Support Michigan Adoptees Public Advocacy Efforts!

Please help Adoptee Advocates of Michigan in educating the public about the fact that Adoptees do not have the same legal and social rights as non-adopted people.

Most citizens in Michigan, as well as across the U.S., are not aware that adoptees have less rights than other US-born citizens. Many domestic adoptees are denied the right to obtain their own records, including their own original birth certificates. Many international adoptees also struggle to gain any information about their origins and are currently at risk of deportation if proper paperwork was not completed when they came to the United States. This unequal distribution of rights has been a long-standing source of pain and frustration for many adoptees. These rights include:

Many International adoptees lack citizenship. While adoptees may be permanent legal residents, they cannot vote and must naturalize to become citizens. It is estimated that 25,000–49,000 children adopted between 1945 and 1998 entered adulthood without US citizenship, and an additional 7,400–14,800 children adopted between 1999 and 2018 may also lack citizenship. Many adopted people have been deported for minor crimes such as voting in elections while being unaware they could not prove citizenship.

Most adoptees would agree that it is a basic human right to know one's identity and to be able to remain in the country you were brought to as an infant or child due to being adopted by U.S. Parents. We are against all practices that abuse these rights, including sealed records in adoptions.

Adoptee Advocates of Michigan, a core partner of the Michigan Adoptee Rights Coalition, has been approved to have an exhibit booths at three venues this summer to advocate for Michigan adopted people. The Trenton Summer Festival in Trenton Michigan has a typical attendance of 10,000. The Ann Arbor Art Fair in Ann Arbor Michigan is the largest Art Fair in the world and largest juried art fair in the nation with an average 500,000 people to regularly attend. The Blue Water Street Fair will also be well attended this year as it is the 100 year anniversary of the Bayview Mackinac Race--the worlds longest continually run long distance fresh water yacht race. We will be educating the public about adoptee's lack of rights as well as sharing adoptee resources for other adopted people in these communities to take advantage of and learn more. We will also be featuring the initiaves of adoptees from Michigan and what they are doing to contribute to the wellbeing of our adopted community.

We could use help with recovering costs of booth space, printing, swag, parking and other materials we are creating. Any surplus will be used for future adoptee initiatives, events and legislative efforts in our state. We hope you will contribute and please sign up on our website if you are interested in volunteering or supporting the work of our organization.

https://www.adopteeadvocatesofmichigan.com/volunteer-registration

With our sincerest thanks,

Valerie Lemieux, Founder / Marketing Director

Susan Christin, Search Angel / Administrative Office Support

Dr. Rebekah Hansen, PsyD, LP, Communications / Editor

Pamela Lynn, Legislative Outreach Coordinator

Adoptee Advocates of Michigan