“We do not choose the ideas we believe in… They choose us.”
AMERICANS
FOR
OPEN
RECORDS
(AmFOR)
Member of Amnesty International
Who We Are, What We Do, What We Believe
WHO WE ARE
AmFOR was originally founded in 1989 by Lori Carangelo as a national organization by and for adoption affected citizens only, but also non-adopted citizens began to support our original, related and subsequent causes, so AmFOR expanded its focus and efforts with this mega-site to provide FREE research and assistance via our (still) free speech!
AmFOR is now an international voluntary network of citizens reclaiming "our right to know" via our dwindling access to billions of records wrongfully withheld from us and kept secret without our permission under alleged "confidentiality" and "privacy" laws, especially records in which we are named, and to certain other records which must be accessible to the public in the public interest. We are also reclaiming our right to correct any misinformation or falsifications in such records.
AmFOR incorporated in 1996 as a non-profit tax-exempt California corporation, funded at the time entirely by book sales and royalties. Today, AmFOR's expanded emphasis and projects are funded entirely as a philanthropic project of its founder.
WHAT WE DO
AmFOR has, over the years, lobbied, protested, petitioned, sued and had our books and editorials published, to OPEN UP our Wrongfully Sealed Birth and Adoption Records (degree of disclosure depends on state), our Publicly Held Records WRONGFULLY WITHHELD from our access, our Privately Held Records WRONGFULLY WITHHELD from our access, and certain of our government's WRONGFULLY CLASSIFIED Records not sanctioned by Congress (representatives of the People).
AmFOR Projects:
- Served as data source to United Nations' "Rights of the Child" Project;
- Provided data to Hague Intercountry Abduction and Adoption Treaty Conferences;
- Filed lawsuits and "friend of the court" briefs in state and federal courts in the United States, challenging sealed adoption records laws as unConstitutional;
- Compiled and published research on the plight of 150,000,000 Americans adversely affected by secrecy of adoption records;
- As Prisoner Advicate, assisted incarcerated adoptees to connect with their unknown "birth" families, to obtain attorneys, to submit "wrongfully convicted" cases to Innocence Projects, and a voice to tell their "stories behind the stories" for the firdst time.
- Since 1997, via publishers who distribute to mass market and public libtraries, AmFOR produced several updated editions of THE ULTIMATE SEARCH BOOK (most recently the "2011 Edition" pub. by Clearfield Company for Genealogical Publishing)
- Publishes information on current issues and alternatives, available FREE on AmFOR's website
- Publishes unique e-books listed on AmFOR's ACCESS PRESS e-BOOKS CATALOG that are available at AMAZON.com for KINDLE and BN.com for NOOK and iPAD.
- Provides the only totally FREE DONOR OFFSPRING/PARENT REGISTRY
WHAT WE BELIEVE
We believe all American citizens have the "right to know" what's in our records and to access and obtain what's ours, and to correct any misinformation. AmFOR supports public access to such records and believes that denying public access threatens not only our personal security but also National Security and our Democracy!
"It's hard to hear among the gunfire....But even the softest whisper can be heard when it tells the truth." from Sydney Pollack movie, "The Interpreter" (2005)
For stories about Adoptees killed in Iraq and Past Wars
Links to protest continued deployment and more, go to:
"Adoptees' War Memorial" at
http://AmFOR.net/war
An Open Letter to President Obama - http://amfor.net/Obama
