NC Adoption History

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NC History of Adoption

The following is the statute which actually sealed the original birth certificate of an adoptee in the State of North Carolina. Original birth certificates issued prior to this date should not have been pulled and sealed by the county register of deeds of any county, however they were.

1945: H.B.248 Chapter 155

AN ACT TO AMEND THE GENERAL STATUTES OF NORTH CAROLINA RELATIVE TO THE BIRTH CERTIFICATE OF A CHILD WHOSE NAME IS CHANGED IN AN ADOPTION PROCEEDING:

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

Section 1. Section forty-eight - seven of the General Statute of north Carolina is hereby amended to read as follows:

Section48-7. Chang of name; new certificate; copy to register of deeds. For proper cause shown the court may decree that the name of the child shall be changed to such name as may be prayed in the petition. When the name of any child is so changed, the court shall immediately report such change to the Bureau of Vital Statistics of the State Board of Health. Upon receipt of the report, the State Register of Vital statistics shall prepare a new birth certificate for the child named in the report, which shall contain the following information; name of child, sex, color, date of birth, name of adoptive father, maiden name of adoptive mother, and such other pertinent information as may be determined by the State Board of Health. No reverence shall be made on the new certificate to the adoption of the child, or shall the adopting parents be referred to as foster parents. The State Registrar shall place the original certificate of birth and all papers in his hand pertaining to the adoption under seal which shall not be broken except by order of court of competent jurisdiction. Thereafter, when a certificate copy of the certificate of birth of such person is issued, it shall be a copy of the new birth certificate, except when an order of court of competent jurisdiction shall require the issuance of a copy of the original certificate of birth. The State Registrar shall forward a copy of the new birth certificate to the register of deeds of the North Carolina County where the proceeding for adoption was instituted.

SEC. 2. All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with this Act are hereby repealed.

SEC. 3. This Act shall become effective upon the ratification.

Ratified this the 15th day of February, 1945

The following is history which was part of the "Legislative Research Commission Adoption Registry Committee, which was held from 1997 - 1999.

1949: House Bill 203, (1949,c.300,s.1):

The provisions of Chapter 48 of the North Carolina General Statutes relating to the confidentiality of adoption records were first amended in the 1947 General Session by House Bill 65, which was ratified on April 4, 1947. However, after the passage of the Act, it was discovered that an enacting clause had been omitted, and subsequently the North Carolina Supreme Court held that the omission invalidated the Act. Therefore, the provisions of House Bill 65 were not actually incorporated into Chapter 48 until the 1949 Session with the passage of House Bill 203.

Prior to 1949 and the enactment of House Bill 203, Chapter 48 did not have a separate section pertaining to the confidentiality and disclosure of adoption records. The Chapter contained only a few sentences pertaining to how the records were to be stored and maintained. The original language required the court to instruct the county superintendent of Public Welfare or representative of a child placing agency to investigate the "conditions and antecedents" of the child, and make a written report of its findings.

Note: "County superintendent of Public Welfare" changed to read county Director of Public Welfare in 1961, (1961 c,186)). This title was changed again in 1969 to "County Department of Social Services, (1969, c. 1969 s.1).

The report was forwarded by the Clerk of Superior Court to the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare, which was then required to index the report along with the name of the child, the names of its natural parents, the names of its adoptive parents, and the new legal name given to the child in a "book". The information contained in the book was not to be made public unless, in the opinion of a Judge of Superior Court, disclosure of information may be in the best interests of the child or to the public.

The 1949 amendments rewrote Chapter 48 and added two new sections pertaining specifically to the confidentiality and disclosure of adoption records and related information. The new sections:

· G.S. 48-25 succinctly maintained the general rule that adoption records were not to be open to public inspection, but expanded the law to reflect administrative changes over the years in how adoption records were being recorded and maintained.

· G.S. 48-26 provided that disclosure of any necessary information in the files or the records could only be disclosed upon a written motion in the cause before a clerk of original jurisdiction who was authorized to issue an order to open the record. The order issued by the clerk was required to be reviewed and approved by a Judge of the Superior Court. The Judge would approve the order if, in the opinion of the Judge, it would be to the best interest of the child or public to have such information disclosed. But it was the Clerk, not the Judge who actually issued the order.

· 48-26 also specifically authorized a person to appeal to the Judge in the event the Clerk refused to issue the order.

1979: House Bill 1180, (1979,c.739,s.1)

The 1979 amendments added G.S.48-25(d), allowing for the specific disclosure of information concerning the physical or mental health of the adopted child. Specifically the subsection:

· authorization of the disclosure (not conditioned upon the issuance of an order to open the record) separate and distinct from G.S. 48-26;

· the provision applied to any medical record or other information concerning the physical or mental health of the adopted child which is contained in the adoption records;

· also applied to any background of the child's natural parents which would have a "substantial bearing" on the child's health;

· mandated disclosure of such information when a written request was received from:

· the adopted child who has reached majority (age 18);

· the adoptive parents

· the new provision required the custodian of the record to excise any information that served to identify the natural parents including:

· information identifying physicians, medical facilities or geographical locations.

1981: House Bill 1146, (1981 c. 924, s. 2):

This 1981 amendments rewrote G.S. 48-25(d) as follows:

· required county department of social services or licensed placing agencies to provide, if available, certain non-identifying information to:

· adoptive parents prior to the finalization of the adoption, (no formal request necessary);

· adoptive parents of minor adoptee's whose adoptions were finalized prior to July 10, 1981 (the date of the enactment of the bill), if a request is received in writing;

· the adoptee if 21 or older, if a request is received in writing;

· limited the types of non-identifying information to:

· the date of birth and the birth weight of the adoptee;

· the age of the biological parents in years, (not the date of birth), at the time of birth;

· the heritage of biological parents, limited to the nationality, ethnic background and race;

· the number of years the biological parents had completed of school by the time of the birth of the adoptee;

· general physical appearance of the biological parents at the time of the birth of the adoptee.

The 1981 amendments also added a new subsection (e) to G.S. 48-25 which:

· required the county department of social services to provide, if available, a complete health history of the biological parents and other relatives of the adoptee to:

· the adoptive parents prior to the finalization of the adoption;

· to any adoptee 21 years of age or older, upon written request.

· to adoptive parent of any minor adoptee or adoptee's 21 years of age or older if the adoption was finalized prior to July 10, 1981, upon written request.

· required the information to be given on a standardized form

· restricted disclosure to only information, which would have a substantial bearing on the adoptee's mental or physical health (consistent with 1981 law).

1987: Senate Bill 846:

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE DISCLOSURE OF ADOPTION RECORDS UPON THE REQUEST OF AN ADOPTED PERSON WHO IS TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER.

Legislative History:

May 5, 1987: Introduced and referred to the Committee on Children and Youth. May 26 1987: Reported unfavorably by Committee.

Bill Summary: Senate Bill 846 would have added a new section to G.S. 48-25 providing that on written request of an adoptee, age 21 or older, the Department of Human Resources (DHR) would be required to search its sealed adoption records for information concerning the last known location of the adopted person's biological parents, and try to locate them at that address. If Unsuccessful, DHR was to make a diligent effort to obtain their current address(es). On locating the biological parents, DHR would have been required to notify them of the adoptee's inquiry. If the biological parent consented, the adoptee would have been provided with the name, address, and other identifying information concerning that parent contained in the sealed adoption records. If a biological parent could not be located after a diligent search (including sending notice to last known mailing address), DHR would have been required to provide the adoptee with the name, last known address, and other identifying information concerning the individual listed on the adoptee's original birth certificate as the person's parents. The bill would have given biological parents and siblings of the adoptee the same rights as the adoptee.

1989: House Bill 200:

AN ACT TO GIVE ADOPTEE'S AND THEIR BIOLOGICAL RELATIVES GREATER ACCESS TO RELEVANT MEDICAL INFORMATION AND TO ESTABLISH A MUTUAL CONSENT VOLUNTARY ADOPTION REGISTRY.

Legislative History:

February 12, 1989: The original bill was introduced. April 20, 1989: Referred to the House Human Resources Committee. May 9, 1989: Reported favorably by Committee Substitute Re-referred to the Finance Committee. July 28, 1990: The House Committee Substitute Postponed Indefinitely.

Summary of the Mutual Consent Voluntary Registry Provisions (Original Bill):

House Bill 200 would have added a new section to Chapter 48 directing the Department of Human Resources (DHR) to establish and maintain a mutual consent voluntary registry for the purpose of facilitating voluntary contact between mutually consenting adopted persons and their biological relatives.

Who could use the Registry: Only adoptee's and biological relatives who were 21 or older would have been eligible to use the registry. A biological father of an adoptee would have only been considered, under the bill, to be a "biological relative" if he were the presumed father under the law, or had established paternity, or legitimated the adoptee by law or by marriage, or had provided substantial financial support or consistent care with respect to the adoptee and the biological mother prior to the adoption.

Disclosure of identifying information: The Registry would have allowed the adoptee or the adoptee's biological relatives to submit a consent form containing identifying information to DHR. The person could specify the persons to whom identifying information may be disclosed. No identifying information about an adoptee would have been allowed to be disclosed to anyone who was not specifically designated on the consent form. When an adoptee and biological relative had both filed consent forms with the registry designating the other as a person to whom identifying information could be disclosed, then a "match" had been made. Once a match was made, the bill required DHR to facilitate contact between the two people.

Provisions in the bill would have required persons filing corresponding consent forms to participate in at least two hours of counseling with a trained social worker about post adoption issues prior to having contact effectuated.

"Opt-out" Procedure: If any adoptee or biological relative did not want ever to be contacted regarding a request for disclosure of identifying information, they could submit a "denial of consent" for to DHR.

Search Procedure: If the person whose identity is sought has not filed a consent form, the bill required DHR to make a diligent effort to contact that person and to inform them about the registry and that the request for their identity had been made. If that person then wanted to be identified, they could file a consent form with the registry and a match could be made. If the person did not want to be identified, or if they were found to be deceased or just could not be located, the requesting person would be informed of this and the person's identity would remain sealed.

The House Committee Substitute added the following provisions:

· Contact could only be made to a person who had not filed a consent form if the adoption was finalized on or after January 1, 1990.

· Defined "diligent effort" to mean effort to contact person using public records and information derived from adoption records.

· Required DHR to publicize the Registry.

1993: House Bill 1037:

AN ACT TO AMEND THE ADOPTION LAWS PERTAINING TO ACCESS TO ADOPTION RECORDS.

Legislative History:

April 19,1993 : The original bill was introduced as a bill, stating that the General Assembly intends to amend the adoption laws governing where adoption records are kept, examination of records by the parties and attorneys and the use of adoption records by state and private adoption agencies.

July 9, 1993: The bill was referred to the House Committee on Rules, Calendar and Operation of the House. The bill was reported out of the Committee as a Committee Substitute without Prejudice and re-referred to the Judiciary III Committee.

Summary of the Committee Substitute: The Committee Substitute would have expanded access to adoption records in several ways. The county Department of Social Services (DSS) or child-placing agency:

· could have used information contained in its records relating to adoptive parents in connection with a subsequent adoption matter involving the same adoptive parents.

· could have used information pertaining to an adoptee when the adoption disrupted after finalization or when the information was required by federal law.

· would have been allowed to petition the superior court in the county of adoption for access to its own records of the adoption for the purpose of adding medical information obtained after the finalization of the adoption or to release no identifying medical information necessary because of a medical emergency or to be used for medical diagnosis or treatment. (But see Senate Bill 159).

· could have, upon the written request of an adopted person 21 years or older, released to the adopted person the name of the person's biological parents, if available and verified, and if the biological parent had submitted to the county DSS or child placing agency their un-revoked written permission for the release of their name to the adopted person.

· in the event that the county DSS or child placing agency did not have the biological parent's un-revoked consent on file, the bill established procedures requiring DSS or the child placing agency to attempt to make confidential contact with the biological parent to notify them that a request for the release of their name to the adopted person had been made. If the biological parent objected to the release of information or failed to respond to the notice, the requested information would not have been released.

· If DSS or the agency was unable to contact the biological parent, the adopted person could have filed a petition in superior court to seek the release of the identity of the biological parent from the county DSS or child placing agency. The court would have been required to release the identity only upon a finding that the county DSS or child placement agency had made diligent efforts to locate the biological parent without success and that failure to release the identity of each biological parent would have had an adverse impact upon the physical, mental, and emotional health of the adoptee.

· The Committee Substitute established similar procedures allowing adoptee's or siblings of adoptee's to petition the court for the release of information regarding the identity of known biological siblings.

· Administratively, the Committee Substitute required the Department of Human Resources (DHR) to establish a registry for recording the information, requests by adopted persons, written consents and objections to the release of identifying information by biological parents and siblings, and a record of non-identifying information that could be released pursuant to G.S. 48-25,

The Committee Substitute also allowed DHR to charge a reasonable fee not to have exceeded $300.00.

1995: Senate Bill 159,(1995, c. 457):

Senate Bill 159 completely rewrote Chapter 48 and is now the current law pertaining to the adoption of minors. The 1995 rewrite is consistent to recommendations made by the General Statutes Commission, and is substantially similar to a proposed Uniform Adoption Act, as drafted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. The revised Chapter is consistent with prior public policy with respect to the privacy of adoption records. G.S. 48-9-102(a) specifically states that "all records created or filed in connection with an adoption, except the decree of adoption, ... are confidential and may not be disclosed or used except as provided for in this Chapter". G.S. 48-9-102(b) further provides that "during a proceeding for adoption, records shall not be open to inspection by any person, except upon an order of the court finding that disclosure is necessary to protect the interest of the adoptee". G.S. 48-9-103(c) prohibits the release of the name, address, or other information that "reasonably could be expected to lead directly" to the identity of an adoptee, an adoptive parent of an adoptee, an adoptee's parent at birth, or a biological relative of the adoptee, except upon order of the court for cause. G.S. 48-3-205 expands the former G.S. 48-25. The new section:

· expands the scope of background information required to be indexed, filed and provided by the Division of Social Services to the prospective adoptive parent(s) prior to the placement of the child, to include, in addition to the five categories of information listed in the former G.S. 48-25(d), any other reasonably available non-identifying information about the minor that is relevant to the adoption decision or to the minor's development and well-being. [G.S. 48-3-205(a)(1)));

· expands the scope of health related information required to be indexed, filed and provided by the Division of Social Services to the prospective adoptive parent(s) prior to the placement of the child to include all reasonably available non-identifying information about the health of the minor, (including an account of the prenatal and postnatal care received by the minor) the biological parents, and other members of the biological parent's family that is relevant to the adoption decision or to the minor's health and development, including each such individual's:

· present state of physical and mental health

· health and genetic histories

· history of emotional, physical, sexual or substance abuse.

All provisions relating to the confidentiality of adoption records and the disclosure of information are contained in a new Article 9 of Chapter 48. The article clarifies much of the former law, and makes several substantive expansions regarding the types of information that may be released without a court order. The new Article:

· allows for the disclosure, upon a written request, of background information and health history collected prior-to the date of the finalization of the adoption under the former G.S. 48-25(d) and (e) and the additional information collected prior to the "placement of the adoptee" under the new provisions of G.S. 48-3-205(a), as well as any additional health related information received by a court, agency or the Division of Social Services subsequent to that date [G.S. 48-9-103(a)] to:

· a minor adoptee when the minor reaches the age of 18 (was 21) or if the minor is married or emancipated;

· an adoptive parent

· an adult adoptee (an adult under NC law is anyone 18 or older);

· a minor adoptee who is a parent or an expectant parent;

· allows a minor adoptee who is seeking treatment pursuant to G.S. 90-20.1 (authorizing a physician to treat minors without the consent of their parents under certain circumstances) to request a copy of any documents prepared pursuant to G.S. 48-3-205 to be sent to the minor's treating physician [G.S. 48-9-103(a)];

· provides that any report or information released must be edited by the sender to exclude the name, address, or other information that could reasonably be expected to lead directly to the identity of an adoptee at birth or to an adoptee's parent at the adoptee's birth or other member of the adoptee's original family. [G.S. 48-9-103(c)]; (The prior law prohibited the disclosure of any information that "would tent to identify a biological relative of the adoptee"). [G.S. 48-25(d)];

· provides that in the event a court or agency receives information from an adoptee's biological parent or relative concerning a health or genetic condition that may affect the health of the adoptee or the adoptee's child, a reasonable effort must be made to contact the adoptee who is at least 18 years of age or their adoptive parent if the adoptee is a minor, and the information must be forwarded. [G.S. 48-9-103(e)];

· makes clear that non-identifying information may be released upon request to an adult sibling or the guardian of a minor sibling of the adoptee, (the prior law had no such provision). [G.S. 48-9-103(e)];

1995: House Bill 237:

AN ACT TO AMEND THE ADOPTION LAWS PERTAINING TO ACCESS TO ADOPTION RECORDS.

Legislative History:

February 22, 1995: Original bill introduced and referred to the House Welfare and Human Resources Committee.

May 8, 1995: House Committee Substitute reported out of Committee favorably, and referred to the Appropriations Committee

June 21, 1996: House Committee Substitute postponed indefinitely

Summary: The original bill was identical to House Bill 1037 introduced during the 1993 General Session. (See Above)

The House Committee Substitute of House Bill 237 deleted: (with respect to the adoption registry provisions):

· provisions in the original bill that would have established procedures requiring DSS or the child placing agency to have attempted to make confidential contact with the biological parent;

· provisions that would have authorized DSS to notify the biological parent that a request for the release of their name to the adopted person had been made if the county DSS or child placing agency did not have the biological parent's un-revoked consent on file;

· provisions that would have instructed the court, in an action to seek identifying information, to release the identity upon finding that the county DSS or child placement agency had made diligent efforts to locate the biological parent without success and that failure to release the identity of each biological parent would have had an adverse impact upon the physical, mental, and emotional health of the adopted person.

The House Committee Substitute replaced the deleted provisions with new language that would have:

· required DHR to establish and maintain a statewide voluntary mutual consent adoption registry;

· provided for the filing of identifying information and consent forms for the release of that information between adoptee's who had reached the age of 18 (not 21) and their biological relatives;

· prohibited identifying information about an adoptee to be disclosed to a biological relative unless that relative had been specifically designated to receive identifying information by the adoptee on the adoptee's consent form;

· required DHR to notify the child-placement agency that was involved in the adoption were a match was made, and the agency was required to inform the parties of the match;

· prohibited notification unless the Department determined there was a match; directed that the cost of the registry was to be financed through a user fee of $35 for the use of the registry;

· directed the Social Services Commission to adopt rules for the use of the registry

1997: House Bill 1206:

AN ACT TO AMEND THE ADOPTION LAWS PERTAINING TO ACCESS TO ADOPTION RECORDS, AND TO ESTABLISH AN ADOPTION REGISTRY

Legislative History: May 5, 1997: Introduced and referred to the House Human Resources Committee.

Bill Summary: House Bill 1206 creates a confidential and voluntary adoption registry for receiving documents that request, authorize, or deny authorization of the release of identifying information relating to adoptions. The Registry rules and procedures in the bill are the same as the House Committee Substitute of House Bill 237 (1995) - See Above

In Addition, HB 1206:

· amends GS 48-9-103(c) to provide that if an adoptee who is at least 18 years old submits documentation showing a need for medical information from a birth parent, the child placement agency must make an effort to obtain the information and, once contacted, if the parent expresses a desire to make contact with the adoptee, the parent and adoptee must be provided with information about the adoption registry;

· enacts new GS 48-2-608 to provide that if, after an adoption becomes final, a minor adoptee is placed in foster care or otherwise placed for adoption, the agency that handled the initial adoption must notify the adoptee's birth family of the placement. If the birth family requests, the agency is to review the birth family's current circumstances for possible re-adoption;

· amends GS 48-2-104 to provide that Department of Human Resources may release to an adoptee who is at least 65 years old identifying information about the adoptee's deceased birth mother or father.

· appropriates $45,000 for 1997-98 and $20,000 for 1998-99 from the General Fund to Department of Human Resources to implement the act.

NOTE: THE FOLLOWING BILLS WERE NOT PART OF THE COMMISSION, BUT RELAY THE EVENTS OF WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE BILL IN QUESTION

1999: HB 286 and SB 236:

ADOPTION RECORDS AND REGISTRY

This bill was reported unfavorable in June 21, of 1999, in the Finance Committee, after a few legislators wanted to make the birthmother a 'gatekeeper' of the registry. Essentially this meant that no other relatives would be able to use the registry, unless the birthmother had given consent.

The most devastating portion of HB-286 would have been the following:

· "48-11-112 Violation and penalty: It is unlawful for a person having custody of or access to documents filed under this Article to disseminate or permit dissemination of information contained in them except as authorized by this Article. Any person who willfully violates the provisions of this section is guilty of a Class I felony"

It has been reported that individuals contacted by a child they relinquished or adoptee's contacted by a birthparent, are being urged by agency and government workers to file civil suits against the searching party. In addition to urging lawsuit, current NC law, passed in 1996, seems to make independent searches a misdemeanor.

According to the North Carolina Center of Advancement Education (NCCAE):

"Threats were made to increase enforcement if this registry bill was to go into effect. Legislators were asked how they could make it a crime to search "on the Internet".

If this bill had become law, NC would have been well on its way to becoming the most restrictive state in the Union for birthparents and adoptee's.

SESSION LAW 2001-150

SENATE BILL 499 (H737):

AN ACT TO AMEND THE LAWS RELATING TO ADOPTION

Please go to the link provided in order to read the Chaptered Version with changes within the document:http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/html2001/bills/AllVersions/Senate/S499vc.html

One of the major changes within this bill was the revocation of relinquishment from 21 to 7 days:

· "§ 48-3-706. Revocation of relinquishments.
(a)A relinquishment of an infant who is in utero or is three months old or less at the time the relinquishment is executed may be revoked within 21 days following the day on
which it is executed, inclusive of weekends and holidays.A relinquishment of any ~~other~~infant who is in utero or any minor may be revoked within seven days following the day on which it is executed, inclusive of weekends and holidays.

"§ 48-9-109. Certain disclosures authorized.
Nothing in this Article shall be interpreted or construed to ~~prevent~~prevent:

(2) In agency placements, a parent or guardian placing a child for adoption and the adopting parents from authorizing an agency to release information or from releasing information
to each other that could reasonably be expected to lead directly to the identity of an adoptee, an adoptive parent of an adoptee, or an adoptee's placing parent or guardian. The consent to

the release of identifying information shall be in writing and signed prior to the adoption by any placing parent or guardian and the adopting parents and acknowledged under oath in the presence of

an individual authorized to administer oaths or take acknowledgments. Any consent to release identifying information shall be filed under G.S. 48-2-305."

b1) Notwithstanding subsections (a) and (b) of this section, this Article shall not prohibit a person from advertising that the person desires to adopt. This subsection shall apply only to a person with a current completed preplacement assessment finding that person suitable to be an adoptive parent. The advertisement may be published only in a periodical or newspaper or on radio, television, cable television, or the Internet. The advertisement shall include a statement that (i) the person has a completed preplacement assessment finding that person suitable to be an adoptive parent, (ii) identifies the name of the agency that completed the preplacement assessment, and (iii) identifies the date the preplacement assessment was completed. Any advertisement under this subsection may state whether the person is willing to provide lawful expenses as permitted by G.S. 48-10-103.

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