Relates to adoptee rights; clarifies language and procedures for obtaining birth certificates and medical histories of adoptees; permits an adopted adult to access certain records when they reach the age of 18; creates a contact preference to be filed by birth parents.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5036--B
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 6, 2017
___________
Introduced by M. of A. WEPRIN, MOSLEY, OTIS, BENEDETTO, HOOPER, TITUS,
SEPULVEDA, ORTIZ, MAYER, AUBRY, PICHARDO, CUSICK, BRINDISI, MURRAY,
THIELE, BRABENEC, DiPIETRO, TITONE, GALEF, RAIA, STIRPE, COLTON,
DILAN, LAVINE, KEARNS, STECK, LOPEZ, WALKER, RICHARDSON, KIM, HIKIND,
CAHILL, JEAN-PIERRE, HEVESI, BICHOTTE, JOYNER, SANTABARBARA, DenDEKK-
ER, BLAKE, HUNTER -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. ARROYO, BARRETT,
BUCHWALD, BUTLER, COOK, CURRAN, DAVILA, DINOWITZ, ENGLEBRIGHT, FAHY,
FARRELL, GIGLIO, GJONAJ, GOTTFRIED, GRAF, HAWLEY, JOHNS, KOLB, LALOR,
LIFTON, LUPARDO, LUPINACCI, MAGEE, MALLIOTAKIS, McDONALD, McDONOUGH,
McKEVITT, M. G. MILLER, MOYA, OAKS, PALMESANO, PALUMBO, PAULIN,
PEOPLES-STOKES, PERRY, PRETLOW, RA, RAMOS, RIVERA, RODRIGUEZ, ROSEN-
THAL, RYAN, SIMANOWITZ, SKARTADOS, SOLAGES, STEC, WALTER, WRIGHT,
ZEBROWSKI -- read once and referred to the Committee on Health --
committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and
recommitted to said committee -- reported and referred to the Commit-
tee on Codes -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted
as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the domestic relations law and the public health law, in
relation to adoptee rights
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Legislative findings. The legislature hereby states its
2 intention to acknowledge, support and encourage the life-long health and
3 well-being of persons who have been and will be adopted in the state of
4 New York. The legislature further recognizes that the inability to
5 access accurate and complete medical and self-identifying data of any
6 adopted person may result in such person succumbing to preventable
7 disease, premature death or otherwise unhealthy life. As such, the
8 provisions of this act seek to establish considerations under the law
9 for adopted persons to access their birth information while providing
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09376-04-7
A. 5036--B 2
1 for the privacy of an adopted person and his or her birth and adoptive
2 families.
3 § 2. Subdivision 2 of section 114 of the domestic relations law, as
4 amended by chapter 559 of the laws of 1992 and as designated by chapter
5 601 of the laws of 1994, is amended to read as follows:
6 2. No person, including the attorney for the adoptive parents shall
7 disclose the surname of the child directly or indirectly to the adoptive
8 parents except upon order of the court. No person shall be allowed
9 access to such sealed records and order and any index thereof except
10 upon an order of a judge or surrogate of the court in which the order
11 was made or of a justice of the supreme court. [No] Except as provided
12 in subdivisions four and five of this section, no order for disclosure
13 or access and inspection shall be granted except on good cause shown and
14 on due notice to the adoptive parents and to such additional persons as
15 the court may direct. Nothing contained herein shall be deemed to
16 require the state commissioner of health or his or her designee to
17 secure a court order authorizing disclosure of information contained in
18 adoption or birth records requested pursuant to the authority of section
19 forty-one hundred thirty-eight-c or section forty-one hundred thirty-
20 eight-d of the public health law; upon the receipt of such request for
21 information, the court shall transmit the information authorized to be
22 released thereunder to the state commissioner of health or his or her
23 designee.
24 § 3. Section 114 of the domestic relations law is amended by adding a
25 new subdivision 5 to read as follows:
26 5. Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of law: (a) an adopted
27 person who has attained the age of eighteen years may apply to the court
28 in which the order of adoption was made, or to the supreme court, to
29 request an order releasing a certified copy of his or her original long
30 form birth certificate, or where no birth certificate is available, the
31 identifying information of his or her birth parent or parents, in
32 accordance with this subdivision. Such application shall include suffi-
33 cient proof of identity of such adopted person.
34 (b) Upon receipt of an application pursuant to paragraph (a) of this
35 subdivision, the court shall provide the department of health, or order
36 that such department be provided, with the identifying information of
37 the adopted person's birth parent or parents and direct the department
38 of health to make a reasonable and good faith effort, documented in
39 writing and completed within one hundred twenty days, to notify the
40 birth parent or parents and advise such parent or parents that the
41 adopted person has made an application pursuant to this subdivision.
42 Such notification and advisory given shall comply with any terms and
43 conditions set forth by the court and shall be made by means designed to
44 be sensitive to the personal nature of the matter. Such notification
45 shall also include an advisory to such parent or parents about the
46 adoption medical information registry established by section forty-one
47 hundred thirty-eight-c of the public health law and the procedures by
48 which a birth parent may provide medical information to the registry.
49 The department of health shall, before making efforts to notify the
50 birth parent or parents, determine whether such parent or parents have
51 already filed a written confirmation with the court or the department of
52 health pursuant to paragraph (h) of this subdivision or a birth parent
53 registration consent form with the adoption information registry pursu-
54 ant to subdivision ten of section forty-one hundred thirty-eight-c of
55 the public health law. Where such confirmation or consent form is on
A. 5036--B 3
1 file, the department of health shall notify the court and no such
2 efforts to notify the parent shall be made.
3 (c) Upon notification pursuant to paragraph (b) of this subdivision,
4 or earlier at the discretion of the birth parent pursuant to paragraph
5 (h) of this subdivision, such birth parent may complete a written and
6 notarized confirmation that he or she wishes to maintain confidentiality
7 of identifying information, or that he or she consents to the release of
8 identifying information.
9 (d) Upon receipt of such written confirmation, or where the parent has
10 completed a birth parent registration consent form pursuant to subdivi-
11 sion ten of section forty-one hundred thirty-eight-c of the public
12 health law, the department of health shall notify the court and provide
13 the court with the written confirmation or consent form, as the case may
14 be, completed by the birth parent. Where such consent form has been
15 revoked by a birth parent, the department of health shall so notify the
16 court and such revocation shall be considered by the court as a request
17 for continued confidentiality of identifying information.
18 (i) If the birth parent consents to the release of identifying infor-
19 mation, the court shall (A) order the release of a certified copy of the
20 long-form birth certificate to the adopted person, or (B) when such
21 birth certificate is not available, order that the identifying informa-
22 tion be made available to the adopted person.
23 (ii) If the birth parent requests continued confidentiality, the court
24 shall direct the release of a certified copy of the birth certificate
25 with the identifying information regarding such parent redacted, and
26 shall provide such adopted person with such redacted copy and file a
27 copy of the redacted version in the court record. Such redacted copy
28 shall include non-identifying information as that term is defined in
29 subdivision three of section forty-one hundred thirty-eight-c of the
30 public health law.
31 (iii) Where there are two identified birth parents and only one such
32 parent has requested confidentiality, the identifying information
33 regarding the other parent may, in the discretion of the court, be
34 released to the adopted person in accordance with this subdivision. The
35 consent of one parent shall not be construed to be consent by the other
36 parent.
37 The court shall issue a written order when making a determination
38 pursuant to subparagraphs (ii) and (iii) of this paragraph.
39 (e) (i) If after reasonable and good faith efforts pursuant to para-
40 graph (a) of this subdivision, the birth parent is unable to be notified
41 or does not respond to such notification, the department of health shall
42 so notify the court. Unless the court, in its discretion, for good cause
43 specified in its order, determines that the release of such birth
44 certificate or identifying information would be clearly detrimental to
45 the welfare of the birth parents, the court shall: (A) release, or
46 direct the release of, an unredacted, certified copy of the long-form
47 birth certificate to the adopted person, or (B) if such birth certif-
48 icate is not available, release or direct the release of the identifying
49 information that would have appeared on the original long-form birth
50 certificate. For the purposes of this paragraph, good cause shall
51 include, but is not limited to, evidence concerning the wishes of the
52 birth parent regarding confidentiality as expressed at the time of the
53 adoption or surrender. The court shall issue a written order when making
54 a determination pursuant to this paragraph.
55 (ii) Where the court determines not to release an unredacted birth
56 certificate pursuant to subparagraph (i) of this paragraph, the court
A. 5036--B 4
1 shall direct the release of a certified copy of the birth certificate
2 with the identifying information regarding the birth parent or parents
3 redacted, and shall provide such adopted person with such redacted copy.
4 (f) Upon the consent of a birth parent to release identifying informa-
5 tion pursuant to this subdivision, the department of health shall
6 provide such parent with a contact preference form that shall, if
7 completed by the birth parent, accompany a copy of a birth certificate
8 or other identifying information provided to the adopted person under
9 this subdivision and be filed with the adoption information registry
10 established by section forty-one hundred thirty-eight-c of the public
11 health law. The contact preference form shall include the following
12 content to be completed at the option of the birth parent:
13 (i) I am willing to or would like to be contacted.
14 (ii) I would prefer to be contacted only through an intermediary.
15 (iii) I have completed a medical history form and have filed it with
16 the department of health.
17 (iv) Please do not contact me. If I decide later that I would like to
18 be contacted, I will submit an updated contact preference form to the
19 court or the department of health.
20 (v) Add any additional information here (if desired):
21 The medical history form shall be in a form prescribed by the depart-
22 ment of health and shall be supplied to the birth parent with a contact
23 preference form.
24 The medical history form and contact preference form are confidential
25 communications from the birth parent to the person named on the sealed
26 birth certificate and shall be placed in separate sealed envelopes upon
27 receipt from the birth parent.
28 The sealed envelopes containing the contact preference form and
29 medical history form shall be released to a person requesting his or her
30 birth certificate under this subdivision or his or her agent, such as
31 his or her attorney, with appropriate authorization. The contact pref-
32 erence form and medical history form are private communications from the
33 birth parent to the person named on the sealed birth certificate and no
34 copies of the forms shall be retained by the court.
35 (g) The department of health shall develop an affirmative information
36 campaign and widely disseminate to the public, through its website,
37 public service announcements and other means, in multiple languages and
38 through multiple outlets, information concerning the adoption informa-
39 tion registry established by section forty-one hundred thirty-eight-c of
40 the public health law and the provisions of this subdivision, including,
41 but not limited to, the means by which a birth parent may file a written
42 confirmation pursuant to paragraph (h) of this subdivision with the
43 court that ordered the adoption or the department of health that he or
44 she wishes to maintain the confidentiality of identifying information,
45 or consents to the release of such identifying information.
46 (h) A birth parent may, at any time, file a written and notarized
47 confirmation with the court that ordered the adoption or with the
48 department of health indicating that he or she wishes to maintain confi-
49 dentiality of identifying information or that he or she consents to the
50 release of identifying information. The department of health shall noti-
51 fy the court and provide the court with a copy of such written confirma-
52 tion. The court shall honor such written confirmation unless it is with-
53 drawn or modified, in notarized writing, by the birth parent.
54 (i) For the purposes of this subdivision, "adopted person" shall
55 include a person who was surrendered as described in subdivision seven
56 of section one hundred nine of this article.
A. 5036--B 5
1 § 4. Subdivision 10 of section 4138-c of the public health law, as
2 added by chapter 435 of the laws of 2008, is amended and a new subdivi-
3 sion 10-a is added to read as follows:
4 10. The commissioner is directed to develop an adoption information
5 registry birth parent registration consent form to be completed at the
6 time of surrender or consent to adoption. Such form shall include check-
7 off boxes to be appropriately marked by the biological parent or parents
8 whose consent is necessary for the relinquishment of such child indicat-
9 ing whether or not such parent consents to the receipt of identifying
10 information and a certified copy of the original birth certificate by
11 the child to be adopted. A copy of such form shall be sent to the
12 department with copies of the original and amended birth certificates.
13 Such form shall state that it is the responsibility of the birth parent
14 to update the registry with any changes in contact information. The form
15 shall additionally advise the biological parents of the adoption medical
16 information sub-registry and the procedures by which a birth parent may
17 provide medical information to the sub-registry. Notwithstanding any
18 inconsistent provision of law to the contrary, the commissioner is
19 directed to develop any rules and regulations necessary to expedite the
20 transfer of information from any agency, court or department necessary
21 to implement this subdivision.
22 10-a. Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of law to the contra-
23 ry, for surrenders occurring and orders of adoptions entered after the
24 effective date of this subdivision, where the biological parent or
25 parents whose consent is necessary for the relinquishment of such child
26 consents to the release of a certified copy of the child's original
27 birth certificate or does not affirmatively request, on the form
28 described in subdivision ten of this section, that such original birth
29 certificate remain confidential, the surrendered or adopted person
30 shall, after attaining the age of eighteen and upon application to the
31 department and adequate proof of identity, have the right to receive a
32 certified copy of their original birth certificate.
33 § 5. This act shall take effect April 15, 2018, provided, however,
34 that paragraphs (g) and (h) of subdivision 5 of section 114 of the
35 domestic relations law, as added by section three of this act, shall
36 take effect on the thirtieth day after such effective date.
