HAPPY HALLOWEEN

AND YOU THOUGHT SARAH PALIN WAS BAD! MEET NCFA'S FRIEND MICHELLE BACHMANN

Max Blumenthal wrote a great piece in Tuesday's Daily Beast (now repost all over the net) about Minnesota Cong. Michelle Bachman How a Minnesota congresswoman became a poster child for the GOP crack-up.

Who?

That's just what I said when the National Council for Adoption announced that Bachman would be a keynote lunch speaker at its annual conference in Washington last month. (Go here and click on link to "conference" in the right sidebar. This is a pdf link with no dedicated URL).

I quickly looked her up. Outside of having impeccable credentials as a fundamentalist GOP nut job, I learned that she'd sponsored the Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act, to repeal the nationwide phase-out of conventional lightbulbs by 2012.

I was impressed.

I honestly don't remember much of what Bachmann said at the NCFA lunch. Her subject was mostly foster care, which she is apparently qualified to speak on since she was a foster parent of 23 (mostly teenage) girls, as well as popping out a few kids of her own. According to her Wiki profile she believes that the troubles that her foster charges had were the fault of the public schools:

I began to realize as I studied aspects of their assignments that these attitudes and behaviors could be traced to their curriculum.
I guess abuse, neglect, family break-ups, home-hopping, and dysfunctional foster mothers don't count.

OK, I lied. I do remember one thing about Bachman's lunch talk: frequent references to her biological children as "biologicals" and the disturbing images that danced in my head when she spoke several times of "launching her biologicals" (into adult lives, more or less).

I filed Michelle Bachman away as just another whack job on the taxpayer dole. In my other work I meet a lot of those people.

But then Blumenthal's blog hit!

Though the piece has nothing to do with adoption, it's important to know that this is the type of adoption and foster care advocate that somebody at NuNCFA likes and thinks is OK to let in the door. Maybe they're channeling Dr. Pierce.

Here's a few snippets:

Rep. Michele Bachmann, a Republican from Minnesota, is now notorious for an incident on the October 17 edition of Hardball. Bachmann told Chris Matthews she was “concerned” that Obama “may have anti-American views,” and linked him to a Who’s Who of leftist agitators, from William Ayers to Saul Alinsky to Ward Churchill. “I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America?” Bachmann said...

...In 2005, while serving in the Minnesota state senate, Bachmann crept surreptitiously to the perimeter of a protest against a bill banning same-sex marriage. She ducked behind a bush, and for several minutes, Bachmann and a staffer observed the rally like spies. When a demonstrator approached the half-hidden Bachmann with a camera in hand, she scurried away, jumped in an SUV, and bolted from the scene...

.... During a St. Cloud Times podcast in early 2007, Bachmann claimed exclusive knowledge of a secret Iranian plan to partition half of Iraq. After meeting Gov. Sarah Palin last summer in Alaska, Bachmann declared that “warmth” from a pipeline running through Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would make the area a “meeting ground and ‘coffee klatch’ for the caribou.” Just months later, during a House hearing on the mortgage foreclosure crisis engulfing her district, Bachmann read aloud from an editorial blaming “blacks and other minorities” for causing the epidemic...
And, then there was the time angry lesbians attacked her in the bathroom!

Dump Michelle Bachmann, the definitive dishy Michelle Bachman cite, writes that the Congresswoman is so far out there that she may be tanking the campaign of incumbent Senator and NCFA Adoption Hall of Famer Norm Coleman who's in a tight race against Democratic challenger Al Franken.

On Sunday, on the same local morning TV news show during which Bachmann reiterated her comments about Barack Obama, Coleman tried to distance himself from them.

Coleman rejected Bachmann's view on Obama's anti-Americanism and said, "I would not label his views as anti-American."

But distancing himself from her isn't so easy after he's been appearing by her side at McCain/Palin events throughout the state.

OHIO ELECTION-TIME ADOPTION BLATHER

Adoption blather is a vital part of a candidate's bonifides to office. Here in Ohio we've been subjected to two especially pernicious ads.

Here's one that raises PAP entitlement and US neo-imperialism to new heights of arrogance. It features a local PAP couple who whined long distance to Cong. Pat Tiberi's office when...oh, dear... an Uzbek court "opposed" their adoption plan. Within 24 hours of Pat's call to the FSU hinterlands, "their child" was safely home in the US. So much for Uzbek sovereignty and the country's right to their own children. What size are those jackboots, Pat?





And here is Ohio Supreme Court Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton running for re-election on an "adoption reform" platform. Don't get too excited. Her idea of adoption reform is to make it easier for parental rights to be terminated.



I know who I WON'T vote for.


Thanks to my homie Dawn Friedman for reminding me of Tiberi's ad

ON NO! ANOTHER ONE! NEBRASKA FIASCO AD NAUSEAUM

According to the AP, a father dropped off his 15-year old daughter at Omaha's Immanuel Medical Center tonight. No details until tomorrow. I guess poor Todd Landry, spokesperson for HHS wants to get a full night's sleep. I'll keep you updated.

The race is on now.

Anybody want to start a parlay sheet?

Earlier tonight my local Fox News affiliate ran a story on the Fiasco. Sen. Arnie Struthman, father of this monster, was on saying..get this...we never dreamed this would happen!

bwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

NEBRASKA SAFE HAVEN: HERDING CATS

Herding cats! That's what the Nebraska Big Kid Dump has turned in to.

Just a few minutes ago, Nebraska HHS announced that a 15-year old girl was dumped off at Creighton University MC. There are no details yet, and news reports don't say any more than the state-issued press release here.

I intended to blog today about the Georgia case. There's some pretty amazing reporting on it in the Atlanta media. Hopefully, that will go up later today.

And honestly, I'd like to write about other things, but this it's important to get this stuff out. Everything we said would happen has come home to roost.

GEORGIA ON MY MIND MORNING UPDATE

There's a little more information today on Nebraska's latest Big Kid dump.

This morning's Atlanta Journal-Constitution identifies the "desperate mother" as Tysheema Brown, 33, of Smyrna.

No details, though, on how she managed to drive an allegedly uncontrollable kid 1000 miles all by herself. Did she handcuff him? Lock him in the trunk? OD him on Dramamine? Did he arrive in a straight jacket?

According to Lincoln Police Chief Thomas Casady, who has been less than happy with the Nebraska Fiasco, the county attorney’s office will file a petition in juvenile court and a judge will decide whether to keep the boy under state protection or reunite him with his family.

No word if DHHS intends to contact Georgia authorities. It's a sure bet, though, that Georgia officials will get involved as have Iowa and Michigan agencies in those out-of-state cases.

Finally, you'll really enjoy this: a quote from Tim Jaccard, founder of New York's AMT-Children of Hope Foundation and now the president of the National Safe Haven Alliance (I guess Tom Atwood bailed):

When children are older they have the ability to understand what’s going on, and they’re thinking, "Mommy and Daddy don’t want me anymore, so they’re throwing me in a hospital." That’s a psychological blow.

Unlike the squeaky cute clean slates who get thrown in a hospital and are just plain glowy-eyed that they weren't thrown in the dumpster

Does Jaccard really believe that babies and big kids don't share the "psychological blow" of being dumped? That it's only big kids who are traumatized by abandonment?

Baby dump laws and sealed records are part and parcelof the adoption industry: adoption anonymity and the sealed records system. The laws were only legislated when adoptees took back their right to identity and birth records. And it's backfired.

Big kids with names and histories, especially ones with diagnosed behavioral and mental disorders are about as marketable as Chinese baby milk.

Children are not chattel. No child, no matter what age, should be abandoned willy-nilly, especially with the permission and promotion of the state. Families, mothers and children are in "crisis" across this country and the only solution given is to dump the kid and walk away? Is that the bar we want set in the United States?

GEORGIA ON MY MIND: ANOTHER OUT-OF-STATE DUMP

Nebraska media reports this morning that a 12-year old boy was dropped off at Bryan LGH Medical Center East in Lincoln The boy's mother told police she was "unable to discipline him."

So what else is new?

Well, this kid is from Georgia!

According to Nebraska HHS spokesperson Todd Landry the mother, who so far has no known connection to Nebraska, drove the boy there from Atlanta. He has been placed in a residential shelter pending investigation.

No other details have been released yet.

In case you're wondering how much these dumps cost (remember, according to dump pushers, dumping your child is a free service of the state and won't cost anybody a dime), Omaha's WOW-TV reported earlier this month:

So what is the law costing taxpayers? In a crude analysis of a 2007 Annual Report from The Nebraska Foster Care Review Board, Channel Six found on average, Nebraska spends about $2,200 a month per child in foster care. When you add the 17 Safe Haven Children and multiply that number by $2,200 the amount per month to provide care for those children so far is costing nearly $39,000 per month. It's half the cost of a special session.

(NOTE: I haven't had time to look for this report to verify)

Since then, more parents have used the dump option--or attempted to. I have news reports indicating that at least 5 potential dumpees (I believe there are more) were channeled into other" programs," but that's for another day).

Addenda: The official statement from Todd Landry went online a little while ago.

ANNOUNCEMENT: HATE NOT WELCOME HERE

The Daily Bastardette has always supported free speech and spirited discussion. The Daily Bastardette does not support hate, personal attacks, and libelous accusations.

I have removed two comments posted within the last 24 hours by Improper Adoptee and am banning her posting here--ever.

These types of comments are unacceptable in civil discussion, even heated civil discussion. They are harmful to individuals, bastard integrity, and the adoptee rights movement. This is my blog. IA has her own blog. She can articulate her opinions and toss out her insults there.

As a precautionary measure, I also removed Kevan's last comment, only because he quoted IA's salacious remarks. Kevan is a friend and is always welcome here.

I apologize for letting this go as far as it has. And I especially apologize to long-time friends who have been attacked here in the last day.

Finally, several months ago I posted this warning at the top of the blog.

Bastardette promotes and supports free speech and spirited discussion. Obscenity and spurious personal attacks on other posters, however, will not be tolerated. Offending comments will be removed. Posters who continue to post inappropriate messages will be banned.

This is not meant to dissuade controversy or debate. But there is a line drawn, and that line has been crossed.

Now let's get back to real business.

Bastardette

PETA GLOMS OFF NEBRASKA FIASCO AND ABANDONED CHILDREN

Now, I'm really mad!

PETA, the great media whore of moral equivalency, is building an ad campaign around child abandonment and the Nebraska Fiasco.

From an October 20 PETA press release:

In the wake of news that a Michigan mother drove more than 700 miles to abandon her 13-year-old son in Omaha in order to take advantage of Nebraska's Safe Haven law, PETA has created a billboard stressing the importance of taking responsibility for all unwanted beings--dependent children and animals alike. The billboard features a child's eyes superimposed over an animal's face with the tagline "18 Kids, 25,000 Animals...

The decision to add an animal companion to the family should not be taken lightly, just as the decision to raise a child should be a lifetime commitment," says PETA Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. "Dogs and cats can live 16 years or longer, almost the same amount of time that responsible parents invest in raising a child. Children and animals deserve better than to be dumped on a doorstep when they become inconvenient.

Here is a preview of the billboard(s), PETA intends to put up in Omaha

Is there nothing PETA won't use to aggrandize itself?

Abandoned children are not
dogs

cats
gerbils
ducks
peeps
minks
bunnies
or
lab rats

no matter what PETA or the Nebraska Legislature says!


This message is approved by Jonathan and Abbie

We don't like PETA or Nebraska politicians either!

MORE ON EMELYANTSEV CASE: THE SKY IS THE LIMIT OPPORTUNITIES

From today's Tooele Transcript, here's an update on the recent conviction of Kimberly Emelyantsev for the murder of her adopted son Kolya Emelyantsev. I am adding new details of the case and some comments. Go to my other entries for a complete view.

Sentencing clarification: K. Emelyantsev has been sentenced to 1-15 years less 214 days served while awaiting trial. The previous account reported "up to 15 years." There is no estimate of how much time she is expected to serve. A couple months ago I felt Emelyantsev would pretty much walk away from this with probation, but I'm no longer convinced that she'll be out soon. I'd look for 3-5 years. I think she wants punishment and wants to be in jail.

Account of murder: K. Emelyantsev originally told police Kolya had fallen off a chair in the living room after she'd left to change the diaper of another child. During her plea hearing she told the court she dropped Kolya twice, once on a bag of diapers and once on a hard-surface floor. During her pre-sentence mental health evaluation she admitted she kicked Koyla twice, "sliding him across the floor." Later in the day, "when frustration with the needs of her other children boiled over, Emelyantsev picked up Nikolai and 'slammed him onto the hard-surface floor twice."

Parental rights: "[County Attorney Doug] Hogan said Emelyantsev and her husband Fyodor are both relinquishing their parental rights to their four remaining children — a 10-year-old Down syndrome daughter from Kimberly’s previous marriage, their two biological children, ages 5 and 2, and a 4-year-old Down syndrome son they adopted from Russia last Christmas. The children are currently being cared for by family members."

Call me suspicious,. I believe that Fyodor Emelyantsev is complicit in Kolya's death and he deserves to go to prison. Why is F. Emelyantsev voluntarily relinquishing parental rights to his surviving biological and adopted children? Were earlier child neglect charges against him involving the couple's adopted DS son Luka dropped in return for his cooperation in the prosecution of his wife? Is Russian national Emelyantsev returning to Novosibirsk?

The surviving children are currently with local relatives. Will they remain there or be placed elsewhere? If they remain with family members and F. Emelyantsev remains in Tooele, will he have access to them?

There has been no indication in the media (unfortunately, the only way to get information on this case) that the home study and placement agencies involved in the adoption of Koyla and Luka have been investigated. In fact, I've heard not critical word of them outside minor blogosphere rumblings. Mrs. Emelyantsev deserves to go prison. So does her husband. But Kolya would be probably be alive today if he had not been placed in an over-stressed, over-burdened home, perhaps even violent home, where, if what the defense claims is true, Fyodor refused to take part in the rearing of the DS children he insisted on adopting over his wife's objections.

Reece's Rainbow Downs Syndrome Orphan Ministry, which specializes in placing DS babies, photolisted Kolya. The organization was quite aware that two special needs, institutionalized children from Russia were being placed only two months apart with the Emelyantsevs. Reece's (and its cooperating agencies) knew that the couple also had a 10-year old DS daughter and two biological toddlers to contend with.

Here is what Reece's reported on the Emelyantsev's near the end of 2007:

The Emelyantsev family has just completed their adoption of our little Luka in Russia, so are attempting to do simultaneous international adoptions! We are thrilled that Luka's adoption is finally complete and that he was saved from life in a mental institution. Now we pray for Kolya to make it home quickly, too!

Dad has a Master's Degree in Genetics (perfect!) and works as a Registered Nurse. Mom is a paralegal in their church office. Their community and school have rallied around their daughter with DS, and they are excited to provide Kolya with the same kind of love, support, encouragement, and "the sky is the limit" opportunities that he so deserves.

As many of you know, Russian adoptions are some of the most costly. We ask your special consideration in sponsoring this family! Won't you please help this wonderful family bring Kolya home?*

The only "sky is the limit" Kolya got, if you believe in such things, is a trip to heaven courtesy of his forever family and the international adoption industry.

*document no longer online; hardcopy in my position

DESPERATE PARENTS DROP OFF G.W. BUSH AT NEBRASKA HOSPITAL: MORE POLITICIANS TO COME?

This just in!

Citing Nebraska's Safe Haven Law to take in unruly children, The Former President and First Lady, dropped off the current President, George W., hoping the action would finally give the nation some peace during the declining days of his Presidency...

"Signing those final abandonment papers was really hard," W's Mom said, "but we were at our wits end. His infantile, incorrigible behavior for the past 7 plus years almost broke his father's heart. Thank God for Nebraska!. It will really serve as "the last safe haven for the Country!"

continued here

OK. As opposed as I am to any "safe haven" law, I'll make an exception in this case. Mr. Bush's parents have obviously done the right thing for themselves and the country. Now if only Roberta McCain could come to the same conclusion. If it saves just one......

COLUMBUS LIFE CHAIN: THE MOST BORING ABORTION PROTEST OF THE YEAR

I'm working on more Nebraska material, but in the meantime, here's something I posted last week on my Theoconia blog regarding the Columbus Life Chain event last week. It's adoption related.
******

I just returned from the the 2008 edition of the Most Boring Abortion Protest in Columbus: Life Chain. (October 7).

Life Chain is a yearly October event held throughout the country. It's billed as "a peaceful, prayerful public witness of pro-life Americans standing for one hour praying for our nation and for an end to abortion." It attracts mostly middle class retirees and SAHM-types who wouldn't dream of showing up in front of CapCare or Founders or shutting down City Hall for a week.

In Columbus this means that "respectable" anti-aborts and their kids too young to object to being tricked out, come out to flank the Statehouse, carrying unobtrusive signs that remind the public "abortion hurts women" and "adoption is a loving option." Never mind that many natural mothers, forced to send their de-parented bastard babies to the adoption mill, would disagree with them.

Whatever. Life Chain locally is bereft of Meansies in Blue Beanies, aggressive Bible bangers, traipsing chanting prayer warriors, blown-up lurid baybee blender bits poster carriers, shofar blowers, and "truth trucks" (unless CBR -Midwest or other graphically oriented folks decide to glom off the event). This doesn't mean, however, that Life Chain, Minutemen United, and Operation Save America are 10,000 miles apart, even if their denizens refuse to admit it. Neil Horsley excluded. Sort of.

I wrote about Life Chain in 2006: Life Chain: The Kool-Aid Test. Instead of repeating what I wrote there, I suggest, you read my original entry so you'll see the similarities between Life Chain and the more outwardly militant--similarities hidden from all but the mosts curious local worker bees,.

It is difficult to tell how many Life Chainers attended since the demo was held during rush hour and bus stop loiterers were mixed in with the crowd. It looked, though, that 70-80 people showed up this year. There were plenty of babies and toddlers in strollers (aka "abortion survivors" since anyone born after Roe is considered to have survived abortion), but the old priest and cranky cross-wielding nun were missing. (see 2006 pictures. NOTE: Blogger is being flakey with the pictures in this entry, but they ARE there.) A younger priest, though was thronged by a group of women.

Does Columbus Life Chain accomplish anything besides making "respectable" demonstrators feel good about themselves and perhaps serving as a funnel though which a handful of folks will fall out the other end into the arms of their more radical fellow travelers? I have no idea.

I left early since I needed to go home and watch some paint dry. I caught the bus a couple blocks south of the Statehouse. When we got up to the Statehouse, the Life Chainers were posing--signs in hand-- for a group photo. Somebody on the bus asked to no one special, "what ARE they doing?" and then saw the signs. eeecchhhh....At least one person wasn't impressed.
















Go to the Life Chain website and punch in Ohio (under "National Listings") to see where other Life Chain events in Ohio (or in your state) are taking place this month.

NEBRASKA: ANOTHER OUT-OF-STATE DUMPSTER DIVE

This just in.

The Detroit News reports that early this morning a 13-year old boy from Michigan was abandoned at a Nebraska hospital. The boy and his parent flew to Omaha for the drop-off. No details have been released other than the boy has been placed in an emergency shelter.

In the meantime, Arnie Struthman the sponsor of the state's safe haven law says he opposes the call for a special session of the legislature to revisit the law. According to him, Boys Town and the Untied Way can address issues so parents don't have to abandon children.

Later today I will post on this entry an updated list of dumpees, attempted dumpees, and any updates on this breaking story.

KIMBERLY EMELYANTSEV SENTENCED: HUSBAND PRESSURED HER TO ADOPT

Yesterday, Kimberly Emelyantsev, 34, was sentenced to up to 15 years in prison for the March 2008 beating death of her adopted son Kolya. In August she was convicted of second degree child abuse homicide. At the request of the prosecutor, Emelyantsev was ordered to undergo a pre-sentencing psychiatric evaluation. Kolya was a "special needs" adoptee, with Down Syndrome and had lived with Emelyantsev and her husband Fyodor, a Russian national, for less than a month. The couple was also rearing K. Emelyantsev's 10-year old DS daughter and two biological daughters without disabilities. Two months before Kolya's placement they adopted a DS Russian baby, Luka.

That such a situation might prove "stressful" to the Emelyantsevs, especially stay-at-home Kimberly, was apparently overlooked or dismissed by their adoption agency About A Child, Reece's Rainbow who listed him, and the home study hack, probably out of LDS Social Services, who passed the couple for adoption. (The Es are LDS). After all, Fyodor had a MA in genetics, was trained in handling disabled children, and worked as an RN. The couple took out a second mortgage to pay for Kolya. Who could say no to that package?

In August, the prosector promised that more details of the case, which has received little attention outside of Utah, would be revealed at sentencing. So far we have only a short article in the Salt Lake City Tribune to fill in some of the blanks:

[Defense attorney] Williams said Emelyantsev blamed the death of the boy on a stressful home environment and the "pressures of a husband [32-year-old Fyodor Emelyantsev] who would not participate in an extraordinary familial situation."

Williams added that Kimberly Emelyantsev never wanted to adopt this child from Russia, but was afraid to say no to her husband and afraid of how it would look to others if she did not go through with the adoption

and details of the beating:

Emelyantsev initially claimed that out of frustration she deliberately dropped the baby twice to the floor on March 6. But during a recent diagnostic evaluation at the Utah State Prison, Emelyantsev admitted grabbing the child by an arm and a leg, slamming him to the floor, and then repeating the action.

Kimberly Emelyantsev did the deed and is worthy of the greatest punishment available to the state, But what kind of a man coerces his wife to adopt special needs children who he then refuses to help her care for? Nobody knows what went on behind closed doors in that house but the family. Perhaps if court documents and investigation reports are forthcoming that information will give us some idea. But, Fyodor Emelyantsev is complicit in Kolya's death.

Unfortunately, Feodor Emelyantsev is off the hook. Though never charged in Koyla's death, he and Kimberly had also been charged with child neglect for allegedly starving Luka, charges never fully substantiated and later dropped. At the time of Kolya's beating, Fyodor claimed to be on his computer in a back bedroom and was unaware of any problem until his wife brought the baby, who police described as "unresponsive and breathing very slowly" to him. Now, I have a 10 room house, and I'm pretty sure, short of a motorcycle race running down my street, I'd hear a baby being thumped on my floor.

The SLT did not report the current whereabouts of Fyodor Emelyantsev or the other children who were last reported living with nearby relatives. Kimberly Emelyantsev has agreed to voluntarily terminate parental rights to her surviving children.

Most of the questions I brought up after Emelyantsev's conviction have not been answered and are still relevant. Since this is Utah, they probably never will be answered.

• What role (if any) did F. Emelyantsev play in the prosecution and plea bargain of his wife?

• Why did About a Child allow the placement of Koyla with the Emelyantsevs so soon after they had taken custody of another institutionalized non-related Russian DS child ?

• Did Adoption Ark who placed Luka, know that the Emelyantsevs planned to adopt a second institutionalized DS child from Russia immediately after Luka's placement? (Reece's Rainbow did.)
  

• Has any agency been investigated by their individual state's social services of attorney general?

and a couple more:

• Was Kimberly Emelyantsev and/or the other children the object of domestic violence?

• What is the current status of the surviving Emelantsiv children?

I have updated Forever Family--Forever Dead with this new information.

RADIO BASTARDETTE: "SPEAKING OF ADOPTION," OCTOBER 14, 2008

E Case and I will appear on Speaking of Adoption on Tuesday October 14. Here's the official announcement:

On "Speaking of Adoption"
Listen on the internet at www.onworldwide.com

October 14th: Marley Greiner of Bastard Nation,
and
activist Elizabeth Case.

The topic:
Why Are So Many Russian adoptees dying?

To listen live: Go to www.onworldwide.com and click on

ON AT WORK.
To listen to the archived programs: go to www.onworldwide.com and click on
ON DEMAND, then on the show name.

INSANITY CONTINUES: IOWA TEEN DUMPED AT NEBRASKA HOSPITAL

Just when we thought it can't get any worse, it does! This just in from the Associated Press: 14-year old Iowa girl abandoned under Nebraska law."

Yes, folks, that's right. Now, they're hauling their unwanted kids in from out-of-state. According to the wire, the unfortunate girl is from Council Bluffs,Iowa, just across the state line from Omaha. She was abandoned--oh, excuse me--"safe havened"--at Creighton University Medical Center (where the 9 Statons were dumped last month) by her mother. No details have been released yet, but Nebraska DFS spokesperson Todd Landry says Nebraska law may not apply, since the girl and her mother are from out-of-state.

But why wouldn't it apply? There is nothing in the law that says no outsiders need apply.

Again, for late comers, here is the ENTIRE text of the law:

Section 1. No person shall be prosecuted for any crime based solely upon the act of leaving a child in the custody of an employee on duty at a hospital licensed by the State of Nebraska. The hospital shall promptly contact appropriate authorities to take custody of the child.

Parents are home free. No blame. No shame, No name. Oops! Scratch that last one! All of Nebraska's dumpess are preteens and teens. Can't have anonymity there!

As I wrote back on July 17, when the Nebraska law went into effect, in Nebraska Safe Haven Law: Tired of Your Kid? :

Actually on closer look, this isn't a "Baby Safe Haven" law at all. It's decriminalization of child abandonment dressed up in fashionable safe haven bombastia.

And that's what they they got. (I'll drop the pig and lipstick homily). Politicians and DFS can try to clean it up all they want. They can put out their press releases and hold their press conferences, and beg parents, "that's not what we really meant." But not only the horse, but the cows and the chickens and the pigs (with lipstick--ok, I lied!) are out of the barn.

State officials knew what they were doing. when they enacted HB 157. They admit it. (I'll write about that later). Now, they are shocked...shocked...that nearly 20 parents or "guardians" have taken them up on their offer to take their kids off their hands, no questions asked.

Todd Landry says DFS has sent a formal report on the Iowa dumpee to the Iowa child abuse hotline.

Hotline????? Can't DFS read their own law?

******

In my July 17, blog I also facetiously threatened to take my obnoxious teenage neighbor--the one who jumps on the hoods of cars at 3:00 AM (and I'm not making this up!)--on a road trip to Omaha. Since the governor and cronies seem reluctant to call a special session to repeal this crackpot bill I guess I still have time to ditch her. It's for her own good. And for the good of the neighbors. And it's better and cheaper than Ritalin.

I hate to be Trotskyte about this whole thing, but the longer this goes on, the easier it will be to discredit baby dump laws. THANK YOU NEBRASKA, for making our job that much easier. Implode, Baby, Implode!

MOTHER 'ATTEMPTS" TO DUMP TEEN DAUGHTER IN OMAHA

More Nebraska Fiasco:

KOLN/KGIN-TV reports that a 34 year woman attempted to dump her 15-year old daughter at Bryan LGH West yesterday morning, under the state's safe haven law. Hospital officials talked her out of it, and admitted the teenager to the hospital's child psychiatric service.

According to the mother, the girl was a runaway. The mother says she'd begun paperwork to make her daughter a ward of the state, "but it took too long."

Let's hope this woman never has to fill out an insurance claim or buy a house!

How much worse does this have to get before the legislature, stops husking corn, and repeals this travesty? No, the law doesn't need tweaked or tightened-up or any other quaint-worded fix politicians want to throw about. The mass dumping of Nebraska's children is the perfect consequence of what we have been saying would happen for the last nine years.

Who's Next: Spouses? Grandparents?

How many families need to be destroyed before people wake up to the atrocity of "safe havens"?

I'll be writing much more about this, but I'm heading for downtown in a few minutes and wanted to get this breaking news up.

REPEAL BABY DUMP LAWS NOW!

START IN NEBRASKA AND SPREAD OUT!

TAKE BACK YOUR STATE NOW!

NEBRASKA FIASCO CONTINUES: 2 MORE DUMPED AT HOSPITAL

Nebraska media reports that two 12-year old boys were dropped off at hospitals in Lincoln and Omaha over the weekend.

Police in Lincoln say a 51-year old woman dumped off her grandson at Brian LGH West Sunday evening, saying she "could no longer take care of him." She regained custody of the boy last month.

Lincoln police chief Tom Casady, appears to be one of the few sane "official" voices in the face of the state-sanctioned and encouraged child abandonment epidemic:

It provides an opportunity to drop the child off without any kind of negative consequence and I think there are plenty of people who will take advantage of that I'm rather surprised that the Legislatures [sic] didn't see this coming because I can assure you that everyone at the police department saw it coming.

Casady believes more kids are on the way.

Another 12-year old boy was left at the lead dump site, Immanuel Medical Center in Omaha, but no details have been released.

Here's the revised dumpee roster:

September 1: Male 14--left by mother at Omaha police station. Currently in foster care.

September 13: Male 11--left by grandmother--another report says mother--at Immanuel Medical Center, Omaha; currently in foster care and partial hospitalization.

September 13: Male 15--left by guardian aunt at Bryant Medical Center West, Lincoln.

September 20: Pregnant female 13 left by mother at Immanuel Medical Center, Omaha. Returned to mother--see below.

September 22: Male 18, turned himself in to hospital in Grand Island; too old for foster care, but can receive services.

September 24: 9 siblings, 1-17 (left by father, Gary Staton, at Creighton University Medical Center ER).

• female, 1
• male, 6
• male, 7
• female, 9
• male, 11
• female 13
• female 14,
• male, 15
• male 17
  
  An 18-year old sister who does not live at home was not abandoned. All these children are now in foster care and several relatives have requested custody Background checks are underway here and here. Go here and here for video of home and neighbors.
  

September 24: Male 11--left at Immanuel Medical Center, Omaha.

September 24, Male 15--left by guardian uncle at Immanuel Medical Center, Omaha; uncle plans to relinquish guardianship.

October 5: Male 12--left by guardian grandmother at Brian LGH West, Lincoln

October 5: Male 12--left at Immanuel Medical Center, Omaha

According to KCAU-TV, Sioux City:

While they cannot be charged for abandoning a child, parents and guardians using Nebraska's "safe haven" law can be charged for other offenses. Courts are also likely to require parents and guardians to participate in parenting classes, family therapy, conflict resolution or other services in an effort to reunite youth with their families. Child support payments may be ordered while children are in state custody.

ha!

The Staton situation has taken twists and turns and I'll be writing on that separately later.

Please be sure to read the blog directly below for NCFA president Tom Atwood's take on the Nebraska Fiasco. While stand-alone, they now link to increasingly bizarre activities in that state.

NEBRASKA FIASCO: BASTARDETTE GETS A SHORT INTERVIEW WITH NCFA'S TOM ATWOOD ON NEBRASKA TEEN DUMPS AND 'SAFE HAVEN" LAW

Recently I attended the annual National Council for Adoption conference in Washington--my third in four years. On Saturday (Sept 27) I caught NCFA president Tom Atwood, between the last panel and lunch. I was able to do a short interview with him about the Nebraska Fiasco--Nebraska's teen dump epidemic. Atwood was unaware of Gary Staton's "legal abandonment" of his 9 kids at Creighton Medical Center ER, which took place during the conference, until I told him. We only had a couple minutes to talk and were cut short by lunch call. Obviously there is much more to discuss.

There is time yet to bring NCFA to the Dark Side!

The most interesting part to me is that Atwood's criticism of the Nebraska law and its consequences are very similar to my and Bastard Nation's arguments against baby dumping all together--only he excludes newborns from the equation where we oppose it for all, no mater what the age.

With Atwood's consent, I tapped my interview with him. The transcription is below. I have edited nothing except an interruption.

INTERVIEW:

BASTARDETTE: I’m here at NCFA [conference] talking to Tom Atwood about the Nebraska Fiasco. For a little background: Wednesday, a father safe havened 9 of his children at the Creighton University Medical Center Emergency Room under the safe haven law. So far there have been 14 children, almost all of them over the age of 10, who have been safe havened in the same method. So, Tom, would you like to make a statement on that?

TOM: Well, first of all, this Nebraska law, when you come right down to it, is very different from other safe haven laws. What safe haven laws do is that they create a certain time period during which these desperate panicked birthmothers can relinquish their child safely and anonymously. In those rare emergency cases where the woman has been keeping her pregnancy a secret and she doesn’t know what to do with the child and is in danger of harming the child. Nebraska is the only state that has not put a time limit during which this can happen. It has essentially created a …(interruption)…

This has created a new means for relinquishing—voluntarily relinquishing-- a child to a public system. It is… it’s not necessary… it’s not…it essentially not a safe haven law and hospitals—it’s hospitals right?

BASTARDETTE: Right. One was a police station which wasn’t legal.

TOM: Hospitals are not part of the child protective system. The usual way that the child gets into public care is through the child protective system, and it can be done voluntarily. More often it is done involuntarily. But this creates…it makes no…Parents who are struggling with parenting a child should not have the option of simply... no wait a second…again safe haven laws are for that short period immediately following birth when a woman is most susceptible to harming her child. It should not be used as a means for a… convenient means…it should not be used for a convenient means for people who are having difficulty parenting their older children to drop them off, to get them out of the house. That’s not what safe haven laws are about. Essentially, this is not a safe haven law. It doesn’t have any kind of restrictions.

BASTARDETTE: You’re basically using the same argument we use except you’re still applying it to newborns. You know we saw this moving up. You know Bill used too talk about scooting up the age and…

TOM: He liked that idea?

(NOTE: lunch call.)

BASTARDETTE: Thanks.

On September 19, Tom Atwood gave this interview to Nebraska Public Radio
In Nebraska: Families Legally Abandon Teens

Photo by Bastardette

ISAAC JONATHAN DYKSTRA: ANOTHER DEAD RUSSIAN ADOPTEE

On August 7, 2008 Brian Dale Dykstra, 31,was charged with 2nd degree murder in the 2005 death of his adopted Russian son Isaac Jonathan Dykstra, 21 months old. Dykstra surrendered to Johnson County, Iowa authorities on August 8 and was released on $15,000 bond. He submitted a written plea of Not Guilty on October 2 in Johnson County District Court. Dykstra currently lives in South Carolina where his wife, Dr. Lisa Dykstra, is an Assistant Professor of Spanish at Clemson University. She was not at home at the time of the alleged beating and has not been charged. I have been unable to find the employment status of Brian Dykstra (but he is not the actor/comedian/playright of the same name).

Isaac was born November 18, 2003 in Krasnoyarsk and adopted from an orphanage there.

An Iowa City Police Department press release says that on August 13, 2005 officers were sent to Dykstra's home after receiving an abandoned 911 call from that address. On callback, Dykstra told the dispatcher that Isaac was having a 'little seizure" and difficulty breathing from what "might be related to a head injury." Responding units from the Iowa City Police, Iowa City Fire Department, and Johnson County Ambulance Service found the baby on the living room floor unconscious, with labored breathing and obvious head injuries. Isaac was transported to the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics Emergency Treatment Center for what police describe as massive brain swelling, severe bleeding inside the skull, and retinal swelling in both eyes. He also had severe bruising on his torso and legs. Doctors said the injuries happened earlier in the day and were inconsistent with Brian Dykstra's explanations. Isaac underwent emergency brain surgery and never regained consciousness. He was declared brain dead on August 14.

Isaac reportedly lived with the Dykstras for three months. So far, I've been unable to learn details of the adoption. According to Luke Haverhals, a friend of the couple, writing in the Cedar Rapids Gazette Online (August 10, 2008), Isaac had recently been treated for club foot at University Hospitals. Haverhals claims that after the removal of the cast, just days before his death, Isaac:

...and was able, as a year and a half year old, to walk normally for the first time (to the delight of his adoring parent). Literally, a few days after getting his cast off, Issac fell down hard (mind you he had not learned to fall like other kids his age) and hit his head on the floor one night playing at home. He cried, got over it, and started playing again. Brian and Lisa being worried first time parents called the hospital (Mercy on Call) to see if they should bring him in, but Isaac had quit crying and was back playing like millions of other kids who fall down, cry about it, and then get over it.

Haverhals blames Dykstra's arrest on the "'opinion' of a well-intentioned, but misinformed and ignorant/incompetent doctor" and calls for the firing of "the unjust "fraudulent, pathetic, backhanded and outright incompetent investigators."

Another Dykstra friend, John Johnson, describing Dykstra as a "christian, really mellow person," complains in the same section, "it's pathetic how media paints a terrible picture of a great guy just to create a story."

The Dykstras supported Habitat for Humanity and were active members of the New Life Community Church (Reformed Church of America) in Coralville. According to Luke Haverhals, on August 13 Lisa had left for a church consistery retreat and Brian was doing dishes when he heard a thump in the living room and found the baby on the floor.

Lisa Dykstra received her doctorate in Second Language Acquisition with an emphasis in linguistics from the University of Iowa in Spring 2006. She dedicated her dissertation to Isaac.

******

The injuries to Isaac described by police are consistent with shaken baby syndrome, not a fall on the floor. Like several other dead Russian adoptees, he had lived with his Forever Family a short amount of time and was left home alone with one parent. Little explanation has been given as to why it took police three years to file charges. Luke Haverhals claims that authorities considered Dykstra a suspect from Day One, twisted testimony from friends, and taken statements out of context to "fit their preconceived notions of the case." Despite Haverhals claim, it appears that the police carefully constructed their case. 39 witnesses, including 6 police and 9 doctors are expected to testify for the state. This length in prosecution is not without precedent. Logan Higginbotham was killed in 1998, but her mother, Laura, wasn't prosecuted and convicted until 2004.


NOTE: Isaac has been added to the Forever Family--Forever Dead memorial page.

Thanks to E Case.

CALIFORNIA: THE TERMINATOR TERMINATES "SAFE HAVEN" BABY DUMP EXPANSION AGAIN

For the third year running California Governor Arnold Schwarznegger has vetoed a bill that would expand the age at which babies can be legally dumped under the state's "Safe Surrender" law. AB 2262 would have extended the age from from 3 to 7 days.

Here is the governor's veto message

BILL NUMBER: AB 2262
VETOED DATE: 09/30/2008

To the Members of the California General Assembly:

I am returning Assembly Bill 2262 without my signature.

I have vetoed similar measures twice before and there is no new data or information to support a change in my position. California's Safe Surrender Law is carefully crafted to provide an emergency alternative to a woman in crisis while also preserving the fundamental rights of the child.

For this reason, I am unable to support this bill.

Sincerely.

Arnold Schwarznegger

The bill was opposed by veteran "safe haven' leader and promoter LA County Supervisor Don Knabe. I haven't found a statement from him regarding the new veto, but in his May 2008 "monthly message" he wrote:

Unfortunately, for the third consecutive year, the success of Safe Surrender is again threatened. Right now in Sacramento, lawmakers in the California State Assembly are debating a Bill that would do far more harm than good to Safe Surrender. Assembly Bill 2262 (AB 2262) would change the time to anonymously surrender a newborn from 72 hours to one week.

It is the same Bill, authored by the same Legislator, which has been successfully defeated the last two times it was proposed. Key to those defeats was vetoes by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006 and again in 2007.

When he issued his original veto, the Governor expressed a concern that is still true about the current version of this Legislation: extending the Safe Surrender time period is a dangerous move. Research shows newborns are at the greatest homicide risk during the first day of life. The Emergency Pediatric Care Journal reported that 83 percent of all newborn deaths occur shortly after birth. There is absolutely no scientific evidence that extending the surrender window to one week will provide additional benefits to newborns.

An extension from 72 hours to one week could also lead to serious medical issues for these newborns. Access to quality medical care in the first hours of life is an absolutely critical component of the Safe Surrender Program and it will be placed in jeopardy if this new version of the same old Legislation passes. That is a risk we simply cannot afford.

So how can you help? Join me in my fight against Assembly Bill 2262. Contact your legislators and tell them to oppose it. Tell them there are ways to improve Safe Surrender by providing funding for outreach and education programs rather than trying to cast a wider net by moving the 72 hours up to one week. Tell lawmakers it is worth fighting for – we need look no further than the 67 children that are alive today in Los Angeles County for proof that this program is working.

AB 2262's sponsor Alberto Beats-His-Head-in-a-Brick-Wall Torrico, pulled out all the stops denouncing Schwartznegger's decision in almost conspiratorial terms:

The Governor's decision to veto AB 2262 guarantees that the program will continue to languish on the vine and that newborns lives will be at risk...

With a simple extension to seven days, my bil would have given mothers more time to deliberate and possibly reduce the likelihood that they will act impulsively in a manner that endangers their child's life...

and the tantalizing close:

My bill addressed the serious problem with this program, including misclassifications, disclosure of sensitive data and other improper actions.

Do tell, Alberto!

California needs to repeal it's baby dump law. Nonetheless, Schwarznegger has the good sense to see the danger in expanding the law.

California: At least it's not Nebraska!

******

For more on expansion opposition from "safe haven" promoters, read my California Lesson: Why Safe Haven Proponents Opppose Safe Haven Expansion Times

ONTARIO GOVERNMENT STILL HATES ADOPTEES: IDENTITY ABUSE CONTINUES

Bastardette has a long-standing love affair with Ontario. As a very young Bastard she was an occasional visitor to Sarnia (especially Scot's Department Store) and when she grew up she spent a substantial amount of time with a gang of Ontario party-heartiers out of the Chrysler-Windsor plant and Point Pelee via the historic Goose Lake Festival. The former Mr. Bastardette (Mr. Bastard to you) lives in Revelstoke, British Columbia now with his third wife, so I shall reserve my opinion of that province for another day. (r: Bastardette with a potential Mr. Bastard 2, French-Canadian hunk"Carribou.")

It has therefore been quite disappointing to see Ontario take the lead in North American bastard-baiting-hating and incessant fear mongering over the right to access.

The government of Ontario, represented by its wacky "Privacy Minister" Ann Cavoukian, has spent an inordinate amount of time and taxpayer money educating Ontarians to the dangers presented by the province's Adopted Class. From claiming that some of Ontario's first parents would commit suicide if The Adopted were to be treated identical to the Not Adopted--vis a vis allowed to own their own birth certificates under Bill 183--to accusing them of trying to shut her up, Miss Cavoukian has portrayed us as dangerous, crazy, street-running fascists poking our big noses into somebody else's bedroom and skirts.

Here's the text of a crocodile-tear drenched May 16, 2005 letter to Anne Stokes, Clerk of the Standing Committee on Social Policy, whining about us. And here's an article from the Toronto Star in which Cavoukian claims some first mothers would commit suicide if their names were divulged to their unwashed bastards. Also go here and here for other accounts of Cavoukian's hissy binge. (It appears that the Information and Privacy Commissioner's page has either erased Cauvoukian's most egregious comments--for privacy reasons, of course--or the URLs have changed. Whatever, some links I used earlier are no longer valid, and I'm forced to used secondary sources.)

Here's Ann flipping out when some Ontario bastards filed suit claiming her statements about the Adopted Class breached a provision of Ontario’s Human Rights Code Following her usual MO, she wrote the response before she even read the complaint. How dare those saved-from-the-dumpster home wreckers dare to "silence" her, an over-academically credentialed, duly constituted representative of the government of Ontario and a certified privacy nanny? Auchtung!

This kind of complaint represents a grave threat to the public’s right to hear and participate in a vigorous public debate. Further it could have a chilling effect on the free speech of all Ontarians. Anyone advancing a dissenting view could be vulnerable to this kind of legal proceeding.

Eventually Bill 183 passed, went through teeth gnashing and court vetting, and as expected, Ontario continues to stigmatize adoptees and their first parents as a danger to each other, this time with new and improved disclosure and contact vetoes so dearly beloved by Dr. Cavoukian The Armenian Devil.

Things have been pretty quet, though, as regs were being written.

Then a few days ago, Ontario papers published a 1/3 page ad from the Ontario Government, which also appears on the Canadian government's adoption information page warning adoptees and their first parents of their impending doom:

HAS ADOPTION TOUCHED YOUR LIFE?

If you were involved in an adoption in Ontario, you need to know about an important change to your information and privacy rights.

Effective June 1, 2009, Ontario adoption records will be opened. This means adopted adults and birth parents will be given access to identifying information from birth records and adoption orders.

If the adoption order was made before September 1, 2008, adopted adults and birth parents can file a disclosure veto to prevent the release of the information.

If you want your identifying information to be kept private, you should file a disclosure veto before June 1, 2009.

No contact notices are also available.

To learn more about your rights to information and privacy regarding adoption, visit www.ontario.ca/adoptioninfo or call 1-800-461-2156 (TTY 416-325-3408).

Paid for by the Government of Ontario

Note that the government failed to mention something that might actually be helpful to those who want their records and other ID information and whose first parents want them to have them (and visa versa): a contact preference form is available. You have to go way over here , past the strum und drang, and scroll down to find that information. Why, you'd think the government wants the public to believe we're a bunch hatchet killers.

Be sure to check out the video too, for the odd picture of martini sipping reunionists. Or maybe it's a victory patio party at Cavoukian's.

LIFE AT POINT PELEE

Not a martini sipping reunionst party

Tent burning: a fine old Ontarian custom. And he's not even a bastard--as far as he knows.

Captain Supertest!