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.

Just a reminder. Hawai'i Governor Linda Lingle has until June 23 to announce if she is considering vetoing HB 1830, the latest incarnation of baby dump legislation in that state.

Gov. Lingle needs to know that the adoptee rights/adoption reform community on the Mainland does not support so-called "safe haven" laws which commodify newborns and their parents, promote anonymous baby abandonment as "just another choice," and undermine hanai. Gov. Lingle vetoed similar legislation in 2003 and has been the target of a pro-dump gang since. Read this "open letter" to the governor from one baby abandonment advocate.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Read the bill

Read Bastard Nation’s letter to Gov Lingle published here on May 22.

Read Bastard Nation's full action alert published here on June 9.

Read Gov. Lingle's 2003 veto statement posted by the American Adoption Congress here

Contact Gov. Lingle and key legislators.


TALKING POINTS:

• HB 1830 is not needed; newborn abandonment/neonaticide in the state is nearly unheard of. Since 1996 there has only been one prosecutable case...

• HB 1830 rejects and undermines the traditional Hawai’ian practice of “hanai”-- extended family and community care which insures that children, unable to be reared by their biological parents are lovingly kept within the family or close community where their identity and heritage remain in tact.

• HB 1830 eliminates”hanai” and the right of identity by denying the “safe havened” access to their original birth documents and heritage information.

• HB 1830 abrogates certain government benefits available to all Native Hawai’ians because the “safe havened” will be unable to prove Native ancestry.

• HB 1830 rejects informed consent and best practice standards of child welfare and adoption placement such as the collection of a full record of identifying information and social and medical histories.

• HB 1830 denies parents--particularly non-surrendering parents (usually the father)- due process by eliminating the ability to locate the dependency proceeding to which they are a party

Oppose HB 1830 and encourage Gov. Lingle to hold firm. We have been told that faxing is the best way to get legislators’ attention.

CONTACT

The Honorable Linda Lingle
Governor, State of Hawai’i
Executive Chambers
State Capitol
Honolulu, Hawai’i 96813
Phone:
Fax:
e-mail: governor.lingle@hawaii.gov

To forestall an override attempt contact the following key legislators who will decide whether to initiate an override. Explain why you oppose HB 1830 and include your letter to Gov. Lingle.

Colleen Hanabusa, Senate President
Hawai'i State Capitol, Room 409
415 Beretania Street
Honolulu, HI 96813
Phone ;
Fax
email senhanabusa@Capitol.hawaii.gov

Calvin K.Y. Say, Speaker of the House
Hawai’i State Capitol, Room 431
415 South Beretania Street
Honolulu, HI 96813
Phone ;
Fax
e-mail repsay@Capitol.hawaii.gov

Senator Suzanne Chun Oakland, Majority Whip (Democrat)
Hawai’i State Capitol, Room 226
415 South Beretania Street
Honolulu, HI 96813
Fax:

Sponsor:
Representative John Mizuno
Hawa’ii State Capitol, Room 436
415 South Beretania Street
Honolulu, HI 96813
Phone ;
Fax
e-mail repmizuno@Capitol.hawaii.gov