READ FIRST TIME 02/12/13.   

     AN ACT Relating to access to original birth certificates after adoption finalization; and amending RCW 26.33.345.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1   RCW 26.33.345 and 1993 c 81 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The department of social and health services, adoption agencies, and independent adoption facilitators shall release the name and location of the court where a relinquishment of parental rights or finalization of an adoption took place to an adult adoptee, a birth parent of an adult adoptee, an adoptive parent, a birth or adoptive grandparent of an adult adoptee, or an adult sibling of an adult adoptee, or the legal guardian of any of these.
     (2) The department of health shall make available a noncertified copy of the original birth certificate of a child to the child's birth parents upon request.
     (3)(a) For adoptions finalized after October 1, 1993, the department of health shall make available a noncertified copy of the original birth certificate to ((the adoptee after the adoptee's eighteenth birthday unless the birth parent has filed an affidavit of nondisclosure)) an adopted person eighteen years of age or older upon request, unless the birth parent has filed an affidavit of nondisclosure before the effective date of this section or a contact preference form that indicates he or she prefers not to be contacted: PROVIDED, That the affidavit of nondisclosure, the contact preference form, or both have not expired.
     (b) For adoptions finalized on or before October 1, 1993, the department of health may not make available the original birth certificate to the adopted person for inspection or copying until after June 30, 2014. After June 30, 2014, the department of health shall make available a noncertified copy of the original birth certificate to an adopted person eighteen years or older upon request, unless the birth parent has filed a contact preference form that indicates he or she prefers not to be contacted: PROVIDED, That the contact preference form has not expired.
     (4)(a) Regardless of whether a birth parent has filed an affidavit of nondisclosure or when the adoption was finalized, a birth parent may at any time complete a contact preference form stating his or her preference about personal contact with the adopted person, which, if available, must accompany a birth certificate issued under subsection (3) of this section.
     (b) The contact preference form must include the following options:
     (i) I would like to be contacted;
     (ii) I would like to be contacted only through a confidential intermediary as described in RCW 26.33.343; and
     (iii) I prefer not to be contacted and have also completed the birth parent updated medical history form.
     (c) If the birth parent indicates he or she prefers not to be contacted, personally identifying information on the contact preference form must be kept confidential and may not be released.
     (d) A contact preference form expires upon the death of the birth parent.
     (5) If a birth parent files a contact preference form, the birth parent must also file a medical history form with the department of health. Upon request of the adopted person, the department of health must provide the adopted person with the medical history form filed by the adopted person's birth parent.
     (6) Both a completed contact preference form and birth parent updated medical history form are confidential and must be placed in a secure file until a match with the adopted person's file is made. Once a match is made, the forms must be placed in the adopted person's sealed file.
     (7) If the contact preference form is filed within six months of the first time an adopted person requests a copy of his or her original birth certificate as provided in subsection (3) of this section, the department of health must forward the form to the address of the adopted person. If applicable, the department of health must also forward the birth parent updated medical history form to the address of the adopted person.
     (8) The department of health may charge a fee not to exceed twenty dollars for providing a noncertified copy of a birth certificate to an adopted person.
     (9) The department of health must create the contact preference form and medical history form. The contact preference form must provide a method to ensure personally identifying information can be kept confidential. The medical history form may not require the birth parent to disclose any identifying information about the birth parent.
     (10) An affidavit of nondisclosure expires upon the death of the birth parent.