NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1981 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 924

HOUSE BILL 1146

 

 

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR RELEASE OF NONIDENTIFYING ADOPTION INFORMATION.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

Section 1. G.S. 48-2 is amended by directing the Codifier of Statutes to alphabetize the subdivisions and by adding the following new subdivision to read as follows:

"(7)      'Biological relative' means the biological parent or parents or biological siblings of an adoptee."

Sec. 2. Subsection (d) of G.S. 48-25 is rewritten to read as follows:

"(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, certain nonidentifying information, if known, shall be given by the county department of social services or licensed child-placing agency which has such information in writing on a form provided by the Department of Human Resources to the adoptive parent or parents not later than the date of finalization of the adoption proceedings. The information described in this subsection, if known, shall, upon written request of the adoptee, be made available to the adoptee upon his reaching the age of 21. This information or any part thereof may be withheld only if it is of such a nature that it would tend to identify a biological relative of the adoptee. For any adoption completed prior to the effective date of this act, the information described in this subsection, if available, shall be given in writing to the adoptive parent or parents or legal guardian of any minor adoptee or to any adoptee who has reached the age of 21 years upon written request by such person to the agency which has the information. The nonidentifying information, if known, may include only the following:

(1)        date of the birth of the adoptee and his weight at birth;

(2)        age of biological parents in years, not dates of birth, at birth of the adoptee;

(3)        heritage of biological parents which shall consist of nationality, ethnic background, and race;

(4)        education, which shall be the number of years of school completed by the biological parents at the time of birth of the adoptee;

(5)        general physical appearance of the biological parents at the time of birth of the adoptee in terms of height, weight, color of hair, eyes, skin;

Sec. 3. G.S. 48-25 is further amended by adding a new subsection (e) to read:

"(e) The county department of social services or licensed child-placing agency shall give if available a complete health history of biological parents and other relatives to the adoptive parent or parents not later than the date of finalization of the adoption proceedings and to the adoptee upon his written request. The information shall be given on a standardized form provided by the Department of Human Resources and shall include any information which would have a substantial bearing on the adoptee's mental or physical health. For any adoption completed prior to the effective date of this act, the information described in this subsection, if available, shall be given in writing to the adoptive parent or parents or legal guardian of any minor adoptee or to any adoptee upon written request by such person to the agency which has the information."

Sec. 4. This act is effective upon ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 10th day of July, 1981.