New Site For SMAAC

The main site for SMAAC (Senior Mothers Adoption Activism Coalition) can now be found in a blog format at http://seniormothers-smaac.blogspot.com/. I hope that the information there will satisfy any questions any might have as to who we are and why we are.

We have been very dismayed by those who have wanted to challenge and undermine our efforts in this area. I am glad to see that a "live and let live" attitude seems to be emerging and each of us are allowing the other to do what they think is important and realistic.

We are NOT against access to the OBC and records for adult adoptees. If the right to access can include mothers, we will fight alongside our children for these legislative changes. If the proposed bills do not put mothers in untenable positions, such as mandated medical and psycho-social histories and unnecessary contact vetoes, we will support the efforts of those who want to get the bills passed. We will not support any bills that carry stipulations that could make mothers liable for wrongful adoption suits or fines or other punishment for refusing to give up our right  to the same kind of personal privacy all citizens enjoy, especially the kind protected by the constitution and by the HIPAA regulations.

After many years in this arena, those of us who form the membership of SMAAC have learned that it is very unlikely any group can be all things to all people who have suffered from coerced surrender, separation and adoption. Just as we are all individuals, so are some of our issues. That is why we do not profess to be the voice for ALL women who surrendered during that era. We only speak for those who feel they were coerced and mistreated by a corrupt system who did what they did because they could and because no other choice was legally available. Over the years, much has changed and we feel we are not qualified to speak for the mothers of later years and today.

So, we are here because, whatever you call it, the Era of Mass Surrenders or the Baby Scoop Era, it was real, it happened, it is a shameful part of our nation's history and, just as other wrongs from the past have been addressed, it needs to be recognized and some sort of redress made. If adoption and loss to adoption is a tree, then we are at the roots, where it first became an industry and a social experiment. Weaken the roots and you weaken the tree. That is our goal and our hope. Will we succeed? I have no idea but I have faith in what we are working for. We can only do our best and try. But I will be standing for what I believe until my time here is over.

In the long run, isn't that all that anyone can do?