PRINTER'S NO. 2656
No. 1963 Session of 1985
INTRODUCED BY LETTERMAN AND BARBER, DECEMBER 11, 1985
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON HEALTH AND WELFARE, DECEMBER 11, 1985
AN ACT
1 Amending Title 23 (Domestic Relations) of the Pennsylvania
2 Consolidated Statutes, providing limited information to the
3 natural parents on the status of the adoptee.
4 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
5 hereby enacts as follows:
6 Section 1. Section 2905 of Title 23 of the Pennsylvania
7 Consolidated Statutes is amended by adding a subsection to read:
8 § 2905. Impounding of proceedings and access to records.
9 * * *
10 (e) Petition to court for adoptee status.--
11 (1) Upon petition by any natural parent to the court in
12 the judicial district in which the permanent records relating
13 to the adoption have been impounded, the court shall furnish
14 to the natural parent as much information concerning the
15 current status of the adoptee as will not endanger the
16 anonymity of the adoptee and the adoptive parents or legal
17 guardian. The information shall first be reviewed, in camera,
18 by the court to insure that no information is revealed which
1 would endanger the anonymity of the adoptee and the adoptive
2 parents or legal guardian.
3 (2) In addition to petitioning the court for information
4 regarding the adoptee, the natural parent may request the
5 agency that placed the adoptee to ascertain information
6 regarding the current status of the adoptee. The agency may
7 refuse to gather or reveal any information if it believes
8 that, under the circumstances, there would be a substantial
9 risk that persons other than the natural parents would learn
10 of the adoptee's existence and relationship to the natural
11 parents.
12 (3) The Department of Public Welfare may, by regulation,
13 prescribe procedures and standards to be used by the agents
14 of the court or other agencies in ascertaining and revealing
15 information regarding the current status of adoptees.
16 Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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