Saturday, April 23, 2016

CIVIL RIGHTS LACKING FOR ADOPTEES BORN IN NEW YORK











PETITION ALERT
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Tim Monti-Wohlpart, a Windsor Terrace resident and New York-born adoptee, has launched an urgent petition to advocate for the human and civil rights of New York born adoptees who were placed via "closed" adoptions. He and the more than 1,000 people who have already signed in support are appealing for a return to a "CLEAN" version of the New York Bill of Adoptee Rights (A2901B).

To see the details of the Internet petition and sign it, please visit


The preferred "CLEAN" version of the New York Bill of Adoptee Rights would have given New York-born adult adoptees (18+) access to their original birth certificates so that they could seek out their birth parents and confirm their medical history and heritage.

Currently, when adoptees appeal to courts for help with medical history, they are routinely denied. Some have died.

Birth parents would have been able to complete non-binding "contact preference" forms at any time to designate their openness to contact from adoptees.

Unfortunately, the New York Bill of Adoptee Rights got amended last June by the Assembly Codes Committee, which includes local District 44 Assemblymember James Brennan.

The changes to the bill include proposals for a bureaucratic, costly process, involving judges who are on the record as being hostile to any adoption reform. That could result in redaction of original birth certificate information. Adoption rights advocates feel that the changes made to the bill do not properly honor the human and civil rights of New York-born adult adoptees.

To see the details of the Internet petition and sign it, please visit


Anybody from any location in the world can consider and sign (and comment, if they wish) on this initiative. It is also possible to keep your name from being posted publicly on the website if you choose, though your name would be included in the initial petition delivery that will likely take place by the end of next week (the week of April 25th).

Those who agree with the petition are encouraged to sign it as quickly as possible for the best chance for your name to be counted in the first petition delivery.  Later petition deliveries are possible, depending on how the appeal may progress after a first delivery.

In addition to Assemblymember James Brennan, the bill's main sponsors--David Weprin (New York State Assembly - Queens) and Andrew Lanza (New York State Senate - Staten Island)--have been contacted and will receive the petition.

Tim Monti-Wohlpart plans to be present at Sean Casey Animal Rescue on Saturday (April 23rd) and Sunday (April 24th), starting at 11:00 a.m. Tim would like the public to know that when a human being is adopted in New York, they often receive less information about themselves than owners receive about their own adopted pets.

You are invited to stop by to discuss adoptee rights and meet with Tim. The rescue is at 153 E. 3rd Street, Brooklyn, NY 11218, between Caton Avenue and Fort Hamilton Parkway. Tim thanks Sean Casey Animal Rescue for the opportunity to be present there.