Paula Benoit goes to Rhode Island Statehouse to speak with legislators about adoptee access legislation.
Former Maine State Senator Paula Benoit will be visiting the Rhode Island State House to seek support for House Bill H-5496, legislation restoring the right for adult adoptees born in Rhode Island to obtain an uncertified copy of their original birth certificates.
Senator Paula Benoit of Phippsburg, Maine, led the charge in the Maine State Senate to pass a bill to open birth certificates previously unavailable to adult adoptees. The former senator was a co-sponsor of LD 1084: “An Act To Provide Adult Adoptees Access to Their Original Birth Certificates,” which permits adoptees, upon turning 18, to access birth certificates and medical forms that may have been completed by birth parents.
"I know this issue well. I live it every day." Benoit said. "The right to know who you are and where you come from is something so many people take for granted. Original identity is a basic human right and should never be sealed by any Government entity, under any circumstances. I fought for this bill on behalf of adoptees who want what all non-adopted citizens have, a choice to have access to their original birth certificates."
Senator Benoit will be accompanied at the statehouse by members of T.R.A.C.E (The Rhode Island Adoption Coalition for Equality). T.R.A.C.E. Is a grassroots effort dedicated to passing legislation in Rhode Island allowing all adult adoptees born in Rhode Island to obtain a non-certified copy of their Original Birth Certificate (OBC).
Since 2004 New Hampshire and Maine have passed legislation allowing all adult adoptees to obtain a non-certified copy of their OBC. In 2004 the New Hampshire legislature passed Senate Bill 335 (SB 335), and in 2007 the Maine legislature passed LD 1084. In both states nearly 70% of legislators voted in favor of restoring the civil right to obtain original birth certificates to adult adoptees.
I am 63 years old my 38 year old was born 9/25/1973 in West Palm beach,Florida in the St.Marys Hospital adopted by the Childrens Home Society todays new place is Jax,.Fla The SW is Jen Graham.She called said that CHS found my son (just last year)I was told to fill out med forms and to write him the 1st letter ,all everything went through her she said,She even told me he said yes to contact! I waited did everything she said,She only spoke to him once and that was when she found him,he said he would have to tell his family-call from Jen,he wants a very slow contact ,next call-Jen-He might not be a lawyer! (in beginning she told me his profession -a lawyer) then I asked how did she know ...Jen said from the office sounds..This woman had been pulling my leg all the 8 months around..The state paid,isn't their a law against what she did to me? I read this agency waits for the deaths to occur,how many adoptees and birth mothers and last (the adoptives too) before a reunion is made,murderers get by easier than adoption laws,it is the number one strictest unjust abomination for a law and we don;t have the rights that everyone else has and we are innocent of a crime,Thank you for listening,your work will not be in vain ,womans intuition tells me adoption will disappear,no more buying babies or children and the records opened for every adoptee and real mother.I just lost my eldest son only 43 this very holiday ,he was struck by a truck on his bicycle,please guide me out of this dead end with this social worker and CHS,he does not know anything about me ,she won't send him the 1st letter.God Bless I wll vote for you and Facebook mothers ! !
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