Pound Pup Legacy

The debate continues about the rights of the adopted child:  do we have the right to know who parented us, and discover what medical problems we are likely to face, thanks to their sexual union?   

A recent article from the Philadelphia Inquirer addresses the darker-truths behind record sealing.

Foley testified on his wife's behalf against opening up records before a Senate committee in January, telling lawmakers how she gave up her daughter for adoption after being raped as a teenager.

"I was free from him, free from what was growing on me," she says of the act of giving up the infant.

About 11 years ago, the daughter initiated contact with Foley's wife, they said. Foley's wife says she made it clear she wanted no part of the woman's life. But after that, they said, the woman contacted various members of Foley's family, revealing a secret Foley's wife feared could destroy her family. The woman has continued to contact the family periodically since, Foley said.

"It's like enduring what I endured back then and it's just horrible," she said.

Nationwide, the number of states opening up access to records for adoptees is small, but growing. In New Jersey, a bill to open records sponsored by Sens. Joseph Vitale (D., Middlesex) and Diane Allen (R., Burlington), has cleared the Senate and is moving to the Assembly.

Until now, those on Foley's side of the debate - which includes an unusual combination of advocates, including the New Jersey Catholic Conference and the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union - have succeeded in keeping the records sealed. Some argue the confidentiality promised to mothers giving up children for adoption should be protected, regardless of what the law says on the issue. Others believe adoption rates could drop and abortion rates rise as a result.

Various bills to open birth records to adoptees have passed either the Senate or the Assembly over the years, but never both.  http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/nj/20080307_N_J__considers_unsealing_adoption_records.html

So... has this become a "right-to-life" issue that ignores the quality of life given to the child resulting from a criminal activity?   Could this suggest criminal behavior breeds in the blood, and the ultimate victim, the child, will not know until it's too late?

The pattern of ignoring a problem because it will go away simply delays the inevitable consequences that will have to be paid by someone.  Wouldn't it be interesting to learn how many adoptees WERE the product or rape and church regulation?  Sadly, this eventually becomes the tax-payer's problem because rage and defiance define our prison populations. 

I wonder how long it will take for the legal and medical communities to realize the moral perceptions of many are corrupting and destroying families and society.   Church, State and agencies.... these are the forces against the adult adoptee.