Tuesday, August 14, 2012

The Summer of 2012

Nancy Bennett, adoptee
(aka baby girl Gann)
Co-founder, ATC of Mid Missouri
My birth mother, Imogene Marcelle Gann
 The summer of 2012 has been a joy and a trial with the new law (SB351) that passed July of 2011. It provided an avenue for identifying information for adoptees whose parents are deceased and lineal descendants of adoptees whose birth parents are deceased.  Part of the law also changed so that adopted adults do not have to obtain their adoptive parents consent to seek identifying information about their birth parents.   Jean, a member of our group, 83 who has moved back to Iowa, has learned the names of her deceased birth parents, she has talked to the daughters of her half sister who is deceased and just a few weeks ago received a picture of her birth mother.  She never thought she would ever see a picture of her mother but when she saw it for the first time, she said "it was like looking in the mirror!"  Patti, from St. Louis, an active member in our group who has worked tirelessly on legislative changes and a lineal descendant of an adoptee, has been embraced by her mother's biological family and now has a picture of her biological grandmother...the resemblances are striking.  Raymond, 88 has been working with a search angel in our Mid Missouri group and he just received confirmation about the identity of his birth mother and now is trying to learn about others in his family.  Other members in our group are waiting for the courts to answer their petitions to find out if their birth parents are deceased so they can learn their identities or receive consent from birth parents to release their identifying information to the adult children they relinquished.  Struggles and frustrations still abound.  Some of our county courts in Missouri are very slow in releasing information, and each county is not releasing the same information to the adoptee.  If you are an adopted adult, born in Missouri and would like to request consent to identifying information or to confirm your birth parents are deceased and you are having difficulty with the county that handled your adoption, please contact our group or Senator Lamping's office at the Capitol in Jefferson City and speak to his Chief of Staff, Jennae Neustadt for assistance if you have been waiting more than 3 months for your information.