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Letter from the Editor
Dear Readers,
Please join us in observing Adoptee Rights Days (ARD), the week of June 2, 2001. ARD, Adoptee Rights Days, (formerly NARD - National Adoptee Rights Day) originally celebrated the passage of Oregon's Adoptee Rights Initiative in December of 1998 (Measure 58). ARD celebrates the anniversary of the final victory of Measure 58 which went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. June 2nd was the day when the Oregon Vital Records offices started mailing out original birth certificates to Oregon-born adult adoptees.
Adoptee Rights Days educate the world-wide public on adoptee-rights and dignity issues, in particular the injustice of permanently sealed adoption records and of the need for adult adoptee rights now. We do this through a week-long series of events including a day of protest at local Vital Records offices, pamphletting and tabling at high-traffic public places, street theater and special educational events sponsored by local adoption support and reform groups.
Those who cannot attend a Day of Protest in person at a local Vital Records office (and even those who do) are invited to call, fax and mail the Vital Records offices and adoption agencies where their original birth certificates and adoption files are kept during this week. This is done to empower adoptees and to inform the Vital Records clerks and adoption workers of the injustice of permanently sealing adoption records from the people to whom they belong. There is a concerted public relations and media campaign run in association with ARD, to make the wider public aware of adoptee rights issues.
ARD was and is sponsored by Bastard Nation, but anyone who believes in true equal rights for adult adoptees may participate. You need not be a Bastard Nation member. ARD may not be used to promote conditional access legislation, nor to promote any for-fee services.
Adopted adults and those who support them gather for an hour or 2 in front of Vital Records and government offices, handing out flyers on open records for adult adoptees, educating the public, and symbolically trying to get a copy of their original birth certificate via phone, mail or fax around the nation. Adoptive and Birth family members are also welcome to participate. This is not a search event and no for-fee search or reunion services may be advertised during this event.
Please consider hosting Adoptee Rights Day in your neck of the woods this year. Thanks. :) - Damsel
SIX EASY STEPS TO ADOPTEE RIGHTS DAYS 2001
1. BE AVAILABLE: Make sure you can be available for 1 - 2 hours in the middle of the day during the week of June 2nd. We try to have most of the ARD events in a 1 - 2 hour timeslot, depending on the schedules of the local leaders. In past years most ARD events were scheduled from 12 Noon - 1 pm. Find out the hours of your local Vital Records or government office and schedule it to be during a 1 - 2 hour time slot when the office will be open. Invite the press and media. If your group can also be available for several hours during the weekend to leaflet or table high traffic areas such as outside shopping centers, in parks or on city streets, this also helps the public education effort. Street theater and performance art are other great ways to gain interest in the cause of adoptee rights and dignity.
2. JOIN THE ARD COMMUNITY AT YAHOO!: Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NARD, register and join the ARD Community. Ask to receive messages to your email to keep on top of what's going on with ARD. Check the "Files" and "Links" links periodically for helpful materials.
3. CONTACT YOUR LOCAL VITAL RECORDS OFFICE: You can find this information for the U.S. at http://www.vitalrec.org/. Find out their address and their hours of business for the day you will stage your Day of Protest. If they will be open from Noon to 1, plan to have your ARD event during that time slot. If not, select a time when they will be open and confirm your site's location and time by emailing nard@plumsite.com or posting to the ARD community on Yahoo.
4.
GET VOLUNTEERS: Once you confirm your ARD site, the ARD coordinators
will get your site and contact info. up on the ARD websites. You will be the contact for your local ARD event. You only need
a handful of people to do ARD (sites have even been done with one person!)
but the more, the merrier! Use
the Local Outreach flyers linked from ..ard/
and printouts from the website to get others involved. Feel free to
contact local adoption activism, search and support groups, and to invite
your friends and family members to participate. Post info. on your site
to various adoption-related websites, email lists and Usenet newsgroups
if you like. You can find lists of adoption search and support groups
by state at the following urls. Let them know about your site and see if they
want to participate. ARD is fun! * U.S.A.: http://www.webcom.com/kmc/adoption/faq-2.html http://www.adoptiontriad.org/support/netsupport.htm * Canada: * Australia & New Zealand * International: http://www.webcom.com/kmc/adoption/faq-3.html
5. GET MATERIALS: You will want to have handouts and signs at your ARD site. Suggested hand-outs include "Open Records: Why it's an Issue" at ..activism/or.htm and local/national press releases explaining ARD and its purpose. You can buy foamcore board or print on white cardboard relevant slogans like "Equal Rights for Adopted Citizens Now," "Our Records, Our Right," and "Why is my Birth Certificate a State Secret?" You can find these on the ARD website and soon in MS Word format on the ARD Yahoo Community site. You can get more ideas from the ARD Community. ARD may not be used to advertise any for-fee search services and is not a search event.
6. GET PRESS: Format a version of the ARD Press Release for your local site and send it to local TV, newspapers, and radio. If you are a registered ARD site leader you can also use the National Press release (available in earlyMay) and include your name as the local contact. TOGETHER WE CAN DO IT!
Adoptee Rights Days Website ..ard/
Join us and get the word out about adult adoptee rights and dignity!
Sincerely,
Damsel
Plum ********************************************************* (This feature appeared in the Spring 2001 issue of the Bastard Quarterly.) Copyright 2001 Bastard Nation |