MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2024 Regular Session
To: Judiciary B
By: Representative Calvert
AN ACT TO CREATE NEW SECTION 93-17-206, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE THE BUREAU OF VITAL RECORDS OF THE STATE BOARD OF HEALTH TO ISSUE, UPON REQUEST, A COPY OF THE ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE OF AN ADOPTEE WHO IS 24 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER; TO AMEND SECTION 93-17-205, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE THE BUREAU TO PREPARE A CONTACT PREFERENCE FORM THAT A BIRTH PARENT MAY FILE WITH THE BUREAU INDICATING THE BIRTH PARENT'S PREFERENCE REGARDING BEING CONTACTED BY A CHILD THE PARENT PLACED FOR ADOPTION; TO REQUIRE THE BUREAU TO RELEASE A CONTACT PREFERENCE FORM, IF ANY, TO AN ADOPTEE WHENEVER THE ADOPTEE IS ISSUED AN ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. The following shall be codified as Section 93-17-206, Mississippi Code of 1972:
93-17-206. (1) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary or the existence of an affidavit filed by an adoptee's parent expressly prohibiting the bureau from providing the adoptee with any information about the birth parent, an adoptee who is twenty-four (24) years of age or older may request an uncertified copy of the adoptee's original birth certificate from the bureau. Upon request, the bureau shall issue an uncertified copy of the original birth certificate to the adoptee.
(2) If a birth parent has submitted a contact preference form to the bureau, as provided for in Section 93-17-205, the bureau must provide the contact preference form to the adoptee whenever a copy of the original birth certificate is issued to the adoptee.
(3) The rules and regulations promulgated by the bureau pursuant to Section 93-17-213 must include provisions relating to the provision of an uncertified copy of the original birth certificate and contact preference form, if any, to an adoptee, as authorized under this section.
SECTION 2. Section 93-17-205, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-17-205. (1) The bureau shall maintain a centralized adoption records file for all adoptions performed in this state after July 1, 2005, which shall contain the following information:
(a) The medical and social history of the birth parents, including information regarding genetically inheritable diseases or illnesses and any similar information furnished by the birth parents about the adoptee's grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters if known;
(b) A report of any medical examination which either birth parent had within one (1) year before the date of the petition for adoption, if available and known;
(c) A report describing the adoptee's prenatal care and medical condition at birth, if available and known;
(d) The medical and social history of the adoptee, including information regarding genetically inheritable diseases or illnesses, and any other relevant medical, social and genetic information if available; and
(e) Forms 100A, 100B (if applicable) and evidence of Interstate Compact for Placement of Children approval (if applicable).
The Administrative Office of Courts shall assist the bureau in the maintenance of its centralized adoption record by compiling the number of finalized adoptions in each chancery court district on a monthly basis, and submitting this information to the bureau. The bureau shall include these statistics in its centralized adoption record. The information in this report shall include the number of adoptions in this state where the adopting parent is a blood relative of the adoptee and the number of adoptions in this state where the adopting parent is not a blood relative of the adoptee. The report shall not include any individual identifying information. This information shall be updated annually and made available to the public upon request for a reasonable fee.
(2) Any birth parent may file with the bureau at any time any relevant supplemental nonidentifying information about the adoptee or the adoptee's birth parents, and the bureau shall maintain this information in the centralized adoption records file.
(3) The bureau shall also maintain as part of the centralized adoption records file the following:
(a) The name, date of birth, social security number (both original and revised, where applicable) and birth certificate (both original and revised) of the adoptee;
(b) The names, current addresses and social security numbers of the adoptee's birth parents, guardian and legal custodian;
(c) Any contact preference form that has been submitted to the bureau by the adoptee's birth parent or parents pursuant to subsection (4) of this section; and
( * * *d) Any other available information
about the birth parent's identity and location.
(4) (a) The bureau shall prepare a contact preference form that a birth parent may request at any time from the bureau. A contact preference form submitted to the bureau by a birth parent must accompany the adoptee's original birth certificate.
(b) The contact preference form must provide for the following information to be completed at the option of the birth parent, who must indicate his or her intentions as follows:
(i) I would like to be contacted.
(ii) I would prefer to be contacted only through an intermediary, including, but not limited to, an agency.
(iii) I prefer not to be contacted at this time. If I decide later that I would like to be contacted, I will submit an updated contact preference form to the bureau.
(c) The contact preference form is a confidential communication from the birth parent to the person named on the original birth certificate and must be placed with the original birth certificate in the locked drawer or vault where the bureau placed the original birth certificate pursuant to Section 93-17-21 or in the centralized adoption records file. Notwithstanding the existence of an affidavit expressly prohibiting the bureau from providing the adoptee with information about the birth parent's identity and location, as authorized under subsection (5), the contact preference form must be released to an adoptee when the adoptee requests a copy of the original birth certificate under Section 93-17-206.
(5) In addition to the contact preference form authorized under subsection (4), any birth parent may file with the bureau at any time an affidavit authorizing the bureau to provide the adoptee with his or her original birth certificate and with any other available information about the birth parent's identity and location, or an affidavit expressly prohibiting the bureau from providing the adoptee with any information about such birth parent's identity and location, and prohibiting any licensed adoption agency from conducting a search for such birth parent under the terms of Sections 93-17-201 through 93-17-223. An affidavit filed under this section may be revoked at any time by written notification to the bureau from the birth parent.
( * * *6) Counsel for the adoptive parents in
the adoption finalization proceeding shall provide the bureau with the
information required in subsections (1) and (3) of this section, and he shall
also make such information a part of the adoption records of the court in which
the final decree of adoption is rendered. This information shall be provided
on forms prepared by the bureau.
( * * *7) (a) If an agency receives a report
from a physician stating that a birth parent or another child of the birth
parent has acquired or may have a genetically transferable disease or illness,
the agency shall notify the bureau and the appropriate licensed adoption
agency, and the latter agency shall notify the adoptee of the existence of the
disease or illness, if he or she is twenty-one (21) years of age or over, or
notify the adoptee's guardian, custodian or adoptive parent if the adoptee is
under age twenty-one (21).
(b) If an agency receives a report from a physician that an adoptee has acquired or may have a genetically transferable disease or illness, the agency shall notify the bureau and the appropriate licensed agency, and the latter agency shall notify the adoptee's birth parent of the existence of the disease or illness.
( * * *8) Compliance with the provisions of
this section may be waived by the court, in its discretion, in any chancery
court proceeding in which one or more of the petitioners for adoption is the
natural mother or father of the adoptee.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2024.