Right of Information for Adoptees start with Medical Files ?

Adam Pertman

Executive Director, Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute

A Healthy Reminder: Adopted People Are Americans Too

Read More: Adoption , Adoption Anonymity , Adoption Health , Adoption Privacy , Adoption Records , International Adoption , Health News

News flash: Michelle Obama didn't invent the crusade to improve Americans' well-being. Her focus (as we all know) is childhood obesity but, for the last several years, the office of the U.S. Surgeon General has been waging an even farther-reaching, get-everyone-healthy campaign that centers on this website.

Essentially, citing the obvious fact that many diseases are inherited, the top health official in our country is encouraging all American families to keep abreast of their medical histories, not only in the past but in an ongoing way. And, to make this important task easier to accomplish, the surgeon general's site includes software that everyone can download at no cost to help track medical information about our parents, grandparents and other relatives.

For tens of millions of people, however, this well-intentioned initiative is nothing more than a mirage, an enticing glimpse of water in the desert that they know they cannot reach. Because all of the Americans whom this campaign targets do not in fact include the vast majority of those who were adopted, rather than born, into their families.

Adoption in the United States has made enormous strides in the last few decades, moving out of the shadows and becoming an increasingly conventional, normal way of forming a family; that's especially good news for children who need permanent, loving homes.

But progress has been uneven. One way in which adoption has not yet entered the 21st Century is the anachronistic reality that most states still prohibit adoptees, even after they reach adulthood, from obtaining their birth certificates or other documents that would enable them to follow the Surgeon General's sage advice.

Proponents of keeping these records sealed assert that it's a necessary measure to maintain the anonymity that was guaranteed to birth mothers at the time their children were placed for adoption. That argument, unfortunately, is based on cultural myths and faulty stereotypes.

In fact, nearly every shred of research and experience over the last few decades shows that none of these women were given legal assurance of anonymity; at least 90 percent of them want some level of contact with or knowledge about the lives they created, regardless of what they might or might not have been told verbally; and adopted people are not stalkers or ingrates, but simply human beings who want the most basic information about themselves.

The good news is that we have learned an enormous amount about adoption and its participants as the institution has steadily moved into the mainstream, and many positive changes are occurring as a result. Among them are that parents adopting domestically, and an increasing number who adopt from abroad, routinely receive medical information about their sons and daughters at the outset and -- because relationships with birth families are becoming increasingly commonplace -- on an ongoing basis as their children grow up. Indeed, providing such information is now a widely accepted "best practice" for adoption practitioners.

Some states have changed their laws to permit adopted people, once they become adults, to gain access to their records. And there has been no hint, anywhere, that the recipients of those records are violating their birth mothers' privacy or otherwise disrupting their lives.

States from coast to coast -- from New York and New Jersey to Indiana and Hawaii -- today, right now, are considering legislation that would enable adult adoptees to comply with the Surgeon General's potentially life-saving advice. And next Thursday, March 10, the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute is holding a unique event on this subject at the Hard Rock Café in Manhattan; for more information, go to www.adoptioninstitute.org.

With all that activity on the ground, it's a propitious time for U.S. health officials at the top, starting with the Surgeon General, to use their influence to break down the legal barriers across our country that for far too long have relegated adoptees to a special, less-privileged class of citizenship.

There's good reason for them to do it. After all, their medical advice is supposed to apply to all Americans.

Childabuse within Adoptive Families goes across boarders

Uproar over adopted boy's punishment

Video aired on 'Dr. Phil' in November

Updated: Friday, 04 Feb 2011, 7:17 AM EST
Published : Friday, 04 Feb 2011, 7:16 AM EST

• RACHEL D'ORO,Associated Press

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Russian officials are closely watching a case involving an Anchorage mother of six who was charged with child abuse after a video that aired on "Dr. Phil" showed her punishing her adopted Russian son by squirting hot sauce into his mouth and forcing him into a cold shower.

The case has sparked a public uproar in Russia at a time that nation is nearing completion of a bilateral treaty with the U.S. on adoptions. Russia called for the agreement following the deaths of Russian children who were abused or neglected by their adoptive American parents in recent years.

Russian officials say they have not ruled out pushing for the return of the 7-year-old boy to his native country should his adoptive mother, Jessica Beagley, be found guilty.

"This video caused a huge wave of outrage in Russia," said Andrey Bondarev of the Russian Consulate in Seattle. "We're going to pay attention because this behavior is absolutely unacceptable."

Beagley's attorney, meanwhile, maintains she is a caring mother who submitted the video to the show because she genuinely wanted help.

The boy and his fraternal twin brother remain in the home with Beagley, her husband and their four biological children. Bondarev, who twice visited the family, said he saw no reason to have the boys removed at this point, and neither did authorities. He said Beagley vowed to never exert that kind of discipline again.

Authorities began investigating Beagley, 36, after the video aired in November in a segment on the CBS show called "Mommy Confessions." The city charged Beagley with one misdemeanor count of child abuse last month.

She has pleaded not guilty.

The video, shot by Beagley's 10-year-old daughter, included sounds of the boy screaming behind the shower curtain and Beagley yelling about the consequences of misbehavior. It brought many in the show's audience to tears.

On the air, host Phil McGraw called Beagley's actions abusive and over the top.

Beagley is married to an Anchorage police officer who was aware of the punishment, Bondarev said. The husband, Gary Beagley, also was investigated, according to municipal prosecutor Cynthia Franklin. She declined to elaborate, saying only that he has not been charged.

On the show, Jessica Beagley said the boy acts up and lies. She said other disciplinary actions such as time-outs, spankings and soap in the mouth have had no effect on his misbehavior.

"I would definitely say that (the boy) is the biggest stress in my life," she said.

Bill Ingaldson, Beagley's attorney, declined to make his client available for an interview. He said she was on the show to seek help about the boy, who was adopted with his brother when they were 5 years old. She saw a "Dr. Phil" episode inviting frustrated parents to the show, according to her lawyer, so she wrote to producers but didn't hear back until 18 months later.

She originally sent a video showing her talking to her children about cold showers as a consequence of misbehavior, but producers wanted to see the actual discipline, Ingaldson said.

The subsequent video was made after legitimate misbehavior, and Beagley's sole motivation was to find solutions, he said.

"She's being portrayed as this evil person, which isn't at all the case," he said. "She's a really caring mom."

Show spokeswoman Stacey Luchs said producers routinely accept home videos or ask participants to tape "naturally occurring behaviors and interactions, in order to gain insight" when dealing with family dynamics.

"We were shocked by what we saw, and called for the immediate halting of this behavior and also referred, at the show's expense, both mother and child for evaluation and treatment with appropriate professionals," she told The Associated Press in an e-mail.

Yevgeniy Khorishko, a spokesman for the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C., said his office is following the case, which has prompted many reactions in his country.

Russia and U.S. officials are concluding work on a new, binding agreement to cover adoptions between the two countries. Russia demanded such an agreement after a Tennessee adoptive mother put her 7-year-old boy on a plane back to Moscow last year, unaccompanied by an adult.

There also have been instances of severe mistreatment by American parents, Khorishko said.

"There were several cases in recent years with adopted Russian children, including the deaths, beatings and cruel attitude of the parents toward these children," he said. "We actually questioned many times our American counterparts on these issues, and we both understood that we actually need an agreement."

An estimated 17 adopted Russian children have died in instances of domestic violence in American families since 1992, according to Pavel Astakhov, Russia's government-appointed children's rights ombudsman. His office also is monitoring the Beagley case.

"Theoretically, we don't rule out that we could insist on the return of the boy to Russia. But at this point we're not going to," Astakhov said. He

suggested that could happen if the family is shown to be unfit to raise him, but he added it's too early to draw that conclusion.

___

Associated Press Writer Varya Kudryavtseva in Moscow contributed to this story.

ADOPTIVE MOM CHARGED WITH CHILD ABUSE

Video of Alaska Woman Allegedly Punishing Son by Force-Feeding Hot Sauce, Giving Cold Showers Prompts Viewers to Call Cops

(CBS) A mother in Alaska has sparked outrage for allegedly punishing her son with hot sauce and cold showers. Now, she's the one facing punishment: charges of child abuse.

CBS News Correspondent Betty Nguyen reported on "The Early Show" Thursday a disturbing home video started it all.

Jessica Beagley, a 36-year-old mother of six, is seen disciplining her adopted son by making him hold hot sauce in his mouth. The reason for the severe punishment? He'd lied.

In the video, Beagley can be heard saying, "What happens when you lie to me?" The boy answers, "I get hot sauce. You get hot sauce."

The mom asks, "What else happens when you lie to me?"

The boy answers, "I get a cold shower."

The 7-year-old, adopted from Russia, is then put into a cold shower and can be heard screaming.

The video created an emotional uproar and resulted in criminal charges.

Beagley sent the video, shot by her 10-year-old daughter, to the "Dr. Phil" show, seeking help in disciplining her child.

Read the rest of the article at CBS News

USA - HAITI - Failure to complete the adoption paperwork ?

US senators unveil plan to aid Haiti orphans

(AFP) – 15 hours ago

WASHINGTON — Three US senators on Wednesday unveiled a bill to clear away hurdles to citizenship for roughly 1,000 Haitian orphans whose adoptions by US parents were rushed because of a January earthquake.

US and Haitian authorities cleared the children to join their adoptive parents after the disaster. But without the complete paperwork necessary to finalize their adoptions, a roadblock has been raised to what would normally be automatic US citizenship upon entry into the United States.

"The unprecedented devastation has turned the adoption process upside down, where it could take years before these children could have any legal status," said Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

"In this moment of great uncertainty, we must clear the gridlock and ensure that these children have the legal protections that they deserve," she added.

Gillibrand was joined by fellow Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu and Republican Senator James Inhofe in unveiling the plan.

"This bill will alleviate the legal burden facing the adoptive parents of this group of orphans, and finally bring needed relief as these adoptive families begin their lives together," said Inhofe.

The children were allowed into the United States through humanitarian parole visas and formally deemed orphans by Haitian authorities, but failure to complete the adoption paperwork could result in a years-long wait before they can get legal resident status.

The legislation would enable US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to allow parents who are US nationals to apply immediately on their adopted children's behalf to become legal permanent residents and ultimately qualify for citizenship.