An Act To Provide Adult Adoptees Access to Their Original Birth Certificates
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.
18-A MRSA §9-310, first ¶, as enacted by PL 1995, c. 694, Pt. C, §7
and affected by Pt. E, §2, is amended to read:
Notwithstanding any other provision of law
and except as provided in Title 22,
section 2768, all Probate Court records relating to any adoption
decreed on or after August 8, 1953 are confidential. The Probate Court shall
keep records of those adoptions segregated from all other court records. If
a judge of probate court determines that examination of records pertaining
to a particular adoption is proper, the judge may authorize that examination
by specified persons, authorize the register of probate to disclose to
specified persons any information contained in the records by letter,
certificate or copy of the record or authorize a combination of both
examination and disclosure.
Sec. 2.
22 MRSA §2765, sub-§2-A, ¶C, as amended by PL 2001, c. 574, §24, is
further amended to read:
C. When a new certificate of birth is established
following adoption or legitimation, it must be substituted for the
original certificate of birth. After that substitution, the original
certificate of birth and the evidence of adoption are not subject to
inspection except upon order of the Probate Court or the Superior Court
or pursuant to section 2768.
The application for legitimation may be released to persons listed on the
original birth certificate upon completion of written application to the
State Registrar of Vital Statistics or the registrar's designee.
Sec. 3.
22 MRSA §2765, sub-§5, as amended by PL 1979, c. 168, §2, is further
amended to read:
5. Copies
of original certificate. When the new
certificate of birth is established, the state registrar shall provide
each municipal clerk who is required by law to have a copy of the
certificate of birth on file with a copy of the new certificate of birth.
In the case of a Maine certificate of birth established for a person born
in a foreign country, a copy of the certificate
shall
must be provided to and
shall
must be maintained on file
by the clerk of the municipality where the adoptive parents resided on the
date of the adoption. All copies of the original certificate in the
custody of any municipal clerk
shall must be
sealed from inspection , except
as provided in section 2768, or surrendered to the state registrar
as he shall direct
the state registrar directs.
Sec. 4.
22 MRSA §2768 is enacted to read:
An
adopted person, the adopted person's attorney or, if the adopted person is
deceased, the adopted person's descendants may obtain a copy of that
person's original certificate of birth from the State Registrar of Vital
Statistics, referred to in this section as "the state registrar," in
accordance with this section.
1.
Requirements.
The
adopted person must be at least 18 years of age and have been born in this
State.
2.
Application.
The
adopted person must file a written application with and provide
appropriate proof of identification to the state registrar.
3.
Issuance of birth certificate and
forms.
Upon receipt of the written
application and proof of identification pursuant to subsection 2 and
fulfillment of the requirements of subsection 4, the state registrar shall
issue a noncertified copy of the unaltered original certificate of birth
to the applicant. If a contact preference or medical history form has been
completed and submitted to the state registrar pursuant to section 2769,
the state registrar also must provide that information.
4.
Fees; waiting period.
The state registrar may require a
waiting period and impose a fee for the noncertified copy provided
pursuant to subsection 3. The fees and waiting period imposed under this
subsection must be identical to the fees and waiting period generally
imposed on persons seeking their own birth certificates.
5.
Forms; rules.
The
state registrar shall develop by rule the application form as required by
this section and may adopt other rules for the administration of this
section. Rules adopted pursuant to this subsection are routine technical
rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A.
Sec. 5.
22 MRSA §2769 is enacted to read:
The
State Registrar of Vital Statistics shall provide upon request each birth
parent a contact preference form and a medical history form as described in
this section.
1.
Definitions.
As
used in this section, unless the context otherwise indicates, the
following terms have the following meanings.
A.
"Adoptee" means the person who
is the subject of a birth certificate.
B.
"Birth parent" means the person
who is the biological parent of an adoptee and who is named as the
parent on the original birth certificate of the adoptee.
C.
"Contact preference form" means
the form developed by the state registrar pursuant to subsection 3.
D.
"Medical history form" means
the form developed by the state registrar pursuant to subsection 2.
E.
"State registrar" means State
Registrar of Vital Statistics.
2.
Medical history form.
The state registrar shall develop
and distribute upon request to birth parents a medical history form. A
birth parent may use this form to describe the medical history of the
birth parent. A birth parent shall fill out a medical history form if that
birth parent fills out a contact preference form.
3.
Contact preference form.
The state registrar shall develop
a contact preference form on which a birth parent may state a preference
regarding contact by an adoptee. The form must contain the following
statements from which the birth parent may choose only one.
A.
"I would like to be contacted.
I have completed this contact preference form and a medical history form
and am filing them with the State Registrar of Vital Statistics."
B.
"I would prefer to be contacted
only through an intermediary. I have completed this contact preference
form and a medical history form and am filing them with the State
Registrar of Vital Statistics."
C.
"Do not contact me. I may
change this preference by filling out another contact preference form. I
have completed this contact preference form and a medical history form
and am filing them with the State Registrar of Vital Statistics."
4.
Attachment of forms to birth
certificate; treatment.
Upon receipt of a completed
contact preference form or medical history form, the state registrar shall
attach the completed form to the original birth certificate of the
adoptee. A completed contact preference form and medical history form have
the same level of confidentiality as the original birth certificate.
5.
Forms; rules.
The
state registrar shall develop by rule the forms as required by this
section and may adopt other rules for the administration of this section.
Rules adopted pursuant to this subsection are routine technical rules as
defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A.
Sec. 6.
Effective date.
This Act takes effect January 1, 2009.