MAINE: Heir's Adoption of Lesbian Lover Annulled in Maine, July 7, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
July 7, 2008

Heir's adoption of lesbian lover annulled in Maine
By JERRY HARKAVY

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — An adult adoption involving lesbian partners and a claim to a share of a family fortune built on IBM has been annulled, bouncing the case to Maine's highest court.

At issue is whether it was legal for a judge to allow Olive Watson to adopt Patricia Spado in 1991 in Knox County, where the longtime partners spent several weeks each summer on an island in Penobscot Bay.

Watson was a daughter of Thomas Watson Jr., who took International Business Machines Corp. from punch cards into electronic computing.

The relationship between Spado and Watson ended a year after the adoption was approved, and in 2005 — after Thomas Watson and his wife had both died — the adoption was challenged in court by other heirs to the Watson fortune.

After Thomas Watson and his wife died, their grandchildren became eligible for cash payouts and Spado claimed the adoption made her a beneficiary.

The probate judge who granted the adoption granted the heirs' petition and annulled it on a residency issue on April 24, but her sealed ruling didn't come to light until an appeal brief was filed with the state supreme court, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. In Maine, adoption records are confidential, even though the women were in their 40s when the adoption took place.

Spado and Olive Watson had lived together for 14 years before their breakup, spending only five nights apart. Under their separation agreement, Watson paid her ex-partner about $500,000 in exchange for relinquishing her claim to certain real estate.

The settlement, however, was apparently not intended to terminate Spado's rights to inheritance as a granddaughter. Her court filings contain a letter signed by Watson after the breakup in which she says: "I shall at no time initiate any action to revoke or annul my adoption of you."

Gay rights activists say the case shows the lengths to which same-sex couples would go to ensure a partner's financial security in the days before they were allowed to form civil unions or to marry.

Olive Watson and Spado had been living in New York at the time of the adoption, but that state barred the adoption of a homosexual partner.

Maine law required that the adoptee had to "live" in the state and the adopting parent had to "reside" there, but the state's adoption law does not specifically define either term. During their 14 years together, Spado and Watson spent several weeks each summer at Watson's home at her family's compound on North Haven, known as Oak Hill.

In their legal appeal brief, Spado's lawyers argue against annulling an adoption that had been allowed to stand for so long on the basis of undefined domicile requirements.

"Most disturbing, this challenge can come not just in a direct appeal, but at any time, even decades later, in a collateral attack long after final judgment and longstanding reliance on the adoption," the brief stated.

Even though the heirs reached their goal of annulling the adoption, they also are appealing in a bid to broaden the foundation of their case. Their attorney, Stephen Hanscom, plans to argue that the adoption should also have been annulled on other grounds: that it was obtained by two partners seeking to manufacture inheritance rights and that they did not intend to establish a normal parent-child relationship.

Hanscom plans to file his legal brief at the end of the month.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court is likely to hear arguments on the appeals this fall.

Link to article

MAINE: Beavers Takes 2nd tab at Lewin, April 29, 2008

SEACOAST ONLINE
April 29, 2008

Beavers Takes 2nd Stab at Lewin
By David Ramsay

news@seacoastonline.com
April 29, 2008 6:00 AM

SOUTH BERWICK, Maine — Roberta Beavers has announced her candidacy for representative to the Maine Legislature, District 148, which includes all of Eliot and part of South Berwick. She will be running against Republican incumbent Sarah Lewin.

Beavers said she has been busy since she narrowly lost her first election bid against Lewin in 2006.

"The primary thing was working on the Adoptee Human Rights Bill that passed in 2007," she said. "I was commuting often to Augusta, where I hand-selected a bipartisan team of sponsors for this bill.

"It was the right combination of people from both sides of the aisle and from the House and the Senate," she added. "The bill empowers adult adopted people to obtain a copy of their original birth certificate and pay the same fee as anybody not adopted, and also empowers the parents of origin whether of not they wish to be contacted."

In addition to the legislative work, Beavers said she has become involved with the Eliot and South Berwick historical societies, both garden clubs, both libraries as far as fund-raising, and the same for the Great Works Regional Land Trust.

For her work in adoption, Beavers received a U.S. Congressional Angel in Adoption Award and went down to Washington to receive it along with nine other members of her legislative team, including the bill's sponsors.

"I have been listening carefully to the people of Eliot and South Berwick, respecting their concerns and advocating for them in Augusta and will continue to do so," said Beavers.

She said that two of the most critical concerns are energy costs and health care.

"Since Maine consumes less power than it exports, let's run our own electricity system or join the neighboring Canadian grid and reduce the barriers to clean renewable energy resources," she said. "The Canadians are willing to talk, and we should be too."

To reduce health-care costs, she said: "Let's get rid of the near monopoly by one health insurance company. Our people and our businesses are being hurt badly. Without radical change here, there will be no change in the overall business environment."

Beavers' work experience includes 18 years in the chemical industry as a research chemist, marketing analyst and marketing manager, and seven years as a small business owner in computers. She gained her greatest career satisfaction as a career counselor and as an art gallery manager for nonprofit organizations, she said.

Link to article

UNITED STATES:/MAINE: Adopted Main Senator Finds Birth Parents, February 29, 2008

Also links to poll and high-traffic forum on adoptee rights.

ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT
February 29, 2008

Adopted Maine Senator Finds Birth Parents: Sen. Paula Benoit Says Unsealing Her Birth Records Changed her Life

By Gigi Stone

Paula Benoit lives a full life, balancing motherhood with a career as a state senator in Maine. Yet ever since she can remember, there was something gnawing inside her, something she wanted to know.

"I really had always wondered about my identity, who I looked like, my medical history," Benoit said.

Benoit was adopted as an infant. At age 52, she decided it was finally time to find out the identity of her natural parents. She went to court to obtain her birth certificate.

Her request was denied. In Maine, as in most states, adoption records are sealed.

Do you think adult adoptees should be able to obtain their birth records? VOTE HERE.

Are you an adoptee considering reaching out to a birth parent? Is your family considering adoption? Click here for adoption-related Web resources.

"I want that piece of paper," said Benoit. "What right does that judge have to sit there with my records?"

So she began working on legislation to unseal records for all adoptees in her home state. When the state legislature passed this bill last year, Maine became the eighth state to give adoptees full access to their birth records, including their parents' names.

Other states that have unsealed birth certificates include Alabama, Delaware, New Hampshire, Tennessee and Massachusetts. Kansas and Alaska were never sealed them. Right now, bills are pending to unseal adoption records in New York, New Jersey, Ohio and Minnesota.

But the bills are facing some strong opposition.

Members of some Catholic groups worry that passage of these bills might lead more women to have abortions. Groups like the National Council for Adoption, which argues for the rights of mothers who gave up their babies, said that if birth mothers or adopted children really want to find each other, they can list their names in registries set up by states.

There are no laws that promise birth mothers anonymity, but many women who gave up their children for adoption did so after agencies reassured them and social workers that the records would remain sealed.

"Marie," who refused to be identified, put her baby up for adoption nearly 20 years ago. She fears that if her husband and children find out about her secret all these years later, it will tear her family apart.

"To just rip open people's lives when you really don't know what their experiences have been that have caused that decision in the first place is something to me that is, I mean it's almost cruel," said "Marie."

But Paula Benoit believes it was cruel to keep her identity a secret. And she finally learned the names of her birth parents. She also discovered something else she never could have imagined. Two of her colleagues in the Maine legislature, State Sen. Bruce Bryant and State Rep. Mark Bryant, are her nephews.

"I just sat in the chair and thought, 'Oh, my gosh,'" said Benoit.

"The major shock is that she's serving in the Senate," said Bryant. "I'm serving in the Senate, and we're in the same building."

Paula Benoit said unsealing her birth records has changed her life. She wants that experience for all adoptees. Despite the promises made to mothers made in the past, she believes today that people like her have the right to know.


Link to article
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/story?id=&page=1

MAINE: Senator Gets National Attention for Adoption Bill, February 26, 2008

Kennebec Journal Staff report
February 26, :09 PM

Senator gets national attention for adoption bill

AUGUSTA — State Sen. Paula Benoit, R-Phippsburg, will
be part of a news story airing on ABC News with
Charlie Gibson because of her efforts to pass
legislation to help adopted adults.

Benoit, who was adopted, sponsored legislation last
year to give adult adoptees access to their original
birth certificates. While exploring her family
history, Benoit discovered she is the aunt of two
sitting state lawmakers — Rep. Mark Bryant, D-Windham,
and Sen. Bruce Bryant, D-Dixfield.

“The fact that in trying to find my identity I
discovered that two of my legislative colleagues were
my nephews is a great story, but it is also important
to remember that while the story is great, what is
most important is that because of this law thousands
of adult adoptees will be able to have access to their
original identity in 2009,” she said in a statement.

The segment is expected to air Wednesday, Thursday or
Friday at 6:30 p.m. on ABC. Benoit’s district includes
Richmond, and 10 other Sagadahoc County communities,
along with Dresden in Lincoln County.

Link to article

NOTE: (NOTE: For some reason the link isn't working, though it was cut and pasted in. Here is the URL: http://news.mainetoday.com/updates/022889.html