Nebraska nice? Oh dear! Cornfed nonsense! Angus manure. Let me share, briefly, my Nebraska experience. Ready? Take a deep breath my dear:
In 1948 my younger sister and I were abandoned in a dog pound or SPCA facility in Douglas county by our parents. Neither of us have encountered the other since the day we were discovered, nor are either of us born in the state that, amongst other things, commends some with a certificate naming them Admirals in The Nebraska Navy.
For those who know little to nothing about this state, it sits in the middle of the continent nowhere near the two oceans straddling the west and east coast. Two rivers of any consequence give the sate its water sources: The Missouri river which separates Nebraska from its eastern neighbor, Iowa, and the Platte, a narrow river running east to west thru the state's belly. Both the Platte and Missouri rivers are muddy and when deluges in spring and summer arrive, cause great flooding. The Plate was the path of Lewis and Clark, as well as that of the Mormons and others who headed west. Thr best things about this state are the meadowlarks, bison, prairie dogs, coyotes, wolves and the cranes. But I digress
My sister was not yet a year old when we were separated. She was literally taken from my arms and placed in custody of the state, and adopted within six months. I was 5 1/2 when my adoption was finalized. To this day my sister does not know that she is an adoptee, as in the era in which we were given that dubious distinction without our consent, adoptees were not told of their adoptive status. At my age no one could keep my adoption secret, but could and did keep my sister from me and my records sealed and denied my access to them by dint of a Dickensian law still very much in place. My identity was stolen, I was institutionalized in hospital for much time, and the court in its non-wisdom gave custody of me to a supposed childless couple, one of whom molested me and inflicted physical punishment on a daily basis, the other who enabled him while inflicting psychological and emotional abuse, all of which were ignored by the court during many sessions in which I was labeled ungrateful. incorrigible, recalcitrant and, of course, a liar. My only ally was my social worker who saw the effects of my unparents but who was helpless in attempts to make the court see my reality. I was a chronic runaway for which I was finally condemned to reside in a girl's home whose inmate included a 10 year old girl who had murdered her mother-most likely because of abuse and trauma inflicted that the court and system ignored as they did my own abusive treatment. Additionally I was shorn of my maternal language -NOT English!, my original religion, my maternal culture and my Magyar grandparents and two aunts who had protected me from my parents before my brother and I were stealthily removed from their care and taken 1500 miles to the west (where my sister was born). This, Ms Shelly, is your not-so nice Nebraska, a place I left at 18 -long before it was the age of majority only returning once. Nebraska denies adoptees their OBCs and other records, and separates siblings in the system forever. It is the only state that allows adopters the right to veto an adoptee's right to know who birthed them. Courts and agencies purge files of older adoptees routinely, destroying them without microfiche or digitalization.
I am the eldest of three and carry the knowledge my sister does not have, along with her and my original birth certificates Nebraska swore neither she nor I would never have. Being born in another state is beneficial to any adoptee in search, IF they discover that blessing. My brother, who died before I could find him, was taken with his parents. Hs life may have been far worse than my own from records and information I now have about him. I have the records I was never supposed to have because, in part, I know my rights and because I never take NO for answer when it is unjust and illegal. If my sister does DNA testing we will be a sibling match .. I am in several DNA databases with effort to find her before the inevitable death separates us further.
To NE I say FU-and that does not stand for Felix Unger! To my creator I say BarakAllahFik.. bless you!