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Jean M. Paton
Jean M. Paton (19082002) was an American adoptee rights activist who worked to reverse harmful policies, practices, and laws concerning adoption and sealed birth records, closed records. Paton founded the adoptee support and search network Orphan Voyage in 1953, helping connect adoptees with their birthparents, and was instrumental in the creation of the American Adoption Congress and Concerned United Birthparents in the 1970s. Biography Jean Paton was born in Detroit on December 27, 1908. She was a sculptor and a psychiatric social worker. Paton earned her Master of Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania in 1945 and worked for a short time at the New Hampshire Children's Aid Society. She was able to obtain her adoption records and original birth certificate, including her birth parents' names, from the probate court in 1942. Paton died on March 27, 2002 at the North Regional Medical Center in Harrison, Arkansas. Adoptee rights activism Beginning in 1950, Paton dedica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adoptee Rights
Adoptee rights are the legal and social rights of adopted people relating to their adoption and identity. These rights frequently center on access to information which is kept record sealing, sealed within closed adoptions, but also include issues relating to intercultural or international adoption, interracial adoption, and coercion of birthparents. Adoption reform efforts are often led by adoptee rights activists. History The adoptee rights movement in the United States and other Western countries gained popularity following the increased adoption rates of the Baby Scoop Era, beginning with the end of World War II and ending in the early 1970s. United States In the United States, original birth certificates were frequently available to adult adoptees until the mid-twentieth century, when many states passed laws closing birth records. Jean M. Paton, an early adoptee rights activist, established Orphan Voyage in 1953. Orphan Voyage was a support and search network for adoptees ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sealed Birth Records
Sealed birth records refers to the practice of sealing the original birth certificate upon adoption or legitimation, often making a copy of the record unavailable except by court order. Upon finalization of the adoption, the original birth certificate is sealed and replaced with an amended birth certificate declaring the adoptee to be the child of his or her adoptive parents, "as if" born to them. Many states, provinces and countries adopted this practice in the early to mid-20th century with the aim of protecting the adopted person from the shame of an illegitimate birth. Sealed or closed birth records are generally associated with closed adoption. Open records is generally referred to as the practice of opening original birth records to adult adoptees, and should not be confused with open adoption, which can occur with or without sealed records, depending on the laws of the state or province in which it is carried out. Many nations have granted adult adoptees unrestricted acces ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Adoption Congress
The American Adoption Congress (AAC) was an international adoption-reform organization created in the late 1970s as an umbrella organization for adoption search, support, and reform groups. Initiated by Orphan Voyage founder Jean Paton, people representing many groups gathered in regions around the United States and began planning the incorporation. The first AAC Conference was held in Washington, DC in May 1979. The second was in Anaheim, CA in 1980, and the third at the TWA Training facility outside Kansas City in 1981, where the AAC was reincorporated and gained 501(c)3 tax exempt status. AAC conferences were held annually around the United States from 1979 until 2020, when the conference, its last, was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The American Adoption Congress represented the interests of individuals who identified as adopted people, birth parents, and adoptive parents, as well as individuals, families, and organizations committed to adoption reform. While it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Concerned United Birthparents
Concerned United Birthparents, Inc. (CUB), a non-profit organization established in 1976, is one of two primary nationwide organizations offering support to the biological parents of adopted people in the United States. The organization is credited with the creation of the term "birthparent." History In the 1970s, support groups for mothers and for adoptees began to proliferate. The first groups were sponsored by adoptees' rights organizations, such as the Adoptees' Liberty Movement Association (ALMA), which was founded by adoptee Florence Fisher in 1971. Soon after, in 1976, Concerned United Birthparents (CUB) was founded by surrendering mother Lee Cambell.A. Fessler, ''The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade.'' New York: Penguin Books. 2006; pg. ??? The original mission was "to provide support for birthparents who have relinquished a child to adoption; to provide resources to help prevent unne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Detroit
Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of United States cities by population, 26th-most populous city in the United States and the largest U.S. city on the Canada–United States border. The Metro Detroit area, home to 4.3 million people, is the second-largest in the Midwestern United States, Midwest after the Chicago metropolitan area and the 14th-largest in the United States. The county seat, seat of Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County, Detroit is a significant cultural center known for its contributions to music, art, architecture and design, in addition to its historical automotive and industrial background. In 1701, Kingdom of France, Royal French explorers Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac and Alphonse de Tonty founded Fort Pontc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Master Of Social Work
The Master of Social Work (MSW) is a master's degree in the field of social work. It is a professional degree with specializations compared to Bachelor of Social Work (BSW). MSW promotes macro-, mezzo- and micro-aspects of professional social work practice, whereas the BSW focuses more on direct social work practices in community, hospitals ( outpatient and inpatient services) and other fields of social services. In some countries, such as Australia, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong SAR, some MSW degrees are considered equivalent to BSW qualifications as a qualifying degree. Canada In Canada, the MSW is considered a professional master's degree and is offered through several universities. Most schools are accredited by the Canadian Association for Social Work Education (CASWE). All students entering an MSW program are required to have a recognized bachelor's degree in a related field. Generally, students with a Bachelor of Social Work would enroll in a one-year program, whereas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Legitimacy (family Law)
Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as ''bastardy'', has been the status of a child born outside marriage, such a child being known as a bastard, a love child, a natural child, or illegitimate. In Scots law, the terms natural son and natural daughter carry the same implications. The importance of legitimacy has decreased substantially in Western countries since the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s and the declining influence of Christian churches in family and social life. A 2009 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicated that in 2007 a substantial proportion of births in Western countries occurred outside marriage. Law England's Statute of Merton (1235) stated, regarding illegitimacy: "He is a bastard that is born before the marriage of his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adoption Activists
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from the biological parents to the adoptive parents. Unlike guardianship or other systems designed for the care of the young, adoption is intended to effect a permanent change in status and as such requires societal recognition, either through legal or religious sanction. Historically, some societies have enacted specific laws governing adoption, while others used less formal means (notably contracts that specified inheritance rights and parental responsibility (access and custody), parental responsibilities without an accompanying transfer of filiation). Modern systems of adoption, arising in the 20th century, tend to be governed by comprehensive statutes and regulations. History Antiquity Adoption for the well-born While the modern form of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1908 Births
This is the longest year in either the Julian or Gregorian calendars, having a duration of 31622401.38 seconds of Terrestrial Time (or ephemeris time), measured according to the definition of mean solar time. Events January * January 1 – The British ''Nimrod'' Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton sets sail from New Zealand on the ''Nimrod'' for Antarctica. * January 3 – A total solar eclipse is visible in the Pacific Ocean and is the 46th solar eclipse of Solar Saros 130. * January 13 – A fire breaks out at the Rhoads Opera House in Boyertown, Pennsylvania, killing 171 people. * January 15 – Alpha Kappa Alpha, the first race inclusive sorority is founded on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C. * January 24 – Robert Baden-Powell's '' Scouting for Boys'' begins publication in London. The book eventually sells over 100 million copies, and effectively begins the worldwide Boy Scout movement. February * February 1 – Lisbon Regicide: Ki ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
