2021 -- H 6189 SUBSTITUTE A | |
======== | |
LC002555/SUB A/2 | |
======== | |
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND | |
IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY | |
JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2021 | |
____________ | |
A N A C T | |
RELATING TO DOMESTIC RELATIONS -- ADOPTION OF CHILDREN | |
| |
Introduced By: Representative Katherine S. Kazarian | |
Date Introduced: March 31, 2021 | |
Referred To: House Judiciary | |
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: | |
1 | SECTION 1. Section 15-7-5.1 of the General Laws in Chapter 15-7 entitled "Adoption of |
2 | Children" is hereby amended to read as follows: |
3 | 15-7-5.1. Contact preference form information. |
4 | Upon providing consent to an adoption, the biological parent(s) shall be informed that, |
5 | consistent with subdivision 23-3-15(g)(1), an adoptee may obtain a non-certified copy of his/her |
6 | unaltered, original certificate of birth upon his/her twenty-fifth (25th) twenty-first birthday, and |
7 | that the birth parent is allowed and authorized to file a contact preference form with the division of |
8 | vital records as provided in subdivision 23-3-15(g)(2). |
9 | SECTION 2. Sections 23-3-1 and 23-3-15 of the General Laws in Chapter 23-3 entitled |
10 | "Vital Records" are hereby amended to read as follows: |
11 | 23-3-1. Definitions. |
12 | As used in this chapter: |
13 | (1) "Adoptee" means a person who was born in this state and who has had an original birth |
14 | certificate sealed due to an adoption. |
15 | (2) "Adoptee vital records file" means a file operated by the division of vital records that |
16 | maintains adoptees' birth certificates, makes available the contact preference forms, provides |
17 | adoptees with non-certified copies of their birth certificates. |
18 | (3) "Adult adoptee" means an adoptee twenty-five (25) twenty-one (21) years of age or |
19 | older. |
| |
1 | (4) "Birth parent" is the person, the father or mother of genetic origin of a child, who is |
2 | legally presumed under the laws of this state to be the father or mother of genetic origin of a child. |
3 | (5) "Community of residence" means the city or town within the state of a person's home |
4 | address at the time of his or her marriage or death, or of his or her mother's home address at the |
5 | time of his or her birth. |
6 | (6) "Contact preference form" means the form prepared and maintained by the division that |
7 | birth parent(s) of adoptees may file to express his or her preference regarding contact with the |
8 | adoptee. The contact preference form shall include language informing the birth parent(s) of their |
9 | ability to provide genetic, social, and health history to the Passive Voluntary Adoption Mutual |
10 | Consent Registry as defined in chapter 15-7.2. |
11 | (7) "Dead body" means a lifeless human body or parts of a lifeless human body or its bones |
12 | from the state of which it reasonably may be concluded that death recently occurred. |
13 | (8) "Division" means the division of vital records as defined in chapter 3 of title 23. |
14 | (9) "Fetal death" means death prior to the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother |
15 | of a product of human conception, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy; the death is indicated |
16 | by the fact that after the expulsion or extraction the fetus does not breathe or show any other |
17 | evidence of life such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement |
18 | of the voluntary muscles. |
19 | (10) "Filing" means the presentation of a certificate, report, or other record provided for in |
20 | this chapter, of a birth, death, fetal death, adoption, marriage, or divorce for registration by the |
21 | division of vital records. |
22 | (11) "Final disposition" means the burial, interment, cremation, or other disposition of a |
23 | dead body or fetus. |
24 | (12) "Institution" means any establishment, public or private, which provides in-patient |
25 | medical, surgical, or diagnostic care or treatment, or nursing, custodial or domiciliary care to two |
26 | (2) or more unrelated individuals, or to which persons are committed by law. |
27 | (13) "Live birth" means the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product |
28 | of human conception, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy, which, after that expulsion or |
29 | extraction, breathes or shows any other evidences of life such as beating of the heart, pulsation of |
30 | the umbilical cord, or definite movement of the voluntary muscles, whether or not the umbilical |
31 | cord has been cut or the placenta is attached. |
32 | (14) "Physician" means a person authorized or licensed to practice medicine pursuant to |
33 | chapter 37 of title 5. |
34 | (15) "Registration" means the acceptance by the division of vital records and the |
| LC002555/SUB A/2 - Page 2 of 7 |
1 | incorporation in its official records of certificates, reports, or other records provided for in this |
2 | chapter, or births, deaths, fetal deaths, adoptions, marriages, or divorces. |
3 | (16) "Signing" or "Signature" means the application of either a hand signature to a paper |
4 | record or an electronic process approved by the state registrar of vital records. |
5 | (17) "System of vital records" means the registration, collection, preservation, amendment, |
6 | and certification of vital statistics records, and activities related to them including the tabulation, |
7 | analysis, and publication of statistical data derived from those records. |
8 | (18) "Vital records" means records of birth, death, fetal death, marriage, divorce, and data |
9 | related to those records. |
10 | 23-3-15. New certificates of birth following adoption -- Legitimation and paternity |
11 | determination. |
12 | (a) The state registrar of vital records shall establish a new certificate of birth for a person |
13 | born in this state when he or she receives the following: |
14 | (1) An adoption report as provided in § 23-3-14 or a certified copy of the decree of adoption |
15 | together with the information necessary to identify the original certificate of birth and to establish |
16 | a new certificate of birth; except that a new certificate of birth shall not be established if the court |
17 | decreeing the adoption, the adoptive parents, or the adopted person requests that a new certificate |
18 | shall not be established. |
19 | (2) A request that a new certificate be established and evidence required by regulation |
20 | proving that the person has been legitimated, or that a court of competent jurisdiction has |
21 | determined the paternity of the person; provided, however, that where a court of competent |
22 | jurisdiction has determined the paternity of the person, the name of the person who has been |
23 | adjudicated as being the father shall be inserted on the birth certificate. |
24 | (b) When a new certificate of birth is established, the actual place and date of birth shall be |
25 | shown. It shall be substituted for the original certificate of birth. |
26 | (1) Thereafter, the original certificate and the evidence of adoption, paternity, or |
27 | legitimation shall not be subject to inspection except as allowed by this chapter in the case of |
28 | adoption by the adult adoptee, or upon order of a court of competent jurisdiction or as provided by |
29 | regulation. |
30 | (2) Upon receipt of a notice of annulment of adoption, the original certificate of birth shall |
31 | be restored to its place in the files and the new certificate and evidence shall not be subject to |
32 | inspection except upon order of a court of competent jurisdiction. |
33 | (3) Upon receipt from a passive voluntary adoption mutual consent registry of a certificate |
34 | provided for in § 15-7.2-12(b), the adult adoptee named in the certificate, and only that person, |
| LC002555/SUB A/2 - Page 3 of 7 |
1 | shall be entitled to receive non-certified copies of his or her original birth certificate. |
2 | (c) If no certificate of birth is on file for the person for whom a new certificate is to be |
3 | established under this section, a delayed certificate of birth shall be filed with the state registrar of |
4 | vital records as provided in § 23-3-12 or 23-3-13, before a new certificate of birth is established, |
5 | except that when the date and place of birth and parentage have been established in accordance |
6 | with this chapter in the adoption proceedings, a delayed certificate shall not be required. |
7 | (d) When a new certificate of birth is established by the state registrar of vital records, all |
8 | copies of the original certificate of birth in the custody of any custodian of permanent local records |
9 | in this state shall be sealed from inspection or forwarded to the state registrar of vital records, as he |
10 | or she shall direct. |
11 | (e)(1) The state registrar shall, upon request, prepare and register a certificate in this state |
12 | for a person born in a foreign country who is not a citizen of the United States and who was adopted |
13 | through a court of competent jurisdiction in this state. The certificate shall be established upon |
14 | receipt of a report of adoption from the court decreeing the adoption, proof of the date and place of |
15 | the child's birth, and a request from the court, the adopting parents, or the adopted person if eighteen |
16 | (18) years of age or over that a certificate be prepared. The certificate shall be labeled "certificate |
17 | of foreign birth" and shall show the actual country of birth. After registration of the birth certificate |
18 | in the new name of the adopted person, the state registrar shall seal and file the report of adoption |
19 | which shall not be subject to inspection except upon order of a court of competent jurisdiction or |
20 | as provided by regulation. |
21 | (2) If the child was born in a foreign country but was a citizen of the United States at the |
22 | time of birth, the state registrar shall not prepare a "certificate of foreign birth" and shall notify the |
23 | adoptive parents of the procedures for obtaining a revised birth certificate for their child through |
24 | the U.S. department of state. |
25 | (f) When a new certificate of birth is established following an adoption or legitimation in |
26 | this state, and when no record of the original birth is on file at the city or town of occurrence, the |
27 | state registrar of vital records shall cause a copy to be filed with the registrar of births in the city or |
28 | town where the child was born and the city or town of residence of the parents indicated on the new |
29 | certificate, if that residence is within the state. |
30 | (g)(1) The division shall establish, maintain and operate the adoptee vital records file. |
31 | Beginning July 1, 2012, upon written application by an adult adoptee who was born in the State of |
32 | Rhode Island the division shall issue to such applicant a non-certified copy of the unaltered, original |
33 | certificate of birth of the adoptee, with procedures, filing fees and waiting periods identical to those |
34 | imposed upon non-adopted citizens of the state. |
| LC002555/SUB A/2 - Page 4 of 7 |
1 | (2) The division shall prescribe and, upon request, shall make available to each birth parent |
2 | of an adoptee named on the original birth certificate, a contact preference form on which the birth |
3 | parent may state a preference regarding contact by an adoptee who is the birth child of the birth |
4 | parent. The contact preference form shall be returned to the division. Upon such a request, the |
5 | division shall also provide the birth parent with an updated medical history form, which may be |
6 | completed and returned to the Passive Voluntary Adoption Mutual Consent Registry. The contact |
7 | preference form shall provide the birth parent with the following options from which the birth |
8 | parent shall select one: |
9 | "(a) I would like to be contacted. |
10 | (b) I would prefer to be contacted only through an intermediary. |
11 | (c) I would prefer not to be contacted at this time." |
12 | (3) When the division receives a completed contact preference form from a birth parent, |
13 | the division shall place the form on file and create an index of all contact preference forms filed. |
14 | When the vital records office receives a request for an original birth certificate they will then open |
15 | the adoptee's sealed file and check the file for the names of the birth parent(s). These names will |
16 | then be cross referenced with the birth parent(s) names listed on the contact preference form index. |
17 | If there is a match, the vital records office will provide the adoptee a copy of the contact preference |
18 | form. The division shall inform the adoptee of his or her right to contact the Passive Voluntary |
19 | Adoption Mutual Consent Registry to see if an updated medical history form has been filed by his |
20 | or her birth parent. |
21 | (4) Beginning September 1, 2011, the division shall make reasonable efforts to inform the |
22 | public of the existence of the adoptee vital records file; the ability of adult adoptees born in the |
23 | State of Rhode Island to access non-certified copies of their birth certificates subject to the |
24 | provisions of this chapter; and the ability of the birth parent(s) of adoptees to file a contact |
25 | preference form with the division of vital records. |
26 | (h) The division shall maintain the following statistics, which shall be made available to |
27 | the general public on a quarterly basis or more frequently if possible: |
28 | (1) Number of original birth certificates released since the effective date of this bill; |
29 | (2) Number of contact preference forms filed; and |
30 | (3) Number of birth parent(s) who indicated on the contact preference form that they would |
31 | like to be contacted, would like to be contacted but only through an intermediary, or do not want |
32 | to be contacted. |
33 | SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage. |
| LC002555/SUB A/2 - Page 5 of 7 |
======== | |
LC002555/SUB A/2 | |
======== | |
| LC002555/SUB A/2 - Page 6 of 7 |
EXPLANATION | |
BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL | |
OF | |
A N A C T | |
RELATING TO DOMESTIC RELATIONS -- ADOPTION OF CHILDREN | |
*** | |
1 | This act would reduce from age twenty-five (25) to twenty-one (21) as the age which a |
2 | person who is adopted in the state of Rhode Island would have unrestricted access to their original |
3 | birth certificates. |
4 | This act would take effect upon passage. |
======== | |
LC002555/SUB A/2 | |
======== | |
| LC002555/SUB A/2 - Page 7 of 7 |