2005 Campaign to Improve Adoption in Texas
(updated
06/23/2005)
------------------- Action Needed as of 6-23-05 ----------------------
We need to thank all those who supported the efforts to put HB770/SB364 and HB240 into law. While HB770/SB364 died, HB240, with strong support from many sides, was signed into law by Governor Perry. It will become effective 9-1-05.
There are many to thank as we celebrate the achievements of 2005 and work toward the success we will enjoy in 2007.
--------------------- Links to documents & web sites supporting HB770/SB364 and HB240 -----------------------------
The location of CSSB364, HB770, and HB240 in the legislative process as of 4-24-05. Here is a link to a brief history of the legislative process to date of HB770/SB364
Link to CSSB364 which was filed 4-20-05 in Jurisprudence Committee Hearing. It replaces SB364 which was filed 2-7-05 as the companion bill to HB770.
Ten Reasons Adult Adoptees Should Have Access To Their Original Texas Birth Certificates
"Adoption Reform - Texas Style, an Open Letter to Adoption Reform Advocates," the strategy behind the original HB770/SB364.
Know Your Texas Adoption Rights: a blog with many related links to the issues surrounding HB770/SB364
This report on the effect of the 1998 Original Birth Certificate law in Oregon documents the effect of similar legislation.
"N.H. adoptees gain access to records" is a Christian Science Monitor article summarizing original birth certificate access legislation passed in the US to date.
(Proposed) Contact Preference Form for Birth Parents
The Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) is the largest affiliation of adoption agencies in the US. The CWLA Standards of Excellence for Adoption Services, 2000. Section 6.22, p. 87 documents CWLA support for HB770 and similar legislation.
"Adoptees deserve access to family health histories" by Adam Pertman, Executive Director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute was published 2-14-04 in the Baltimore Sun. It applies to adoption the US Surgeon Generals' national campaign to encourage all US families to learn more about their genetic health histories.
"The Idea of Adoption: An Inquiry into the History of Adult Adoptee Access to Birth Records" By Professor Elizabeth J. Samuels, is a powerful and copiously footnoted history of U.S. laws surrounding adoptee access to birth records. It was published in Rutgers Law Review #367 in 2001. Professor Samuels conclusion states: "Laws closing adoption records to the parties were enacted not as a shield to protect birth parents from their adult children's ever learning their identity, but as a sword to prevent them from interfering with the adoptive families raising the children." (pp.24-25)
Go to http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/, the Texas Legislature Online, to check on HB770 & SB364.
If you have any comments or questions about these pages please email webmaster@txcare.org or bbetzen@aol.com.
