Author: legitimatebastard

Doris Michol Sippel is the author of “Forbidden Family: An Adopted Woman’s Struggle for Identity,” 3rd Edition, available from Amazon. She is the owner of Identity Press. Doris Michol Sippel was born legitimately in January of 1956. She became a half-orphan at the age of three months when her mother died. At the finalization of her adoption the following January, a Surrogate Court Judge sent orders to change her name in accordance with the 1936 New York State law that requires the creation of a new birth certificate for each child who is adopted. This law assumes that the child was born illegitimately; therefore, adoption legitimizes the child by providing a new mother who is legally married to the child’s new legal father. Even though Doris had a legitimate father, adoption law provided her with a different legal father, hence legitimizing her unnecessarily. On March 4, 1957, the state issued Doris a substitute “amended” birth certificate in the name of Joan Mary Wheeler, falsely naming her new “parents” as if they conceived, and gave birth to her. By law, as in all adoptions, Doris’s birth certificate was then repossessed, its official certification revoked, and the document was sealed forever. Both of these acts erased her natural-born identity and family. Legally, she and her family ceased to exist. Lawfully, Doris became Joan, but that was not, and is not, the truth of her reality. Since her reunion in 1974, she claims both identities: a legitimate bastard in one family and a half-orphan in the other. Her dual identity is real, but the state recognizes only her legally manufactured identity. For this denial of her civil rights, she is supposed to be a grateful “adopted child” forever. Doris Michol Sippel legally reclaimed her name on June 13, 2016. Her birth certificate is still sealed by New York State.

Killing Me Softly With No Words

On By legitimatebastardIn Uncategorized

I’ve felt like a “trapped animal” so many times in my lifetime. I’ve been suicidal, many times. Being adopted is like being totally alone. And I am a domestically-born adoptee. Here are thoughts from “an Asian face in a predominantly white world…” ….

Jeremy, a.k.a. 주 현's avatarKorean Adoptee Blues

In honor of National Adoption Awareness Month, oh, sing me those blues, Ms. Holiday!

“Them that’s got shall have,

Them that’s not shall lose.

So the Bible said and it still is news.

Mama may have, Papa may have

But God bless the child that’s got his own…”

I’m looking out of our kitchen window at the first major snowfall of the season as I’m writing, and though it’s visually beautiful, there’s something about the muffled quiet and the bitter cold of a snowy winter that puts my mind in a state of solitude and melancholic introspection.

This particular day, it reminds me of how alone I am…

Alone, because odds are good that I will never know my original family.

Alone, because my adoptive family does not get me.  At all.

Alone, because I’m an Asian face in a predominantly white world, and I’m reminded of that every day.

View original post 808 more words

Flip The Script on World Adoption Day – Abolish Adoption Now

On By legitimatebastardIn Adoptee Birth Certificates, Adoptees' Civil Rights, Adoption Trauma, Original Birth Certificate, Sealed Adoption Records

Here I am proudly holding my Original Birth Certificate:

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2014-11-09 Joan with OBC -4b

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My name at birth and baptism was Doris Michol Sippel. That was my legal name until the Surrogate Court Judge signed my Final Order of Adoption one year and one week after my birth. He then sent orders to the Registrar to seal my birth certificate and create a new one in my new adoptive name. My Amended Birth Certificate was issued three months later.

When I was reunited with my natural family in 1974, my adoptive mother gave me all of my birth certificates, baptismal certificates, and my Final Order of Adoption.

I own my OBC. I do not have the legal right to own it.

Which is why I have been fighting for adoptees’ rights for 40 years.

I had a home. I did not need to be adopted. I did not need to lose my entire family because of adoption. Therefore, I am proud to be among the New Abolitionists.

Abolish Adoption Now!

 

Link to Blog Post on Adoptive-Parent-Wanna-bees on Crowd Funding

On By legitimatebastardIn Adoptive Parents, Uncategorized

 

Do I even have to say I think it would be a better use of money to “crowdfund” a woman’s keeping her baby? I hope I don’t.

Here’s yet another article that might as well have been written with the sole purpose of showing how little adoption is about the best interests of the child and how much it is about the desires of adults.

Crowdfunding

 

A seven year-old takes on National Adoption Month, Gotcha Day, and generally tells it like it is

On By legitimatebastardIn Adoption Loss, Adoption Trauma, Adoptive Parents, Natural Mothers, Uncategorized

A seven year-old takes on National Adoption Month, Gotcha Day, and generally tells it like it is.

Joey Ashbridge and His Video Production on Adoptees’ Searches in Ohio

On By legitimatebastardIn Adoptee Birth Certificates, Adoptees Search, Adoptees' Civil Rights, Adoption Loss

I’m helping out a fellow adoptee today.

Joey Ashbridge is video taping his search for his natural family, and, he is filming the searches of a few other adoptees.

His project is on Indiegogo: “A film about the change in the Ohio law and about personal journeys to find biological identity“.  Please help him fund the project to produce the film, as well as to help his travels on his search and the search for a few other adoptees.

Good luck, Joey, and all my best on your personal quest! Good luck to the other adoptees you are helping along their way to search and reunion. Good luck in raising funds. And good luck in producing an educationally valuable film!

 

Letter Writing Campaign to The White House During the First Week of National Adoption Month November 2014

On By legitimatebastardIn Adoptee Birth Certificates, Adoptee False Legal Birth Certificate, Adoptee True Sealed Birth Certificate, Adoptees' Civil Rights, Amended Birth Certificate, False Information on Birth Certificate, Genealogy, Original Birth Certificate

The following is shared at the request of my dear friend and long-time adoption activist, Sandy Musser, Director of Adoption ALARM Network.

PLEASE SHARE THIS IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

Powers of the President.
The piece below called “No Congressional Approval Needed” is from an article titled A President’s Legislative Powers.

Enacting the ADOPTEES RESTORATION ACT would restore ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATES to all ADOPTED ADULTS in America in one fell swoop!

There is no doubt that this would be President Obama’s GREATEST LEGACY (comparable to LINCOLN freeing the slaves) since millions and millions of ADOPTED ADULTS would have their true identities, their medical histories, their cultures, and and their ancestries restored.

As we begin our letter campaign to the White House during the first week of November, we need to emphasize the extreme importance and need for this to be accomplished. Send copies of your letters to media outlets and let them know that you’re available for an interview.

No Congressional Approval Needed

There are two ways that presidents can enact initiatives without congressional approval. Presidents may issue a proclamation, often ceremonial in nature, such as naming a day in honor of someone or something that has contributed to American society.

A president may also issue an EXECUTIVE ORDER which has the full effect of law and is directed to federal agencies that are charged with carrying out the order. Examples include Franklin D. Roosevelt’s executive order for the internment of Japanese-Americans after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Harry Truman’s integration of the armed forces and Dwight Eisenhower’s order to integrate the nation’s schools.

LOUISIANA U.S. REPRESENTATIVE CANDIDATE LEE DUGAS SUPPORTS ADOPTEES RIGHTS!

On By legitimatebastardIn Adoptee Birth Certificates, Adoptees' Civil Rights, Uncategorized

At the request of my dear friend, Sandy Musser, President of ‎ALARM – Advocating Legislation for the Adoption Reform Movement

I am re-printing the following letter just in time for voters in Louisiana.

LOUISIANA U.S. REPRESENTATIVE CANDIDATE LEE DUGAS SUPPORTS ADOPTEES RIGHTS!!! SPREAD THE WORD QUICKLY!!

Our ALARM Rep, Cryptic Omega, received a personal note from U.S. Representative Candidate Lee Dugas after asking her where she stood on our Adoptee Rights issue. This was her wonderful response:

_________________________________________________________
From: ldugas2001@cox.net
Date:11/03/2014 07:58 (GMT-06:00)
Subject: Re: A question before I vote.

This is very close to my heart, I was adopted myself, and I know how hard it is to get information to find where you fit in, as well as your history and who you are.

About 3 years ago through an Adoption web site, I was contacted and have since met my birth mother and one of my half sisters. I am the oldest of 3. I’ve also met my step brother and two aunts, as well, and they’ve all lived in Louisiana all these years.

I am a firm believer that information should be made available to Adoptees. I am a Disabled Desert Storm Vet and it was difficult getting medical history, but I was able to do so when I met them. We used to meet for lunch every week until mom got too sick to be left alone, but I still keep in touch with them.

Most people know their backgrounds but a lot of us don’t and knowing where we are from is very, very Important. So to answer your question, I believe that ALL information should be viewable by the adoptee, and I will be happy to work on that. Like I told a reporter when asked why not the state office, I told her that was simple. Because what needs to be done has to be done at the National level!

If you have any more questions, I will be more than happy to answer them. And if you are in the Metairie area, join us on election night.

Have a Blessed Day,
Lee Ann Dugas