Tag: Adoptee Rights

Adoptee Rights Rally Letter Writing Campaign

Published on by Pamela A. Karanova2 Comments

Good Evening Everyone,

We’re starting a letter writing campaign and we wanted to make sure you were invited to participate.

The goal is to have as many adoptees impacted by adoption write a letter to President Obama and we want him to receive the letters by February 14th. This gives us all this week to pull something together and get busy. Wouldn’t it be awesome if he would get flooded with letters from those impacted by adoption in time for Valentine’s Day?

Yes, you guessed it that’s 2 weeks away!

IMG_20160131_203305

All it will cost you is a few minutes and a stamp and envelope. Let’s face it, WE ARE BETTER TOGETHER. Multiple letters will make more of an impact than very few.

 WE NEED YOUR HELP!

We would like you to express that although we were adopted, some of our adoptions were successful and some were not but the longing to answer the questions, “WHO AM I” & “WHERE DID I COME FROM” have haunted us all our lives. We really would like you to pour your heart out at an attempt to pull some heart strings. Share why this is so important to you and your kids, and their kids. Don’t forget to share the most important part- IT’S OUR CONSTITUTIONAL AND CIVIL RIGHT TO HAVE ACCESS TO THE SAME DOCUMENTS AS THE NON-ADOPTED WHICH IS A “SIMPLE PIECE OF PAPER” – KNOWN AS OUR ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE!

If you are one of the adoptees that already has your answers, please take part in this campaign for all your fellow adoptees that haven’t been so fortunate.

You could share in your letter to President Obama that this could be one of his biggest legacies to leave office having impacted hundreds of thousands of adoptees and families that are impacted by this archaic system. What better way to leave office than reuniting so many long lost family members?

If you have trouble writing your own letter you can use Sandy’s A Stroke of Your Pen letter to President Obama as a template. Feel free to get ideas from this letter. You will find it in the “File” section of the Adoption ALARM Facebook Group. Feel free to change things around and add and delete things, remove her name and add yours.  Also, please print off the ADOPTEES RESTORATION ACT and include it in your letter. You can also find this under the file section of the Adoption ALARM page.

Please share this letter writing campaign as many places as you can. Copy and paste it and share it on your social media, emails, with your fellow adoptees, etc. Please consider taking a picture of your letter and emailing it to pamelakaranova@gmail.com  ATTN: Letter to Obama before you send it off. This isn’t critical but it would be fun to share on our social media pages as we get closer to the rally and to use to encourage others to participate in this campaign.

Keep in mind the letter can’t be more than 500 words.

Writing letters to The White House please consider typing it on an 8 1/2 by 11 inch sheet of paper. If you hand-write your letter, please consider using pen and writing as neatly as possible. Please include your return address on your letter as well as your envelope. If you have an email address, please consider including that as well. And finally, be sure to include the full address of the White House to make sure your message gets to us as quickly and directly as possible:

The White House

President Obama

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20500

 Together we can do this!

When President Obama receives an outpouring of LOVE on February 14th is going to be an amazing way to show how important it is that ALL ADOPTEES HAVE ACCESS TO THEIR ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATES.

Blessings to all,

2016-01-10 18.04.25

Pamela Karanova

Media & PR Team

Adoptee Rights Rally 2016

pamelakaranova@gmail.com

Adoptee Rights Rally Petition Signing Party!

Published on by Pamela A. KaranovaLeave a comment

$11 Could Change Everything!!! 

If we could all consider this, we would have our 100,000 signatures in no time.

We need 100,000 Signatures For the for the President to enact an Executive Order which would restore the Original Birth Certificate to every ADULT ADOPTEE in America in one fell swoop because it is a civil and constitutional right! This seems like such a HUGE number but if we break this down this is what it looks like.

We already have 15,000 signatures so we are only seeking 85,000 more.

I spent $11 yesterday making 100 copies of the petition, and 20 copies of the Adoptee Restoration Act. I purchased one small pack of file folders. I’m putting 1 Adoptee Restoration Act and 5 Petition sheets in each, along with my contact information via a business card, but could be as simple as a label or your name and number written across the top.

I’m also including a personal letter from me into each petition packet, because as we share a piece of our hearts it seems peoples heart strings get pulled and they are more likely to sign and even get on board with adoptee rights. Here is a sample of my letter. Feel free to use it or ask me for a copy and I can email it to you, and you can change it around to suit you and your experience. I will be hand signing each one and include one in each file folder with the Adoptee Restoration Act and 5 petition sheets.

ScreenShotKitLetterPK

Over the next week I’m building my own campaign team in my area reaching out to my fellow adoptees who are local first. I already have 3 signed up to help. Next I will be reaching out to my close friends (have no family here) but I have plenty of people who claim to “Love Me” so I plan on taking advantage of that and asking them to HELP ME! 🙂

20160113_071007

You can find both the petition sheet and the Adoptees Restoration Act sheet on the Adoption Alarm Website  website under “Document Library”

AdopteesRestorationAct09_2015

If I find 20 people to help and ask them to fill 5 sheets each, that’s 50 signatures each. Multiply that by 20 and I will have 1000 signatures myself.  All I’m doing is reaching out to my local people and ask if the would like to get on board and help this cause. Even people that aren’t adoptees would like to help because they might have someone impacted by adoption in their life. Some businesses would like to help and maybe sponsor us.

If we need 85,000 signatures that means if 85 people step up and take on this challenge to create their own local teams we would have all our signatures in the next few months. If we can double that to 170 people taking this challenge we would only need to get 500 signatures each which would make it even quicker and faster to gain these signatures.

85 people is not a lot!

If we split that load in half  that would be 170 people. The price would be $6 each to print the supplies. 

WE CAN DO THIS! 

It cost me $11 and a little time, and networking locally but in the process I will get my name out there for a great cause, and hopefully inform more people about the rally and what’s is involved with it. Each person we contact is one person we can share our desire WHY this is so important to so many adoptees all over the world!

ALL WE CAN DO IS TRY!!!!!!! If we commit to trying, we can keep track of how many signature sheets we have here and motivate and inspire one another. We can share who we have targeted in our area and how their response was to helping.

I’m asking for all those reading if they would commit to getting on board and helping with the Adoptee Rights Rally from the comfort of your own home and town. This offer is for EVERYONE who is reading this. No one person is excluded. If we get more signatures, that’s even better.

If you would commit and join our Adoptee Rights Petition Signing Party PLEASE make a commitment, you can email me at pamelakaranova@gmail.com or comment on this blog post. You can send me a Facebook Message and you can also share this challenge with all those you know and love. Feel free to share it, copy and paste it or whatever you need to do to get the word out there.

Blessings,

Pamela Karanova, Lexington, KY

Adoptee Rights Rally 2016

Campaign Team, Media & PR

2016-01-10 18.04.25

Add Pamela to your Facebook!

Pamela Karanova’s Facebook

You can look her up by email pamlakaranova@gmail.com

You will find thousands of adoptees at “How Does It Feel To Be Adopted?”

Please visit:

How Does It Feel To Be Adopted?

FOLLOW PAMELA’S BLOG!

Twitter: @pamelakaranova & @adopteereality

Instagram: @pwishes & @howdoesitfeeltobeadopted

An Adoptee Rights Rally For Truth-2016 Get On Board!

Published on by Pamela A. KaranovaLeave a comment

Adoptee Rights Rally 2016

12039517_839710692816878_127430417385155216_n

As the adoptee community begins the process in planning the Adoptee Rights Rally 2016 I sit here and wonder why there aren’t more non-adoptees supporting us. Or are they but just choose to sit silent?

I think they are afraid to speak up and speak out and even click “like” on posts that adoptees are sharing these days for fear of what others think. Will it show up on my timeline? Will others think bad of me for going against the grain of what the “Adoption Industry” portrays?

I would like to ask all non-adoptees to try to pull themselves away from the world’s view of “adoption” and place themselves in our shoes for a moment.

Just for a moment…

Imagine growing up your entire life not looking like anyone, not knowing where you come from or who your people were. Imagine going on a date as a teenager or adult, and not knowing whether your date could be your cousin, or sibling or someone blood related to you. It’s always in the back of your mind, but you will never know the truth about who shares your DNA because “adoption laws” from centuries ago say so. Laws of man are standing in your way. Every day is a question mark hanging over your head, and you try to search for those who might look like you and you wonder ever y single day if they ARE related to you. But you will never know because again, laws of man are standing in your way. You have children of your own, and not only do you have to put “ADOPTED UNKNOWN” down as your medical history, but you have to put it down for half of your children’s medical history. Everything of every day is UNKNOWN and NOTHING is CERTAIN anywhere in your life.  This is simply because you are adopted.

Memories that can never be replaced are gone forever. You are forced to be thankful because a family “rescued” you when your own family didn’t want you. When you have feelings of sadness or despair, you are told to just get over it or move on. Or simply be thankful for LIFE, after all God knitted you together in your mother’s womb and he knew every hair on your head before you were ever born and you are a GIFT FROM GOD.  The world leaves no place for your sadness, or heartache because you made someone’s dreams come true of being parents, especially those with infertility issues. You are more like a pawn, used to make other’s happy with no say so in what’s happening to you. Your feelings don’t matter at all, unless they are feelings of happiness and gratification of course. You struggle to bond with anyone around you, because let’s face it. They are nothing like you. There are no connections. You are alone and your feelings don’t matter. Your adoptive parents make it a point to make you “feel good” about your adoption experience, which they have good intentions, but this diminishes any feelings of sadness of your grief and loss so you grow up your entire life hiding how you truly feel. As you get older, your deep sadness turns to anger, rage, and you start to act out and hurt those around you. Contemplating suicide over and over because no one will help you and no one understands you!

 All you really want is your TRUTH!

Who am I?

Where did I come from?

Where are the people that look like me?

SOMEONE HELP ME FIND MY PEOPLE!!!

WHY IS MY [His]Story & [Her]Story BEING KEPT SECRET FROM ME?

WHY ARE THOSE THAT SAY THEY LOVE ME LYING TO ME?

Do I need to continue on?

This never ends my friends. Adoptees all over the world are just SCREAMING TO FIND THEIR PEOPLE! THE ARE BEGGING FOR THEIR TRUTH!

Regardless of the laws of man from centuries ago, My God is a God of TRUTH and just because our biological mothers and fathers made decisions that had NOTHING TO DO WITH US doesn’t mean we should have to keep paying for their mistakes. Society, [yes you!] has placed this heavy burden upon us [adoptees] that if we don’t FEEL a certain way, we’re just angry, or focusing on the bad. Society has to make a change and understand that we only want our truth so we can move forward and HEAL! We can’t heal from half truths, and lies and secrecy. It’s time the rainbow colored glasses come off, and the truth come to LIGHT about secrecy surrounding many adoptions today.

 Secrecy is from the DEVIL. TRUTH is from GOD.

There is no reason on earth we should have to go to WASHINGTON, DC to have a peaceful demonstration to get what’s rightfully ours, OUR TRUTH! But the fact is, we do because the world is still operating on laws from centuries ago.

I understand this might not be important to you [non adoptees] because you aren’t adopted or you aren’t impacted by adoption in anyway but what about this being a human rights issue?

Why not support TRUTH for ALL ADOPTEES ALL OVER THE WORLD JUST BECAUSE IT’S THE RIGHT THING TO DO?  WHY ARE WE FIGHTING LAWS OF MAN FOR OUR TRUTH?

YOU’RE EITHER FOR US [TRUTH] OR YOU’RE AGAINST US [SECRECY].

It’s black & white.

My Bible say’s “You shall know the TRUTH and the TRUTH shall set you FREE” John 8:32

THE TRUTH MEANS NOTHING HIDDEN!

So I’m asking all non-adoptees today to PLEASE open your heart and ears to what adult adoptees have to say about the secrecy and lies involved in altering birth certificates, and keeping them sealed from adoptees all over the world. We all deserve to know where we come from, and we all deserve to know our history, medical history, ancestry, siblings, our birth records, and to have our original birth certificates.

YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE ADOPTED TO GET ON BOARD WITH ADOPTEES FINDING OUR TRUTH.

IT’S A HUMAN RIGHT

WITH ADOPTEE SUICIDE RATE 4X MORE LIKELY THAN NON ADOPTEES WE AS A SOCIETY CAN’T CONTINUE TO BE SILENT ABOUT SOMETHING SO IMPORTANT.  ARE WE GOING TO CONTINUE TO IGNORE THESE FACTS?

I’m not saying I’m against adoption. I’m against secrecy and lies that surround adoptions because these secrecy and lies have had a direct impact on me and my children and hundreds of thousands of other adoptees out there. It’s time all adoptees get equal access to their original birth certificates just like the rest of society.

All those that believe in the TRUTH please consider attending this event to support a great cause!

You don’t even have to attend this event. You can “LIKE” or “SHARE” posts on Facebook regarding this event, or adoptees speaking about finding their truth. Anything HELPS!

YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE ADOPTED TO BELIEVE IN TRUTH!

What’s stopping you from Supporting Adoptee Rights?

IT MEANS SO MUCH TO ADOPTEES FOR NON-ADOPTEES TO SUPPORT US!

It’s simple, you’re either for us or you’re against us.

CLICK THIS LINK TO JOIN THE INVITE!

What can non-adoptees do to support adoptees?

Get on board for open records and support us in stopping the secrecy that surrounds many adoptions today. Get on board with adoptee rights.

Understand the secrecy that we are experiencing is strong, and it’s still thriving today in most adoptions.

Take the blinders OFF and listen to what adult adoptees are saying.

ADOPTEES HAVE VALID VOICES TOO!

We all deserve to be able to move forward and heal, but without our TRUTH healing can’t happen. Think about it.

Pamela A. Karanova, Lexington, KY

PamelaLee

Reunited Adult Adoptee

http://www.facebook.com/howdoesitfeeltobeadopted

When I Found Out I Was Adopted

Published on by Pamela A. Karanova5 Comments

My life changed in a major way when I found out I was adopted. I will never forget watching a TV program with my adoptive mom and seeing a woman who gave birth to a baby. Being curious as kids are, I made a comment to my adoptive mom, “Mommy, did I come out of your belly like that?”. I remember her response was something like this…

“No you didn’t come out of my belly. You came out of another woman’s belly. She loved you so much she wanted you to have a better life so she gave you to me to raise.”

This was a moment I will never forget. I never understood how you love something but you give it away. I think back now and try to think of what my adoptive mom COULD have said that wouldn’t have had such a negative impact on me. As a 5 year old child I couldn’t comprehend this. I whole heartedly believe she did the right thing by telling me but the WAY she said it was something that had a negative impact on me my entire life.

I’m an adoptee who can say “I always knew I was adopted” because she did tell me. I believe back in the 70’s adoptive parents weren’t anywhere near equipped in how to tell your child their adopted, like they are now or how to handle “what to do” being adoptive parents. I’m not saying she meant to hurt me, but the way she told me would forever taint my view of love. When you love something you keep it, you don’t give it away. “She gave you to me to raise.”… I felt disposable, unlovable, and like a piece of property. This was the first moment in my life I began to search for my birth mother. I began to ask questions. Who was she? Where was she? How do I find her? I never EVER stopped asking about my birth mother.

As a 40 year old woman I look back over my journey, and I’ve tried to think of a way my adoptive mom could have told me that I was adopted that didn’t confuse me on such a deep level. I feel like giving something or someone away and associating it out of “Love” is far too confusing for a child to understand. It was total abandonment to me. This still has a deep rooted impact on me today. I feel like everyone in my life is going to abandon me.

I wish she would have said, “You have a biological mommy who couldn’t take care of you, so she found someone who could. That someone was me.” But see that type of answer would have come with more questions behind it. “Why couldn’t she take care of me?” is what I would have asked. And then the TRUTH would have come out. But I know from experience in living it, adoption secrets and lies are a big part of the adoption experience and a huge part of my pain. Everyone was “protecting” me from my own history. The fight to find my history all alone has caused me more heartache and pain than anyone could imagine.

I wish I was never told my birth mother loved me. She didn’t love me. The adoption industry as a whole seems to always want to speak for birth mothers. Once I acknowledged this TRUTH it was easier of me to let go of the pain and move forward and heal.

“You can’t heal a wound by denying it’s there” (Jeremiah 6:14)

NOT ALL BIRTH MOTHERS LOVE THEIR BABIES.  SOME OF THEM JUST WANT TO GET RID OF THE PROBLEM. THIS IS A FACT. THIS IS WHY IT’S SO HARD FOR ME TO BELIEVE ANYONE ON EARTH LOVES ME. YOU DON’T LOVE YOUR OWN CHILD & GIVE IT AWAY & REJECT IT AFTER IT COMES TO FIND YOU.

That’s not love. The shenanigans of her “Loving me so much she gave me away” could have saved me a whole lot of heartache if the truth was told. I’m not saying they could have told me she didn’t love me. Of course everyone would like to think she did. It is definitely a more pleasant thought. But her actions after I found her and she rejected me after meeting one time showed me otherwise. The entire story of how I was conceived was my TRUTH and after learning that, I was able to gain a better understanding of WHY she chose to give me up for adoption. I needed my truth to move forward with my life and to be able to accept it for what it is.

DO ADOPTIVE PARENTS UNDERSTAND THEY ARE STANDING IN THE WAY OF OUR HEALING BY WITHHOLDING OUR TRUTH FROM US?  

Let me add, I will always be thankful my adoptive mother was honest about telling me. If she didn’t tell me it would nothing short of holding someones identity hostage, and if it were me I could never live with myself or do that to someone. For the adoptive parents who make the choice not to tell their adoptive kids their adopted, I feel you are making a huge mistake. Everyone deserves to know where they come from. Adding the trauma of being lied too your whole life is beyond devastating on the adoptee. Being adopted is hard enough on it’s own.

For the adoptive parents who may be reading; How did you tell your adopted child they were adopted? Where did you get your advice from? If you haven’t told them, what are you waiting for?

For the adoptees here, how were you told you were adopted? How did it make you feel?

-Adoptee In Recovery

@freesimplyme