Bill Text: MS HB829 | 2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Private adoptions; require licensed adoption agencies and attorneys to maintain certain records.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 5-1)
Status: (Failed) 2011-02-01 - Died In Committee [HB829 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2011-HB829-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2011 Regular Session
To: Public Health and Human Services
By: Representatives Aldridge, Ellington, Holland, Howell, Huddleston (15th), Turner
House Bill 829
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 43-15-117, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE LICENSED ADOPTION AGENCIES AND ATTORNEYS WHO HAVE COMPLETED THE PRIVATE ADOPTION OF A CHILD TO MAINTAIN CERTAIN INFORMATION IN AN ADOPTION FILE; TO REQUIRE SUCH AGENCIES AND ATTORNEYS TO HAVE A WRITTEN PLAN THAT IS TO BE SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES, DIVISION OF FAMILY AND CHILDREN'S SERVICES, FOR THE TRANSFER OF THE CUSTODY OF ADOPTION RECORDS IF THE AGENCIES OR ATTORNEYS CEASE TO PROVIDE ADOPTION SERVICES; TO BRING FORWARD SECTION 93-17-205, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH ESTABLISHES THE CENTRALIZED ADOPTION RECORDS FILE THAT MUST BE MAINTAINED BY THE BUREAU OF VITAL RECORDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI STATE BOARD OF HEALTH, FOR PURPOSES OF POSSIBLE AMENDMENT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 43-15-117, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-15-117. (1) Except as provided in this article, no person, agency, firm, corporation, association or group children's home may engage in child placing, or solicit money or other assistance for child placing, without a valid license issued by the division. No out-of-state child-placing agency that provides a full range of services, including, but not limited to, adoptions, foster family homes, adoption counseling services or financial aid, may operate in this state without a valid license issued by the division. No child-placing agency shall advertise in the media markets in Mississippi seeking birth mothers or their children for adoption purposes unless the agency holds a valid and current license issued either by the division or the authorized governmental licensing agency of another state that regulates child-placing agencies. Any child-placing agency, physician or attorney who advertises for child placing or adoption services in Mississippi shall be required by the division to show their principal office location on all media advertising for adoption services.
(2) An attorney who provides legal services to a client in connection with proceedings for the adoption of a child by the client, who does not receive, accept or provide custody or care for the child for the purposes specified in Section 43-15-103(c), shall not be required to have a license under this article to provide those legal services.
(3) An attorney, physician or other person may assist a parent in identifying or locating a person interested in adopting the parent's child, or in identifying or locating a child to be adopted. However, no payment, charge, fee, reimbursement of expense, or exchange of value of any kind, or promise or agreement to make the same, may be made for that assistance.
(4) Nothing in this section precludes payment of reasonable fees for medical, legal or other lawful services rendered in connection with the care of a mother, delivery and care of a child including, but not limited to, the mother's living expenses, or counseling for the parents and/or the child, and for the legal proceedings related to lawful adoption proceedings; and no provision of this section abrogates the right of procedures for independent adoption as provided by law.
(5) The division is specifically authorized to promulgate rules under the Administrative Procedures Law, Title 25, Chapter 43, Mississippi Code of 1972, to regulate fees charged by licensed child-placing agencies, if it determines that the practices of those licensed child-placing agencies demonstrates that the fees charged are excessive or that any of the agency's practices are deceptive or misleading; however, those rules regarding fees shall take into account the use of any sliding fee by an agency that uses a sliding fee procedure to permit prospective adoptive parents of varying income levels to utilize the services of those agencies or persons.
(6) The division shall promulgate rules under the Administrative Procedures Law, Title 25, Chapter 43, Mississippi Code of 1972, to require that all licensed child-placing agencies provide written disclosures to all prospective adoptive parents of any fees or other charges for each service performed by the agency or person, and file an annual report with the division that states the fees and charges for those services, and to require them to inform the division in writing thirty (30) days in advance of any proposed changes to the fees or charges for those services.
(7) The division is specifically authorized to disclose to prospective adoptive parents or other interested persons any fees charged by any licensed child-placing agency, attorney or counseling service or counselor for all legal and counseling services provided by that licensed child-placing agency, attorney or counseling service or counselor.
(8) (a) Every licensed adoption agency and attorney who has completed the private adoption of a child must maintain an adoption file that includes, but is not limited to, the following:
(i) A medical and social history of the adoptee for the birth parents;
(ii) A brief social history of the adoptee for the birth parents;
(iii) A copy of the home study as may be required by Section 93-17-11;
(iv) The medical records of the adoptee;
(v) A letter, if desired by the birth parent, from the birth parent to the adoptee;
(vi) A document signed by the birth parent stating she or he has been provided an address where she or he may send updated information to the adoptee if the adoptee wishes to locate her or him when the adoptee reaches the age of twenty-one (21); and
(vii) Any other
documents the division or Bureau of Vital Records of the Mississippi State
Board of Health may require the licensed adoption agency or attorney to retain.
(b) The licensed adoption agency or attorney must retain the
adoption file prescribed in this subsection in a safe and secure manner, and
the file must be easily retrievable. Upon request, the agency or attorney must
make readily available to the adoptee or the adoptive parents all
nonidentifying information in its custody about the adoptee's health history or
background. The agency or attorney also must ensure that personal data
gathered or transmitted in connection with an adoption is used only for the
purposes for which the information was gathered and must safeguard sensitive
individual information.
(c) To help ensure the permanent accessibility of adoption records that are subject to retention requirements, as may be required by law, the licensed adoption agency and attorney must have a plan for transferring custody of adoption records to a licensed adoption agency or the division if the agency or attorney ceases to provide adoption services or legal services relating to adoption. If the agency or attorney no longer provides such services then the agency or attorney must notify the division in writing within thirty (30) days regarding (i) the time such services are no longer provided and (ii) information relating to the transfer of its adoption records.
As used in this subsection the terms adoptee, birth parent and licensed adoption agency shall have the meanings ascribed to such terms in Section 93-17-203.
SECTION 2. Section 93-17-205, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward 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 include 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;
(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;
(c) A report describing the adoptee's prenatal care and medical condition at birth, if available; and
(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.
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 other available information about the birth parent's identity and location.
(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.
(5) 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.
(6) (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.
(7) 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, 2011.
