The 87th Texas legislative session is done. Unfortunately, our adoptee equality bill did not advance in the Senate, even though it had passed out of the House with a 144-1 vote.
We won’t lament about the reasons why, but we will reiterate that there is NO organized opposition to this bill. In fact, this session we gained former opponents as supporters, including the Gladney Center for Adoption. We continued to have unwavering support from Abrazo Adoption Associates, and thank Elizabeth Jurenovich for her incredible testimony before the Public Health Committee.
We also thank numerous state and national organizations as allies and supporters, including the American Adoption Congress, the Child Welfare League of America, the Texas Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys, National Center on Adoption and Permanency, Concerned United Birthparents, and the North American Council on Adoptable Parents, all of which provided letters of support!
This session with the coalition I continued to work hand-in-hand with our core partners: Gladney Adoptees for Rights and Equality, Adoptee Rights Law Center, and Bastard Nation. We also formed a new and strong alliance with Support Texas Adoptee Rights and added the Texas Coalition for Adoption Resources & Education (TxCARE) as a new core coalition partner with the coalition.
Throughout the session we watched our incredible bill sponsor Cody Harris champion this bill like no other! We are incredibly thankful to Representative Harris and his chief of staff, Jeff Carlson, for their hard work and their friendly open-door atmosphere in their office.
Most of all we are thankful to you, our supporters. You responded to multiple calls to action, left encouraging messages and comments to those of us working on the ground, and without your support we could not do what we do.
Texas will restore equality to ALL adopted Texans. It’s not a matter of if—it’s a matter of when. We promise to keep going, and we hope you will too.
We ask those of you who are residents of Texas, to please reach out to your senate and house reps and request to speak with them about this issue. You can contact them in their district office, and be sure to tell them adoptee rights matter to you, and should matter to them too. Ask them to support next session, and tell them how important it is to you as a constituent that they show leadership on this issue.
Rest assured, we will be doing this as well. The session has ended, but the discussion should continue. Let’s keep going! Thanks, y’all.
Shawna Hodgson
TXARC Spokesperson
The Texas Adoptee Rights Coalition is a coalition of Texas and national organizations working to secure the right of all Texas adult adoptees to obtain their own original birth certificates, without discriminatory restrictions.