Enacts Bill of Adoptee Rights clarifying 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
________________________________________________________________________
3298
2015-2016 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 22, 2015
___________
Introduced by M. of A. WEPRIN, BORELLI -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A.
ARROYO, BLANKENBUSH, BUTLER, CAMARA, CERETTO, CLARK, COLTON, COOK,
CROUCH, DINOWITZ, DUPREY, ENGLEBRIGHT, FAHY, FARRELL, FITZPATRICK,
GALEF, GARBARINO, GIGLIO, GOTTFRIED, GRAF, GUNTHER, HOOPER, JAFFEE,
KATZ, KOLB, LAVINE, LIFTON, LOPEZ, LUPARDO, MAGEE, MAGNARELLI, McKEV-
ITT, MILLER, MONTESANO, MOYA, OAKS, PALMESANO, PAULIN, PEOPLES-STOKES,
PERRY, PRETLOW, RAIA, RAMOS, RIVERA, ROBERTS, ROBINSON, ROSENTHAL,
SCARBOROUGH, SCHIMEL, TEDISCO, TENNEY, THIELE, TITONE, WRIGHT, ZEBROW-
SKI -- read once and referred to the Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to creating the bill
of adoptee rights
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The public health law is amended by adding a new section
2 4138-e to read as follows:
3 § 4138-e. Bill of adoptee rights. 1. (a) Commencing on January first,
4 two thousand seventeen, except as provided in subdivision two or three
5 of this section, and notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, a
6 person eighteen years of age or more who was born in this state and then
7 adopted and whose long-form birth certificate was then sealed in this
8 state, may obtain a certified copy of such long-form birth certificate
9 from the department in accordance with this section. (b) Such a certi-
10 fied copy of a long-form birth certificate supplied by the department
11 shall include a legend, appearing prominently on each page of the docu-
12 ment provided, stating as follows:
13 THIS IS A CERTIFIED COPY OF AN ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE. THIS
14 ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE HAS BEEN SUPERSEDED BY ANOTHER CERTIFICATE ON
15 FILE WITH THE APPROPRIATE GOVERNMENT AGENCY.
16 2. At any time prior to January first, two thousand seventeen, a
17 person listed as a birth parent on a confidential long-form birth
18 certificate may, in writing, confirm that he or she wishes to maintain
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01110-02-5
A. 3298 2
1 the confidentiality of such document. If a written confirmation as
2 described in this subdivision is received from such a birth parent by
3 the department on or before January first, two thousand seventeen, then
4 paragraph (a) of subdivision one of this section shall not apply to such
5 long-form birth certificate provided, however, that paragraph (a) of
6 subdivision one of this section shall apply on or after that date if,
7 after such confirmation is received by the department, such birth parent
8 dies or the confirmation is withdrawn by such birth parent in writing,
9 and no other timely confirmation remains on file with the department
10 from a living birth parent.
11 3. A person eighteen years of age or more who was born in this state
12 and then adopted and whose long-form birth certificate was then sealed
13 in this state, may obtain a certified copy of his or her long-form birth
14 certificate, as described in paragraph (b) of subdivision one of this
15 section, upon supplying proof that all birth parents listed on such
16 document have died.
17 4. The department shall promulgate and make publicly available forms
18 that a birth parent may use to provide the department with a written
19 confirmation or withdrawal of confirmation under this section, and for
20 confirming that a person who has made such a written confirmation or
21 withdrawal is, in fact, a person identified on the birth certificate as
22 a birth parent, and for confirming the sufficiency of proof of the death
23 of a person listed on a birth certificate as a birth parent.
24 5. (a) A birth parent may at any time request from the department a
25 contact preference form that shall accompany a birth certificate issued
26 under this title. The contact preference form shall provide the follow-
27 ing information to be completed at the option of the birth parent:
28 (i) I would like to be contacted.
29 (ii) I would prefer to be contacted only through an intermediary.
30 (iii) I have completed a medical history form and have filed it with
31 the department.
32 (iv) Please do not contact me. If I decide later that I would like to
33 be contacted, I will submit an updated contact preference form to the
34 department.
35 (b) The medical history form shall be in a form prescribed by the
36 department and shall be supplied to the birth parent upon request of a
37 contact preference form from the department. Only those persons who are
38 authorized to process applications made under this title may process
39 contact preference forms, medical history forms, and correspondence and
40 requests made pursuant to this section.
41 (c) The medical history and contact preference forms described in this
42 subdivision are confidential communications from the birth parent to the
43 person named on the confidential long-form birth certificate and shall
44 be placed in separate sealed envelopes upon receipt from the birth
45 parent. The sealed envelopes shall be matched with and placed in the
46 file containing the confidential original long-form birth certificate.
47 Such sealed envelopes containing the contact preference form and medical
48 history form shall be released to a person authorized to receive a
49 certified copy of his or her original long-form birth certificate pursu-
50 ant to this section.
51 (d) The contact preference and medical history forms described in this
52 subdivision are private communications from the birth parent to the
53 person named on the sealed birth certificate and no copies of such forms
54 shall be retained by the department. Where only a medical history form
55 is requested, the certified copy of the long-form birth certificate and
A. 3298 3
1 contact preference forms shall not be provided, but may be requested and
2 provided at a later date.
3 6. The department shall develop an affirmative information campaign
4 and widely disseminate to the public, though its website, public service
5 announcements and other means, in multiple languages and through multi-
6 ple outlets, information concerning the provisions of this section,
7 including but not limited to the means by which a birth parent may
8 confirm that he or she wishes to maintain the confidentiality of a long-
9 form birth certificate held by the department in which such birth parent
10 is named, and by which such birth parent may withdraw such a confirma-
11 tion.
12 § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed-
13 ing the date on which it shall have become a law, provided, however,
14 that, effective immediately, the commissioner of health is authorized to
15 promulgate such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry out
16 the provisions of this act.
