Adoptee Rights Struggle
     Texas  2008-2009   
(A history of events with most recent listed first)

Today, 04-08-2009, was a very busy day!  It started with picketing the entry to the legislators under ground parking garage entrance.  Again people told us we had the perfect place to get our message across.  Legislators were very friendly. Several asked for copies of the Adoptee Rights flyer. We then went inside and visited several legislators about SB 499.  We were told by Senator Lucio's staff that the passing of SB 499 out of committee was virtually guaranteed. Testimony by others than those planned was not needed.  We planned to sign in supporting the legislation.  I planned to leave copies of the Adoptee Rights flyer as my testimony.

Over lunch we continued our picketing outside the capitol

Linda was very active often stopping any conversations we had among ourselves to speak with the public.  Here is one of many conversations she had with people on the mall in front of the capitol.  She never lost focus on what we were there for.

Linda and Tommy have spent many days in front of the Capitol spreading the good word of the truth about adoption laws.  If anyone can help with this work please let us know.  It is slowly making a very big difference.

Little by little a big difference is being made.  Adoptive families for generations will benefit from the work being done by everyone today and every day people are working to educate people around the Texas Capitol.

Come join us!

The day ended with our leaving well before the hearing which happened after 7 PM.  It was a very long day.

4-8-09 Bill Betzen bbetzen@aol.com

SB 499 will be heard in front of Senate Jurisprudence Committee on Wednesday 4-8-09 according to this notice.
Time is given as 1:30 PM or upon adjournment
Location is E1.012 (Hearing Room)

Some of us will be greeting the legislators from 7-9 AM that morning as they arrive to enter the underground parking garage. The more of us who are there, the more impressive it will be. We have signs if you need one.  If enough of us are there then some can also walk around the capitol with their signs for the legislators who have outside parking spots, and the general public who are amazed adoptees are still denied such basic rights in Texas.

The flyer used at demonstrations has been updated to reflect a more direct focus on adoptee rights. The Gladney Center is relatively unknown outside adoption circles.  Now to focus more directly on the real goal here is a link to a pdf copy of the Adoptee Rights Flyer formatted for printing. We will have it copied for Wednesday. If you like what is says, and want to use it elsewhere, please make two-sided copies to use in your lobbying and demonstration efforts.  At demonstrations it is recommended you have it copied front and back on heavy, 110 pound, paper to make distribution easier.
Adoptee equal rights in Texas are getting closer!

  Written 4-5-09 by Bill Betzen, bbetzen@aol.com

The following photo was taken the morning of 3-19-09 as we picketed from 7 AM on past 9 AM at this location to greet legislators and their staff as they arrived for work and drove underground to their parking garage.  Several people congratulated us saying they had worked there for years and always wondered why nobody picketed that entrance.  They said we were the first. Now to also cover the opposite side of the building, at 14th and Brazos, where they exit the garage in the afternoon ....  Legislators should clearly know what adoptees have to endure in Texas, and still too many other states. 

Anyone want to help us cover these locations so that no Texas legislator can say they did not know?

"Speak softly but carry a big sign!"
Picketing at Fort Worth City Hall the evening of March 3, 2009

On 3-3-09 there was another adoptee rights demonstration in Fort Worth, from 5:30 to 9:30 PM, in front of City Hall.  Here is a link to the handout document we used for the demonstration.  It was a very positive 4 hours spent both inside and outside the City Hall. We always run into people who are very angry at Gladney during these demonstrations, and that happened again this evening several times.

         
Elise Perkins and Bill Betzen were the demonstrators this evening, pictured above.
(They did smile most of the evening, just not for these photos.)

There was only one entrance for the City Hall after 5:00 PM and we were able to stand in front of the area just outside the door with security guards inside. During the evening one Gladney supporter did threaten to hit Bill, but after the awards were given inside the City Council Meeting, he came back out, apologized, and shook Bill's hand. It was a very fortunate and peaceful ending with many people picking up copies of the handout document.

During the start of the City Council Meeting, when it was planned for the awards to be given, Bill went inside and joined the standing room only crowd that was present for a very heated discussion of a natural gas drilling issue that would ultimately make the meeting run very late. Below is a photo taken as Heidi Cox, Gladney Attorney for almost 20 years, was receiving the award as being a women in leadership in Fort Worth.  Ms. Cox is the person on the left of the two women with a man in a dark suit directly in front of her. She is reading the front of the award plaque. Mayor Mike Moncrief is in the back upper right corner (apparently doing other business) and if you look closely on the media table at the bottom of the photo you will see some of the copies of our handout document, with "Gladney Center" in big print, that were being read during the meeting by the media.  (The photo below is small but click on it to see a much larger photo if you want to study it.)

This was a very positive evening with good progress made in public education.  Anyone who wants to use the same handout document that was used this evening, certainly may use it.  It is a very brief summary of the history of adoptee rights to their birth records in Texas, the role of the Gladney Center in that history, and a listing of all the national child placement organizations, including over a thousand other adoption agencies, all of whom support absolute adoptee rights to their original birth certificate. A copy of the same handout document is available in Word 2003 format for modification, if needed. Just email Bill for a copy.

Someday we will win this battle for adoptee rights in Texas.  The image of adoption will be the ultimate winner!

Written 3-5-09 by Bill Betzen, bbetzen@aol.com

  The demonstration on Saturday, March 29, 2008 in front of the Worthington Hotel in Fort Worth was a success! The 120th Anniversary Celebration for the Gladney Adoption Center was happening inside while we worked outside. See photographic record linked below.

Photos & stories from 3-29-08 demonstration

 March 29, 2008  6:00 pm
Demonstration and Educational Event
 outside the Worthington Hotel
during the Gladney Adoption Center
120 Year Anniversary Celebration

 
The Tarrant County Court House, at the end of Main St. (above) in Fort Worth, is where too many adoption records are sealed from the very people in whose alleged "best interest" they were sealed. It is also where, after legal attempts to know their own history, too many adults were denied access to their own records simply because they were adopted.

The street corner to the left above is where we will be demonstrating for equal rights for adoptees the evening of 3-29-08 beginning at 6:00 PM. The more volunteers we have to carry signs, such as the one to the right, into the above picture, the more successful our educational event will be. The Edna Gladney movie character from  "Blossoms in the Dust" would be there with us if a movie character could be brought to life.

At http://www.gladney120th.com/ you can see the planned events for the 120 Year Anniversary Celebration for The Gladney Adoption Center. Since the Gladney Adoption Center has led the effort to deny adoptee rights to their own history, a demonstration and information sharing is planned outside the Worthington Hotel the evening of March 29, 2008 before and during their 120th Anniversary Gala inside.  At this time the other 120th Anniversary events are not targeted so we may concentrate on this Saturday evening event.

It is planned to have all demonstration volunteers gather in front of the Worthington Hotel in downtown Fort Worth at 6:00 PM. We will have a minimum of three teams working.  Each team will have one person, with one of the three two-sided signs pictured above, and at least one person handing out flyers near each sign. The flyers will be about the history of equal access issues for adoptees to their own birth records and genetic history. Recent research on these critical issues will be included.  Anyone touched by adoption is invited to join us in this protest and represent their own concerns related to being denied their genetic history, or their birth or adopted child being denied their accurate genetic history, due to the legislative efforts of Gladney Adoption Center. There will be extra signs if you let us know you are coming and need them. Help passing out flyers is also needed. You are certainly welcome to make your own signs with your own message.

Adoptees may want to have signs such as: "Gladney celebrates their history while denying me mine." Adoptee

The sign the three teams will be using is the sign in the above photo.

The goal is to begin targeting the adoptee struggle for equal rights directly at the adoption agency leading national efforts to deny adoptees their rights. Their efforts are certainly not in keeping with the Edna Gladney portrayed in "Blossoms in the Dust."  If Edna Gladney were alive today, she would be out here with us, demanding an end to the theft of children's identities and the return of such a basic human right.

One of the many modern equivalents of Edna Gladney, fighting for adoptee rights, is Madelyn Freundlich. On the pages at http://www.adoptioninstitute.org/research/2007_11_for_records.php you can see the most recent research by her as she clearly documents the truth about the struggle of adult adoptees for their own records.

Volunteers are encourage to contact Bill Betzen (214-957-9739 & bbetzen@aol.com), or Karen Joiner-Brown Blenanger (214-962-0648 & Karen_Belanger@tx.rr.com ), or Linda Burns (512-629-5101 & momoburns@yahoo.com) who is driving with her husband and a friend from Austin to join us. These three are working together as coordinators for the many volunteers gathering at the Worthington in Fort Worth, starting at 6:00 PM on the evening of Saturday, March 29, 2008.  Please plan to be polite and respectful of everyone you meet. There is reason to believe the adoptive families attending this event may not be aware of the adoption issues involved.  They may be victims as well.

Here is a link to the handout document we will be giving out to the public during this demonstration. It includes a listing of the six leading national U.S. Adoption Organizations who support adoptee access to their own birth records. If any members of the public are very interested in these issues we will also have available the six page Executive Summary of "For The Records: Restoring a Legal Right for Adult Adoptees" This is the research by Madelyn Freundlich, mentioned above, that was published in November 2007. 

After this 3-29-09 event, the next planned public demonstration for adopee rights will happen in New Orleans on Tuesday July 22, 2008.  It will be a demonstration at the National Conference of State Legislature’s Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA, July 22th, 2008. The National Conference of State Legislatures is the largest group of its kind, its the national organization of STATE LAWMAKERS, the people who DECIDE legislative proposals about whether adoptees may access their records OR NOT.  See details and sign up at http://adopteerights.net/nulliusfilius/?page_id=18

"We do not want to leave a legacy of genetic secrecy
for the generations who follow us."
 

The photo above was taken from the location of the red X in the satellite photo below.  The front of the Worthington covers two city blocks with the building going over top of Houston St., first street west of Main St. The east Worthington entrance is for hotel guests with the west entrance being the ballroom entrance. Most guests for the Gala will enter the west ballroom entrance unless they park their own cars in the enclose garage.

The photo below was also taken from the same intersection where the red X is in the photo above. 
 It faces west past the two block long front of the hotel where most of the work Saturday evening will happen.

Your questions and ideas are welcome.  Bill Betzen, bbetzen@aol.com.

www.studentmotivation.org
The School Archive Project - a dropout cure born of lessons from adoption
Bill Betzen: bbetzen@aol.com
updated 04/08/2009