Legislature looking at access to Florida adoption records

During the legislative period ending February 21, 2020, Barbara Peterson reported nine pages of updates to Historic City News on Bills being tracked by the Florida First Amendment Foundation, Inc.  The issues being tracked include court records, criminal justice and law enforcement, education, financial information, home addresses, personal information, public records, public safety and security, regulated industries and professions, technology, and transparency.

Of particular interest to Historic City News editor Michael Gold, who was adopted at birth, are companion Bills in the House and Senate affecting the ability of an adopted child to access adoption records and proceedings in Florida.

“For a state that is recognized nationwide for open government, whose public records law is a model for other states; it is disappointing how archaic access is to basic identification and essential medical history information for a growing population of adopted children,” Gold who has been a licensed private investigator in Florida for more than twenty-years wrote in a letter to members of the St Johns County Legislative Delegation.

In truth, Florida remains one of the most backward states in the nation in protecting vital records from those who it concerns, Gold wrote.  Any government official or an employee or another person who breaches the strict confidential classification of adoption information contained in those family court records can be fined and sent to prison, according to current Florida law.

“I’ll be 65-years-old this year, it is more than likely that both my birth parents are dead and buried.  Yet, because of the fact that I was born in St Augustine Florida, three-generations ago; and, because the man and woman who biologically conceived me did not sign a release giving me access to their identities, I have no way of knowing, with any medical certainty, whether or not I am predisposed to cancer, heart disease, mental illness, or any number of other conditions that could impact how I am treated by my physicians today.”

HB-89 Adoption Records: Allows the disclosure of the name and identity of a birth parent, adoptee, or adoptive parent contained in adoption records and proceedings without a court order if the birth parent, adoptee, or adoptive parent provides written authorizations for the release. Amends s. 63.162, F.S. Companion to SB 302. Rep. Richard Stark (D-Weston) WATCH

• House Health and Human Services Committee: A minor amendment is adopted; reported favorably as a committee substitute by unanimous vote. Now on the House Calendar.

CS/SB-302 Adoption Records: Allows the disclosure of the name and identity of a birth parent, adoptee, or adoptive parent contained in adoption records and proceedings without a court order if the birth parent, adoptee, or adoptive parent provides written authorizations for the release. Amends s. 63.162, F.S.  Companion to HB-89. Sen. Kevin Rader (D-Boca Raton) WATCH

• Senate Judiciary Committee: Reported favorably by unanimous vote. Now in Senate Rules Committee.