A Few Bastardly Thoughts on Safe Haven Report - Marley Elizabeth Greiner
Bastard Nation's Executive Chair responds to the Donaldson Adoption Institute's report on Safe Haven laws.by Marley Elizabeth Greiner, Executive Chair, Bastard Nation
For the past three years, as part of our mission to restore the right of identity to adopted people, Bastard Nation: The Adoptee Rights Organization has been in the forefront of unequivocal opposition to Save Haven/Baby Moses laws. We view these laws as an attack on adoptee identity rights and open records activism - an attempt to codify anonymous birth and abandonment where no such "legal right" existed before. The laws clearly endanger the right of identity for all adopted persons, not just those who have been abandoned as babies. Sealed records advocates, in fact, have stated publicly that Safe Haven/ Baby Moses laws, which some like to call "non-bureaucratic placement" are a response to open records successes over the past few years. Some even blame adopted persons who speak out against the laws for the defeat of Safe Haven legislation. Safe Haven laws, then, are clearly a strategy to
perpetuate the sealed records/secret adoption system and to institute a state identify-stripping system.
Bastard Nation is generally pleased with the recent publication of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute's report,
"Unintended Consequences: "Safe Haven" Laws are Causing Problems not Solving Them," and we are greatly pleased that their prominent and influential voice has joined the ranks of Safe Haven critics.
We find much to be in agreement with, especially the need for statistical and data collection and analysis on the causes of baby abandonment and the women who do it. The report is the first high profile step in what we hope will become a public and professional debate on the ethics and efficacy of legalized baby abandonment.
We are disappointed, however, that the report did not it delve into the socio- political agenda of the National Council for Adoption (NCFA) and other sealed records promoters who advocate Safe Haven legislation since, without the political context, the laws tend to seem benign and criticism undeserved. We are also disappointed that the report neglected to address proposed expansion of Safe Haven laws. Instead it appeared to suggest that the laws could be fixed-up-made-better - an assumption that could play into the very hands of baby dump pushers. The laws need repealed, not repaired.
Page 1: Agree & Don't AgreePage 2: Intervention Page 3: Repair or RepealPage 4: Future of Safe Havens
Marley Greiner is co-founder and Executive Chair of Bastard Nation: The Adoptee Rights Organization, and editor and publisher of "Baby Dump News," a weekly report on Safe Haven laws. She is currently involved in major research on adoption and the religious right.
Home
Add Your Comments!
We want to know what you think. Your comments are important to us and the other readers. You are what makes this site special.