ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATES FOR ILLINOIS ADOPTEES October 2010 ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATES FOR ILLINOIS ADOPTEES is a monthly eNewsletter bringing you all the news that's fit to print from the Land of Lincoln. We are a voice for the Illinois Open Organization, <wlmailhtml:%7b66F937A2-4D1F-4496-BDA9-DBDBFFADF43B%7dmid://00000393/!x-usc: http://www.ilopen.org/> www.ILOpen.org ILLINOIS OPEN MISSION STATEMENT It is the civil and human right of ALL ADOPTED ADULTS to have access to their original birth records unconditionally and free from falsification. Our goal is to challenge Illinois legislators to restore this civil and human right to all adopted men and women. We will not support legislation that places any restrictions on the rights of all adopted adults' access to their obc's. It is not our primary goal to be a search organization. We are independent of any other group. I WON I'm the official winner of the Amazing Race. I received a non-certified copy of my original birth certificate about two weeks ago. Mary Lynn Fuller is still wading through bureaucratic red tape to get hers. She really has a battle coming up. Receiving my original birth certificate last week almost makes up for all those years when I kept writing to the State over and over and each time I'd receive a form saying "There is no record of any such person." And a great big "Nanny, Nanny - Boo Boo" to a woman at the Cook County Dept. of Vital Records who told me in her very loud and arrogant sounding voice that I was ADOPTED! and therefore not eligible for a "real" birth certificate. She dramatically tore up my application into 4 pieces and tossed those pieces ever so casually into the waste basket. She was so casual she wasn't even wearing shoes. I was crying. I'd like to tell the US Passport Office, "I told you so!" Several years ago it refused to issue me a passport because my Adoption Decree did not have a place of birth. However, the irony here is that my newly acquired original birth certificate would not pass muster with the feds anyway because it is a non-certified copy. In fact, this law is stamped in big-blocked letters covering half my new certificate. The stamp says: NON CERTIFIED COPY THIS NON-CERTIFIED DOCUMENT MAY NOT BE USED FOR IDENTIFICATION PURPOSES AND IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ADMISSABLE BEFORE ANY [WORD BLURRED] TRIBUNAL OR OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT AGENCY. I am happy that the State of Illinois has finally been forced by law to acknowledge my presence on this earth. I feel like a real person now. I spent nearly all of my life living a lie which began with the issuing of an Amended Birth Certificate to my adoptive parents. This certificate legally changed me into the biological child of my adoptive parents. What a whopper of a lie that is. So it's pretty nice to finally be acknowledged by the State. It's not as good as an apology, but it's a start. The only truly fair conclusion, though, must be to eliminate the "mother may I" regulation in the current law that gives birth parents a legal right to deny their adoptee access to his or her birth certificate. All adoptees in the state must be treated equally under the law. Birth parents cannot be given any legal rights now over the child that they irrevocably relinquished for adoption at least 21 years ago. OBSTACLES TO GETTING AN OBC Congratulations to Anita for winning The Amazing Race! My journey began on September 2, 2010. It came to an abrupt stop 14 days later when I received mail from the Division of Vital Records. Enclosed along with their letter was my application. I was told that I would be eligible to apply on November 15, 2011. I rechecked Rep. Sara Feigenholtz's Web site since she had sponsored the bill and it stated very clearly that I was eligible now since my birth mother is deceased and I submitted her death record along with my application. I read the text of the bill in its entirety and could not find anything that directly pertained to my situation. On September 25, I mailed a letter to Rep. Feigenholtz and told her that I felt the statement on her Web site must be correct since she sponsored the bill. The text is not easy for me to follow and I could imagine someone at Vital Records tiring from the tedious reading. The result might have been the return of my application as the easy way out. On October 12, I received a letter from Rep. Feigenholtz - "The problem you are having has been brought to the attention of relevant parties and is a consequence of a misinterpretation of the legislative intent of the law." "Once this issue is resolved someone will be contacting you so that you may obtain a non-certified copy of your original birth certificate." During the late 1970's when my long search for birth family began I learned to never take "no" for an answer and still do not today. My heart goes out to those who do because often accepting defeat is robbing yourself of what is rightfully yours. Whether something else comes up along my OBC journey remains to be seen. Right now I'm patiently waiting but I'm not the most patient person. OBC REJECTS DATABASE In May HB 5428 was signed into law and is now known as PA 96-0895. Since this law went into effect have you had your application for an OBC returned to you? Have you been told that you can't register with IARMIE? If your answer to either question is "yes", please consider being entered into the OBC Rejects Database. Names will not be published but statistics need to be compiled so that we can raise awareness that some adoptees are being left behind. We need to know why so the problem can be fixed. Please send an email to mlfuller65@comcast.net. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2 Please don't forget to vote and remind your family & friends! We must continue to fight toward adoption reform in IL and it is vital to have those in Springfield who believe in equal rights for all adopted adults. IllinoisOpen.Org: Anita Walker Field, Skokie, IL Mary Lynn Fuller, Urbana, IL We are volunteers and do not ask for nor receive donations. There is no membership fee. Illinois Open should NOT be confused with Adoption Reform Illinois or Green Ribbon Campaign. Please forward as far and as wide as possible! To subscribe to this monthly eNewsletter just send an email to obc@ilopen.org <wlmailhtml:%7b66F937A2-4D1F-4496-BDA9-DBDBFFADF43B%7dmid://00000393/!x-usc: mailto:obc@ilopen.org> . ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ADOPTION-GEN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 9.0.862 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/3196 - Release Date: 10/14/10 01:34:00