get things done. I know they are not EVERY month, but they tend to come at real inconvenient times, you know?

And what's with the shorter cycles? Is that some pre-menopause thing? Are you trying to get all your eggs out the gate before they go bad or something? Coz I tell you, it's not going to work! You can't trick me into having another child! We are 100%, totally and completely done child bearing! And while I do understand that almost 42 is not considered too old anymore, it is too old for me and therefore for you too. You can't have it all. We started young. I really don't want to spend my whole life raising children born almost 25 years apart. And while I know it's weird that the "babies" are getting bigger real fast, I Ok and will handle it this time. We are done. It's OK now, we can rest.

And while I do appreciate that you don't make it go on and on all week, lighten up will you? It's like a damn bursting there! It's getting so that they don't make one single feminine article that keeps things under control anymore. It's getting a bit ridiculous! I know you are there. I know you are still kicking. Must we destroy clothing and undies all the time? That's not like you at all. You have always been so respectful of my public persona.

Can you stop with the peek a boo crap too? It's not a game. Maybe if you didn't go crazy in a 24 hour time span, then you could keep up the pace for a solid three days. This "Ok I'm done.. Nope! Here I am" stuff is annoying! It's hard enough remembering to stock up my pockets with OB's on the days when I know you're around, but then you leave, I relax and ding dong! here you are again! Make up your mind!

And while we are talking, are you the ones responsible for my hair getting all wavy? gain, I like it. I really do. And I understand that hormones get weird after 40 and yes, it is way better than getting a big butt, but still; it's kind of weird! It's like another person's head of hair just started growing out of my head. My hair is straight. My hair was straight. And I never had dry itchy skin before either. I'll keep the hair and dump the itchy skin, mmmkay?

Look, can you just tell me what is going on and what I can expect from you guys? Please? I have no one really to ask about these things with my own mother gone. It seems to me that you are getting a bit out of control and I really hate to have to go tell on you to the doctors. If you are getting tired and just want to take a rest, then go ahead. It's Ok by me. We have had a long and successful run. It's time to relax and just enjoy what we have.

Let's stop fighting all the time. Lets really try to spend the rest of our years together as friends. I am grateful that you have been so loyal and hardworking all this time, but I just don't need you to be the same way you were. Stop over achieving. Relax. Take a break. Just stop trying to prove that you are some supreme baby making machinery in there. Believe me, everyone knows by now. We made more people than most of the people I know. We made more people than nay pone has in my family since the great grandparents time. We made more people than most of my friends. We are not making anymore.

And I know he has promised us that next time HE would go to the doctor and get those Y carriers under control, I am getting tired of waiting. I just want to be able to relax myself and not live in fear of your awesome power, so if he doesn't do it soon, then ladies, we just might have to take care of things ourselves. No, I don't think it will hurt too bad and no one will even know. It can be our little secret. It doesn't mean that I love you any less, but I need a break too.

So darlings.. you three awesome trouble makers you.. have a pow wow and get it together. Cool your jets and behave. You did what you needed to do and now it's time to just chill...

Thanks so much...



Claud~

Adoptive Parents are NOT Acting in Best Interest of Children; Choosing Drugs over Kids

Adoptive Parents are NOT Acting in Best Interest of Children; Choosing Drugs over Kids  Go read.. Vote.. report.. spread the word. etc!

Adoptee Rights: Suing the State that Denies One Access to the OBC

I am no law professor, but I get inspired in odd places. Rye and I were watching the History Channel the other night about the history of the Ku Klux Klan, and it actually inspired me.

How can the Klan Help Adoptees

I'm not completely sure, but follow my logic with me for a minute, will you? The show brought up the Civil Rights Act of 1871 and I immediately googled it ( Thanks IPhone) and was very intrigued.

From Wiki:

The Civil Rights Act of 1871 is a federal statute in force in the United States. Several of its provisions still exist today as codified statutes, but the most important still-existing provision is 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The Act was originally enacted a few years after the American Civil War, along with the 1870 Force Act. One of the chief reasons for its passage was to protect southern blacks from the Ku Klux Klan by providing a civil remedy for abuses then being committed in the South. The statute has been subject to only minor changes since then, but has been the subject of voluminous interpretation by courts.

The document reads:

Every person who under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, Suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress, except that in any action brought against a judicial officer for an act or omission taken in such officer's judicial capacity, injunctive relief shall not be granted unless a declaratory decree was violated or declaratory relief was unavailable. For the purposes of this section, any Act of Congress applicable exclusively to the District of Columbia shall be considered to be a statute of the District of Columbia.

For most of its history, the Act had very little effect. The legal community did not think the statute served as a check on state officials, and did not often litigate under the statute. However, this changed in 1961 when the Supreme Court of the United States decided Monroe v. Pape

This is where the Civil Rights Act of 1871 gets interesting:

I got very excited here because I read: Where a state law is been deemed in violating Civil Rights, then the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT must fix it.

In that case, the Court articulated three purposes that underlay the statute:
"1) 'to override certain kinds of state laws';
2) to provide 'a remedy where state law was inadequate';
3) to provide 'a federal remedy where the state remedy, though adequate in theory, was not available in practice.'"
Blum & Urbonya, Section 1983 Litigation, p. 2 (Federal Judicial Center, 1998) (quoting Monroe v. Pape). Pape opened the door for renewed interest in Section 1983.

If we apply that to an adoptees civil right to access their legal documentation in form of their original birth certificate, then rather than fight each state, ( yea, I know I am doing it again) I say GO NATIONAL!

Wiki then goes on to say:

Now the statute stands as one of the most powerful authorities with which State and federal courts may protect those whose rights are deprived.
Section 1983 of the Civil Rights Act provides a way individuals can sue to redress violations of federally protected rights, like the First Amendment rights and the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Section 1983 can be used to enforce rights based on the federal constitution and federal statutes, such as the prohibition of public sector employment discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex and religion.

I, of course, went digging further into the laws especially into the Section 1983 of the Civil Rights Act, the later civil rights that followed it and found all kinds of interesting things:

TITLE VI OF THE 1964 CIVIL RIGHTS ACT

Prevented discrimination by government agencies that receive federal funding. If an agency is found in violation of Title VI, that agency can lose its federal funding.

As President John F. Kennedy said in 1963:

Simple justice requires that public funds, to which all taxpayers of all races [colors, and national origins] contribute, not be spent in any fashion which encourages, entrenches, subsidizes or results in racial [color or national origin] discrimination.

If a recipient of federal assistance is found to have discriminated and voluntary compliance cannot be achieved, the federal agency providing the assistance should either initiate fund termination proceedings or refer the matter to the Department of Justice for appropriate legal action. Aggrieved individuals may file administrative complaints with the federal agency that provides funds to a recipient, or the individuals may file suit for appropriate relief in federal court. Title VI itself prohibits intentional discrimination. However, most funding agencies have regulations implementing Title VI that prohibit recipient practices that have the effect of discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin.

So, if a STATE is in violation of Title VI in terms of adoptee rights, then could they not lose their federal Funding? Ouch, that might make them pay attention!
.Additionally, the Department has published an Investigation Procedures Manual to give practical advice on how to investigate Title VI complaints. Also available on the Coordination and Review Website are a host of other materials that may be helpful to those interested in ensuring effective enforcement of Title VI.

To assist federal agencies that provide financial assistance, the wide variety of recipients that receive such assistance, and the actual and potential beneficiaries of programs receiving federal assistance, the U.S. Department of Justice has published a Title VI Legal Manual. The Title VI Legal Manual sets out Title VI legal principles and standards

So that lead me to the US Department of Justice, where realizing that Title VI spoke in terms of employment; I wanted to find something that had to with Birth Certificates, and then really, the circumstances of ones birth which one has no control over, such as status as an adoptee!

So I find Federal Protections Against National Origin Discrimination:


Furthur on it says

Federal laws prohibit discrimination based on a person's national origin, race, color, religion, disability, sex, and familial status. Laws prohibiting national origin discrimination make it illegal to discriminate because of a person's birth place, ancestry, culture or language. This means people cannot be denied equal opportunity because they or their family are from another country, because they have a name or accent associated with a national origin group, because they participate in certain customs associated with a national origin group, or because they are married to or associate with people of a certain national origin.

Further on it says:


In some cases, the Division may only become involved if there is a "pattern or practice" of discrimination. A "pattern or practice" generally means that there is more than a single incident of discrimination, and that there is a policy or repeated conduct that is discriminatory.

I would say that 44 out of 50 states and 6 million adoptees is a "pattern or practice" of discrimination!

Then further down, still searching for a denial of documentation I see:


Which kind of leads me back to where I started with "law enforcement agencies " such as state legislators.. who receive federal funding!

And then.. aha! What to do about it:

Complaints of individual discrimination can be filed with the Coordination and Review Section at:

These examples may be violations of the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution. They may also be violations of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968. That law prohibits discrimination because of national origin, race, color, religion, or sex by a police department that gets federal funds through the U.S. Department of Justice. They may also violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination by law enforcement agencies that receive any federal financial assistance, including asset forfeiture property.

U.S. Department of Justice
Civil Rights Division
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Coordination and Review Section, 1425
Washington, D.C. 20530

or contact the Coordination and Review Section at 1-888-848-5306.


Complaints of individual discrimination may also be filed with the Office of Justice Programs at Office for Civil Rights, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. 20531, or contact Office of Justice Programs at (202) 307-0690.


The Special Litigation Section investigates and litigates complaints that a police department has a pattern or practice of discriminating on the basis of national origin. To file a complaint, contact the Special Litigation Section at (202) 514-6255 or write to:


U.S. Department of Justice
Civil Rights Division
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Special Litigation Section
Washington, D.C. 20530

Now I just spent a good time poking about and right now, the issue I have is that I can't find it anywhere in the US Constitution that states we all have a right to our birth certificates; Probably because when the founding fathers designed the Constitution and gave us those rights, there weren't any birth certificates to care about!

I did however find this: On the Proof of Citizenship from the BRENNAN CENTER at NYU which states;

• Proof of citizenship requirements are an invitation to discrimination.
• Blocking eligible voters who cannot show documentation violates the Constitution and federal law.
• States should not implement burdensome proof of citizenship requirements.

Of course,even though the US and Somalia being the only two countries in the world which have not ratified the Convention, one could also go back and argue that the UN's Convention on the Rights of a Child, most especially articles 7 and 8 say:

Article 7
1. The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.
2. States Parties shall ensure the implementation of these rights in accordance with their national law and their obligations under the relevant international instruments in this field, in particular, where the child would otherwise be Stateless.
Article 8
1. States Parties undertake to respect the right of the child to preserve his or her identity, including nationality, name and family relations as recognized by law without unlawful interference.
2. Where a child is illegally deprived of some or all of the elements of his or her identity, States Parties shall provide appropriate assistance and protection, with a view tospeedily re-establishing his or her identity.

So, I am thinking.. what if a bunch of adoptees just happened to file complaints with the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division against the state that is discriminating against them based on their familial status?

I mean, what if?

What if an Adoptee Discrimination case was actually brought against such states?

You know you have the stories of real tangible things you were denied because your amended birth certificate was "weird" looking? What if those states were SUED and then, they would HAVE to LOSE their FEDERAL FUNDING!

You know what? We would see those laws turned pretty dern quick.

Money talks!

And please.... if any one single lawyer or law student or anyone with a moral care or concern in their body was interested in this.. please talk to me. I can hook you up with the adoptees right quick!

Return Adult Adoptees the Right to their Original Birth Certificates

Granting Adoptees Access to their OBC's

Change.org has a nifty constest/ promo going on and adoptee rights has a nice place on it!

The 10 ideas that receive the most votes by the end of the competition will be presented at an event in Washington, DC to relevant officials in the Obama Administration. If the Adoptee Rights is among the top 10 ideas, it will then be promoted to Change.org's entire community of more than 1 million members and across their network of bloggers to help turn it into reality.

It's easy, and worth it, to join Change.org just for this alone, plus they do other good things! Then they make is really simple to tweet to friends, share on facebook, and email folks. Please take the five minutes and add your vote and your voice!

Can Adoptee's Rights be in First Place?

This idea is currently in 2nd Place in Human Rights and is in position to make it into the final round. We have a wonderful vast network and huge community here, folks. let's use this power we have to get some focus on this issue.. for ALL our children!

So clicky-cluick here: Return Adult Adoptees the Right to their Original Birth Certificates.

There is also a handy dandy little widget that you will see on my sidebar here, I believe you can sign in and vote right there! Or at least itr will take you where you need to go!

And, yes, you need to go there!.. so Go!

ETA: 2/3 Currently the adoptee rights OBC idea is Number ONE in Human RIghts catagory with 300 votes!

However, the TOP idea right now Don’t Sell Elections to the Highest Bidder has 932 points!So we STILL do not make the top 10!!
There is NO reason why we cannot be in the top 10! There is no reason why we cannot bve the NUMBER ONE IDEA! I KNOW there are over 100 web intelligent adoption folks who can make this happen!

There is also another adoptee one in Human Trafficking, Release Original Birth Certificates To Adoptees , but I am unsure if one can vote twice???

OK.. so to riterate:

The 10 most popular ideas will be presented at an event in Washington, DC to relevant members of the Obama Administration, and Change.org will subsequently mobilize its full community to support a series of grassroots campaigns to turn each idea into reality.

SO MAKE PEOPLE VOTE!!