Legal review: access to adoption records--recent developments in case and statutory law

Recent state court decisions on access to adoption records manifest judicial lack of sympathy toward disclosure of confidential adoption information and a reluctance to abandon earlier precedents. The courts have long frowned upon any action that would potentially discourage or impede the adoption process or that would potentially hurt any of the parties involved. The state legislatures, in response to intense lobbying by adoption groups, have tempered the rigid standards of earlier laws, allowing for the creation of adoption registry services in 21 states and for independent searches for biological parents to solicit their consent in 9 states. Still, only 3 states give an absolute right of inspection, while 18 require a court order before access to records will be allowed. Medical records practitioners should determine the rules applicable to the medical records of adoptees in their states. In the absence of specific court or statutory authority permitting the release of such records or of the consent of the natural parents, practitioners should refuse access to these records.