Join the Adoption Reform Illinois coalition
and help restore adult adoptee rights in Illinois!
Join the Adoption Reform Illinois coalition!
Sign our petition on Change.org
Help defeat Illinois HB 5428!
- The bill has passed the House and Senate. We must act quickly! Please write the governor ASAP and ask him not to sign HB 5428 into law. More below (updated 04/21/2010)
- Read our Position Paper: Why Adoption Reform Illinois Opposes HB 5428 (PDF)
- Please comment in opposition to HB 5428 and in support of unrestricted original birth certificate access:
Chicago Sun-Times 04/05/2010: Adoption Reform Illinois letter opposing HB 5428
Daily Herald 04/05/2010: Adoption Reform Illinois letter opposing HB 5428
new: St. Louis Dispatch 04/20/2010: Adoption Community Divided By Ill. Bill Giving Birth Certificate Access
Access to our original birth certificates is about identity. Identity is identity, whether you are adopted or not. Adult adoptees routinely face discrimination when attempting to obtain driver's licenses, passports, and other documentation, because our birth certificates are amended when we are adopted and the originals sealed.
Two years ago, a number of adoption reform organizations and individuals banded together to fight a bill that further threatened the rights of adoptees. In fact, we nicknamed HB 4623 the “confidential intermediary employment security act.” And we stopped that legislation cold!
Now, new legislation is being introduced that further cements others' control over our civil rights. HB 5428 and similar bills would blanket Illinois with advertisements for the ineffective state Registry and its expensive accomplice, the Confidential Intermediary program. Please join with us in opposing this bill, and help us seek support for clean legislation that acknowledges the rights of all people to access their original birth certificates without restriction or third-party interference.
The current law in Illinois assaults our most basic rights as human beings. If any other group of citizens in the USA had their identity held hostage by the government, people would be up in arms! Going forward as a coalition, styled Adoption Reform Illinois, we hope to enhance our effectiveness with legislators, the media, and the general public. Our coalition is uniformly against provisions that put control of access to an individuals own birth records in ANYONE else's hands. And we don't believe that adult adoptees and our families need someone else to handle our personal affairs.
GRC is willing to work with other groups to develop positions and goals we can all support, but the basic right of of all individuals to their own identity is non-negotiable. We welcome individuals from Illinois and other adoption reform organizations to join us. And, we welcome legislators who have a strong commitment to civil rights and who are willing to work toward these goals to join us, too. Visit the GRC Press Room to what Adoption Reform Illinois has achieved in the past.
Adoption Reform Illinois is a voluntary association of adoption reform organizations and individuals who have banded together to fight proposed legislation that restricts adoptee rights in Illinois. ARI does not solicit donations. Our work is underwritten by the Green Ribbon Campaign for Open Records.
If you would like to learn more about what you can do, and to let us know you want to help enact clean legislation in Illinois, please fill out the following form. If you helped us with our 2008 campaign we also ask you to fill out this form so we can keep in touch with you.
Status of HB 5428 (as of 04/21/2010)
Click here for all actions on this bill (from ilga.gov)
04/21/2010: HB 5428 has passed the House and Senate. Our goal now turns to stopping it at the Governor's desk. Please contact Illinois Governor Pat Quinn NOW and ask him not to sign this bill into law. This bill has been touted as restoring the rights of adult adoptees--but equality should be for ALL adoptees.
Time is of the essence so calls are best, but anything you can do will help.
Talking points when contacting the Governor:
- Identity is identity, whether you are adopted or not.
- ALL adoptees, all people, deserve equal treatment under the law.
- The state of Illinois cannot afford to waste money on this expensive and ineffective bill.
Office of the Governor
Pat Quinn
207 State House
Springfield, IL 62706
Phone: 217-782-0244
TTY: 888-261-3336There is also a web form:
http://www.illinois.gov/gov/contactthegovernor.cfm
