Adoption Activism

In the meantime, Cheryl is getting involved in the activist side of adoption. A local medical center started asking parents bringing in children for appointments whether the children were biological or adopted. If the parent answered biological, no more questions were asked. If the parent answered adopted, they were asked for proof of adoption. When the parents offered the child’s insurance card, with both their and the child’s names, that was deemed insufficient.

This was reported by several families on the BayAreaGuatAdopt listserve with a request that people write to the medical administration asking for equal treatment. Within a week, the medical center had sent a message to the Bay Area adoption community apologizing for the lack of equal treatment, stating that they had withdrawn the policy until it could be implemented fairly.