Illinois Open

    IF PASSED INTO LAW, HB 4623 WOULD…

…..permit redacting (or whiting-out) an official document.

…..grant access veto powers to birth parents who relinquished all legal rights to the adoptee as a child.

…..define three different classes of adult adoptees, those born before 1946,those born between January 1, 1946 and January 2009, and all prospective adoptions.

…..allow for the possibility of adoptees receiving copies of birth certificates with birth parent names removed as well as the adoptee's name.

…..give all prospective birth parents 21 years in which to file a Denial of Information Form. Current law requires them to file a denial within 6 months.

…..make all of the birth parent options go through the Illinois Adoption Registry where the concerns are related to searching rather than to civil rights.

…..codify "anonymity" for the first time.

…..give birth parents 6 months after the bill is passed to file "Denial of Information" forms with the Adoption Registry. Any adoptee whose birth parent files a "Denial of Information" form will NOT receive an original birth certificate. This section includes a 6 month advertising campaign to let birthmothers know their choices.

…..give birth parents 5 options that range from contact to anonymity to choose from.

 PLEASE E-MAIL, WRITE, CALL, or FAX THE MEMBERS OF THE ILLINOIS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES IMMEDIATELY.

TELL THEM THAT HB4623 IS A SERIOUSLY FLAWED BILL WHICH MUST BE VOTED DOWN SO THAT A TRUE ADOPTEE RIGHTS BILL CAN BE WRITTEN AND FILED IN ITS PLACE.

WE HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT THE BILL NEEDS 70+ VOTES IN ORDER TO PASS OUT OF THE HOUSE. WE MUST PUT AN END TO IT RIGHT IN THE HOUSE WHERE IT BEGAN!

Background

HB 4623 began back in January as a shell bill purportedly to make changes to the IL CI system. On Monday, March 10^th, Rep. Feigenholtz announced her new OBC search bill, HB 4623. On Tuesday, March 12, the shell bill was transformed into the new 77 page OBC search bill.On Wednesday, March 13^th, the new bill went straight to the House Adoption Reform Committee, of which Rep. Feigenholtz just happens to be chair. That very same day, the committee voted 8-1 vote to pass the bill.The new 77 page bill was only put up on the IL website hours before the hearing so there was no time for interested parties to testify. No wonder the committee passed the bill; even they didn't have time to read all 77 pages.

This bill has been rejected by many adoption reform coalitions, including Illinois Open.

The 77 page complete text of the bill is at

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=&SessionId=51&GA=95&DocTypeId=HB&DocNum=4623&GAID=9&LegID=35302&SpecSess=&Session=

Bastard Nation: www.bastards.org

Illinois Open My Space http://www.myspace.com/illlinoisopen

Illinois Open web page http://www.ilopen.org

Adoption Reform Illinois Resource Page: HB 4623 opposition coalition letter to legislators and mediahttp://www.73adoptee.com/2008%20open%20letter.pdf

CONTACT INFORMATION – Cut and paste – or click a name to email

 (c) Illinois Open 2008