Bill > S2586

Introduced Session

This bill establishes a framework for persons adopted prior to and after the effective date of the bill to gain access to an uncertified, long-form copy of the original certificate of birth of the adopted person, based on a written, notarized request to the State Registrar in the Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) by an adopted person 18 years of age or older (adult adoptee) or, under certain circumstances, the adoptive parent or guardian of a minor adopted person, as specified in the bill. In the case of a person adopted prior to the effective date of the bill who has had contact with a birth parent, the adult adoptee or adoptive parent or guardian may submit to the State Registrar a written, notarized request for an uncertified, long-form copy of the original certificate of birth of the adopted person, and also shall provide a written, notarized consent from the birth parent of the adopted person, on a form prescribed by DHSS, stating that the birth parent consents to the release of the certificate of birth to the requester. Upon receipt of the consent form, the State Registrar would retain the form in the adopted persons original certificate of birth file, and provide the uncertified, long-form copy of the original certificate of birth to the requester. If the birth certificate includes the names of both birth parents and the State Registrar has not received a written consent from both birth parents, the name of the birth parent who did not provide consent would be redacted prior to releasing the uncertified, long-form copy of the original certificate of birth to the requester. In the case of a person adopted prior to the effective date of the bill, if the adult adoptee, or adoptive parent or guardian of a minor adopted person who seeks release of a certificate of birth due to the minors medical condition, is unable to submit a consent, as described above, the adult adoptee or adoptive parent or guardian may submit to the State Registrar a written, notarized request for an uncertified, long-form copy of the original certificate of birth of the adopted person. Upon receipt of the request, the State Registrar would contact a "certified confidential intermediary," who is a person: (1) trained to perform confidential diligent searches for a birth parent by an approved adoption agency (licensed by the Department of Children and Families (DCF), or has a minimum of two years experience successfully conducting the searches on behalf of an approved agency; and (2) certified by DCF to perform confidential diligent searches for a birth parent. DCF would maintain a list of certified confidential intermediaries, which would be shared with DHSS. The search would be conducted for each birth parent named on the original certificate of birth. If the search reveals that: · the birth parent consents to the release of an uncertified, long-form copy of the original certificate of birth to the requester, the certified confidential intermediary must obtain a written, notarized consent, on a form prescribed by DHSS, from the birth parent stating that the birth parent consents to the release. Upon receipt of the consent form, the State Registrar would retain the form in the adopted persons original certificate of birth file, and provide an uncertified, long-form copy of the original certificate of birth of the adopted person to the requester. The State Registrar would include with the copy a notice recommending the requester contact the approved agency or the attorney who facilitated the adoption prior to seeking contact with the birth parent, to obtain information about counseling resources and the use of a confidential intermediary for the purpose of making contact with the birth parent; · the birth parent does not consent to the release of the uncertified, long-form copy of the original certificate of birth of the adopted person, the certified confidential intermediary must request that the birth parent submit family medical history information, on a form prescribed by DHSS, and update that form, as appropriate, by submitting the initial and any updated forms to the State Registrar, who would retain the initial and any updated forms in the birth file. Upon receipt of an initial family medical history information form, the State Registrar would provide a copy of the initial form to the requester with all identifying information redacted, and updated information forms would be provided upon subsequent written, notarized requests to the State Registrar. Additionally, the certified confidential intermediary must advise the birth parent that, in the future, if the birth parent wishes to consent to the release of the uncertified, long-form copy of the original certificate of birth, the birth parent may complete and submit to the State Registrar a consent form, as provided for above. If the birth parent submits the consent form, the State Registrar would retain the form in the birth file, and provide the requester with an uncertified, long-form copy of the original certificate of birth of the adopted person, as well as the notice recommending contact with the agency or attorney who facilitated the adoption; · the birth parent is deceased or after 12 months the certified confidential intermediary is unable to locate the birth parent, the certified confidential intermediary shall so advise the State Registrar, on a form prescribed by DHSS. The State Registrar would retain the form in the birth file, and provide an uncertified, long-form copy of the original certificate of birth of the adopted person to the requester; or · the birth parent is unable to complete a consent form because the birth parent is an incapacitated individual as defined in N.J.S.3B:1-2, the certified confidential intermediary must attempt to obtain consent from the legal guardian of the birth parent. Upon receipt of a written, notarized consent from the legal guardian, the State Registrar would retain the form in the birth file, and provide the uncertified, long-form copy of the original certificate of birth of the adopted person to the requester. If the certified confidential intermediary is unable to obtain such consent, the uncertified, long-form copy of the original certificate of birth would not be provided. · If the original certificate of birth includes the names of both birth parents and the search reveals that: -- one birth parent or the legal guardian of a birth parent who is an incapacitated individual does not consent to the release of the original certificate of birth of the adopted person to the requester, the State Registrar shall redact the name of that birth parent from the uncertified, long-form copy of the original certificate of birth, and provide the redacted copy to the requester; -- one birth parent is deceased and the surviving birth parent does not consent to the release, the State Registrar shall redact the name of the surviving birth parent from the uncertified, long-form copy of the original certificate of birth, and provide the redacted copy to the requester; or -- one birth parent cannot be located 12 months after commencement of the confidential diligent search, the State Registrar shall provide the uncertified, long-form copy of the original certificate of birth or any family medical history information submitted, as applicable, based on the results of the search for the birth parent who was located. In the case of adoptions that take place after the effective date of the bill, the birth parent would submit to an approved agency or the attorney who facilitated the adoption at the time of the surrender of the child for adoption, a birth parent information statement. DCF would establish regulations to ensure that, at the time of the surrender, the approved agency or attorney who facilitate the adoption would inform both birth parents of the procedures for submitting a statement. The birth parent could, in the future, ask to update and submit a revised statement to the approved agency or attorney. The statement would be established by DCF, and would specify the level of information relating to an adoption that would be shared with the adult adoptee, or an adoptive parent or guardian of a minor adopted person who seeks release of a certificate of birth due to the minors medical condition, if a written, notarized request for an uncertified, long-form copy of the original certificate of birth is submitted to the State Registrar. The levels of information from which a birth parent could select are: · "Complete information sharing," which would allow for the release of an uncertified, long-form copy of the original certificate of birth of the adopted person to the requester; · "Intermediary information sharing only," which would prohibit the release of an uncertified, long-form copy of the original certificate of birth of the adopted person to the requester but would allow for communication with the requester through a certified confidential intermediary or another third party designated by the birth parent on the birth parent information statement; or · "Medical information sharing only," which would prohibit the release of an uncertified, long-form copy of the original certificate of birth of the adopted person to the requester but would allow for periodic communication, limited to the sharing of family medical history information, with the requester through a certified confidential intermediary or another third party designated by the birth parent on the birth parent information statement. The statement would be transmitted, once completed or revised, by the approved agency or attorney who facilitated the adoption to the State Registrar who would retain the statement in the adopted persons original certificate of birth file. Upon receipt of a request from an adult adoptee, or an adoptive parent or guardian of a minor adopted person who seeks release of a certificate of birth due to the minors medical condition, the State Registrar would review the adopted persons original certificate of birth file, and if the birth parent submitted a birth parent information statement specifying: · "complete information sharing," the State Registrar would provide an uncertified, long-form copy of the original certificate of birth of the adopted person to the requester and a notice recommending that the requester contact the approved agency or the attorney who facilitated the adoption prior to seeking contact with the birth parent to obtain information about counseling resources and the use of a confidential intermediary for the purpose of making contact with the birth parent; · "intermediary information sharing only," the State Registrar would inform the requester of the births parents wish to communicate with the requester through a certified confidential intermediary or another third party; or · "medical information sharing only," the State Registrar would inform the requester of the birth parents wish for periodic communication, limited to the sharing of family medical history information, with the requester through a certified confidential intermediary or another third party. If both birth parents have not submitted birth parent information statements specifying "complete information sharing," the State Registrar would: redact the name and other identifying information of the birth parent who has not specified "complete information sharing" from the uncertified, long-form copy of the original certificate of birth; provide the redacted copy to the requester; and share other information based on the statements. If a birth parent submitted a revised birth parent information statement to the approved agency or attorney who facilitated the adoption, the State Registrar would share information with the requester based on the revised statement. The bill also includes language to allow for searches conducted pursuant to DCF regulations. In addition, the bill specifies that it does not alter the requirement for an approved agency to provide, at the time of surrender of a child, a prospective parent with non-identifying information, relevant to the childs development, including the childs developmental and medical history, and the parents complete medical histories, as provided in section 1 of P.L.1979, c.292 (C.9:3-41.1). The bill also stipulates that the State Registrar shall not provide an adult adoptee or an adoptive parent or guardian of a minor adopted person with an uncertified, long-form copy of the original certificate of birth of a child who was surrendered pursuant to the "New Jersey Safe Haven Infant Protection Act," P.L.2000, c.58 (C.30:4C-15.5 et seq.). With regard to fees for conducting confidential diligent searches, the bill provides that fees would be charged to an adopted person 18 years of age or older, or an adoptive parent or guardian of a minor adopted person, as applicable, according to a sliding fee schedule, which would be established by DHSS, by regulation. The bill also requires the Commissioner of Health and Senior Services, in consultation with the Commissioner of Children and Families, as appropriate, to adopt rules and regulations to carry out the provisions of the bill, and also provides for the adoption of emergency regulations that would be effective for a period not to exceed 12 months and would, thereafter, be amended, adopted, or readopted in accordance with the requirements of the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.). Lastly, the bill takes effect upon the adoption of the emergency regulations.

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Anthony Bucco (R)*,  Raymond Lesniak (D)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee (on 12/30/2010)