Articles Book I - Pg 66-180 (1977) - triadoption

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS j I
Somewhere Out There Is a Daughter of Mine 1
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by.'lo&alnc Dusky ... c;,: i ; i;,, :,-.',. . , . 111c righi io 11;at of her orlgina~ llrth
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i':%:~*,? ! . ,a: .. --:::$;:;,.::.' .; ,. ., mrtilicato. Why? SommnocLre decided ., j '-
en ycnqagoJ hnd,n,chlld ivl~om I ' .T.. . . . ..
yam ago it was,httcr tl~at.wny~,~a~ :; .':
1,. ,JJSVCI uppr;~dop~~on3T)~+. N,ow . cvcryone went on and madc.a nqzvc"fo,:'F[!
i+c3?~6ced lor tl~fpcoplc who know for tl~cmsclvcs, 01at tha past,,--..on{! ,:.;.: '
,be b{itlol;'t r$ly,know8mc to wbnrlcr : rwts, on& l~crltnge 7 could simply ba :,:
whyk$"glc
.< - and'sc&iingly bnrkti - wipcd ofl thc date. and'.lorgott+.,l~ ;. ,,:P
woman: k intcrcct$~ln the toplc of wooldn't matter, tl~c locllng wcnt. 1.c. : -2
tidopiion. I pm bccm~sc.~mcwhcre'out . It seems that k not working m ,u.cll. 1. , :
by the thousands go. . f
there 1s.n dnughtcr.of mine. And so ndopt~ . . I'm not lwking for her per re: I llvc looking lor thcir natural parents. No one . ,::.
on the assumption that for now d~c k knows with any ccrtalntyhow many of ;.
better oil, without mc. I a h musf the npproxirnntely five.milllon udoptw.'
bclicvc - cvcn rccitc it likc a litany - arc out scnrcl~ing
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for lam that lwk Uke
theins. .~~ ~, tnxauw --- ~~ .In ~ cvcw ~ state ~ ~
cxccpt Alabama, scr lnr.as one
can tell, the rrwrds arc scaled
by law. Forever. Since the
wording of the laws und their
intcrpretution by the numerous
state and social agcncics
involvcd vary so widcly -
sornctin~cs from county to
county - information that
lnay Ire uvuilablc in one place
will be unobtninnblc ucroa the
slrcy!t.
The rccurds arc sornelinlcs
ol~ened by a court order when n
~r~cdical l~istory ir considered
nuccssary. On occnsion, xvcrc
psycl~ological darnage is
~IIIII, but somcllrncs even
t11cr1 the judge says no. M'ilho~tt
n court ordcr. the scurcl~ for
one's r~ut~trnl parcnts Is oftcn
Iirr~g, t~suulty tortuo~rs, und freq~~cntly
etched with a network
ol l~~ttniliuting ]la, half.truths,
innuendo and on occasion.
clownright pleading. Thc
thut she is happy and in a good 11c1mc
scsrclt tmunon the netl~er side
of wlrnl is Icgul. strictly spcaking.
ultl~ougl~ no onc has actually bc~n
with parcrrts who love bcr and tukc cure ~I~JSLTIII~~ for. scarcl~lng or llnding:
ol her.
But I do lock lor her. I look lor ltcr in
.the llttlc girl on the elcvutor in llloon~.
IIII~~~SS yo11 count t11at case 111 Culiforniu
u lc\v ycirrs lruck.
A motl~cr trnknowingly murri~d her
ingdalc's, on the bct~cl~ nt Puradise son; when their rclationsl~ip wu dls.
Island, In the daughter of the p~v~plc co\tercd, they were charg~d wwlll~ hth
who moved in down thc 11all. I know incest und bigamy. The woman wns not
that none ol thew? approxlmutely Len.
year-olds Is my daughter - but if that's
ofliclully rltvorccd from a l~usbur~d who
11ad dcscrted her romc ycurr earlier.
not rho, whcre Is she?
The inwt charges were uventt~nlly
I don't think of hcr every day. So as a dropjrcd, but the couple did serve time
nut~~ral rnother, or birth rpoll~cr, or
biological mother (110 onc'r yet found a
narnc cvcryone L con~lortnble wltl~), I
lor bigumy. Out ol jail, thcy arc
scpurutcd now, no onc knows wl~erc.
Ccrtalnly. !Ills melodrntr~a Is ittypical,
have b~vomc involvrd in the udoptucr' but It illustrnles the kind of travail that
rights nluvemunt to open their seuled the scvrccy involvcd in rnost Aa~crican
records und find out who they arc. Wc sdoptlons krstcrr. No reports of havoc
arc not talking a11o11t cl~ildrm. Wk are trlcklc a11t ol l.'lnland. Scotland, lsrucl
tulkin~ nlm~~t adults. Tl~c adopted child and Nnvu Sccrtin, whew tl~c rrcords are
rrtrcn.
Ncw Wornan