FINALLY. After an over three and a half decade battle, citizens adopted in New Jersey now have the right to receive their own original birth certificates. I stand in awe of the long-standing effort. The tenacity and resolve of Pam Hasegawa and many many other people in NJ-CARE is a testament to the power of citizens (and legislators) to right a wrong.

My first film, “The Triumvirate”, was going to be the only documentary I ever made on adoption. Then Pam asked me if I would come to New Jersey and make her group, NJ-CARE, a short public service announcement (PSA). That request changed my life forever and led to my documentary advocacy work creating films, from shorts to features, to help legislators and citizens understand what adopted citizens and first parents and adoptive parents go through when secrecy is imposed upon their lives forever.

In honor of the historic enactment of the New Jersey law, I have decided to put all my adoption films online for free – in perpetuity. This will include not only what’s been done, but also what’s next. There are many films I haven’t yet had a chance to cut (Rhode Island, Missouri, to name just a couple) and there is a feature in the works on New Jersey. “Citizen Adoptee” will take a while (I have the film on Joan Lind Van Blom to finish, and since my filming in NJ goes back to 2005, well, its going to take a little bit). But when it is completed, it will be available for all.

Fifty films are already available for your viewing at the ADOPTEE FILM CHANNEL. A dedicated website is also in the works.

Congratulations NJ-CARE! Bon apetit ALL!