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.
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