Below is Bastard Nation's letter of thanks to Hawai'i Governor Linda Lingle for standing up for the rights of family and identity in Hawai'i. A slightly different letter has been sent to legislators who opposed the override.

The Honorable Linda Lingle
Governor, State of Hawai`i
Executive Chambers
State Capitol

Honolulu, Hawai' i 96813

July 17, 2007

Dear Governor Lingle:

Bastard Nation: the Adoptee Rights Organization thanks you for opposing HB1830, the so-called “safe haven” law.

Baby abandonment and neonaticide are serious matters. So are identity erasure through unsound child welfare and surrender practice, the subversion of ethical adoption policy, the circumvention of parental rights (especially fathers rights) and the abrogation of traditional Hawai’an culture and hanai.

HB 1830 “fixes” something that isn’t broken. As Honolulu blogger Mel wrote after the override, “HB 1830 is a bill looking for a problem to happen.” Newborns are seldom discarded in Hawai’i.

If “safe haven” history is any indication of what will happen next in Hawai’I, expect to see newborns dressed in Baby Gap, accompanied with binkies, stuffed animals, a supply of diapers, and loving notes from supposedly murderous “desperate mothers” appear soon and mysteriously at emergency rooms and fire stations. Pregnant women and new parents considering an adoption plan, but overwhelmed by what they perceive as a complicated legal procedure will be advised by amateur “hotline counselors” or naive hospital staff to “just safe haven—it’s easier.” So what if identities and heritages are lost? So what if the fundamental right to parent is lost? So what if native Hawai’ian benefits are lost? The law will be hailed a baby saving “success.” “If it saves just one.” One mythical one. Saved from the Dumpster! Saved from ethical treatment.

We know that you were under tremendous pressure to abandon your principles, Governor Lingle. But by standing by those principles you stood for the civil and identity rights of Hawai’i’s children and families. You stood against an ill-advised law that endangers the integrity of every family in Hawai’i. Adoption reformers will not forget your courageous stand. Thank you for getting it!

Yours truly,

Marley Greiner

Executive Chair

July 4, 2007

The Honorable Linda Lingle
Governor, State of Hawai`i
Executive Chambers
State Capitol
Honolulu, Hawai’I 96813

RE: HB 1830: Safe Haven/”Safe Place for Newborns”—Please Veto

Dear Governor Lingle:

Thank you for placing HB1830, the so-called “safe haven” bill, on your list of potential vetoes. We know that you are under political pressure to let the bill pass into law with or without your signature, and we urge you to make good on your intent to veto.

Not one adoption reform organization on the mainland supports safe haven programs.

Safe Haven laws circumvent uniform best practice child surrender standards such as the collection of the child’s identifying information, social, cultural and medical history. They thwart due process for parents—especially the father. They devalue communication and ethical counseling. They refute responsible legal alternatives to baby dumping: public assistance, temporary surrender, and permanent surrender for adoption.

“Safe Haven” Hawai’an-style rejects hanai: extended family and community care. Not only will Native Hawai’ians, surrendered through the anonymous system be denied their native heritage but also benefits to which the are entailed to legally since they will unable able to prove eligibility

Since 1996 there has been one media-reported prosecutable newborn death and no reported cases of unsafe newborn abandonment in Hawai’i . Even proponents agree that newborn abandonment in the state is negligible. Incredibly, though, they insist that unless HB1830 is enacted “confused parents” will be “forced” to use The Dumpster to get rid of their “problem,” even if they don’t use it now.

Why “fix” something that’s not broken?

Anonymous baby dumping is not an acceptable cultural practice in Hawai’i now. No law should make it acceptable for the future.

Please continue to stand courageously for ethical child placement and the right of identity for all Hawai’ians.

Yours truly,

Marley Elizabeth Greiner
Executive Chair

Bastard Nation is the largest adoptee civil rights organization in North America. We are dedicated to the recognition of the full human and civil rights of adult adoptees. We advocate the opening to adoptees, upon request at age of majority all government documents which pertain to the adoptee's historical genetic and legal identity, including the unaltered birth original birth certificate and adoption decree.