N.Y. Domestic Relations Law § 114: Order of adoption

§ 114. Order of adoption. 1. If satisfied that the best interests of

the adoptive child will be promoted thereby, the judge or surrogate

shall make an order approving the adoption and directing that the

adoptive child shall thenceforth be regarded and treated in all respects

as the child of the adoptive parents or parent. In determining whether

the best interests of the adoptive child will be promoted by the

adoption, the judge or surrogate shall give due consideration to any

assurance by a local commissioner of social services that he or she will

provide necessary support and maintenance for the adoptive child

pursuant to the social services law. Such order shall contain the full

name, date and place of birth and reference to the schedule annexed to

the petition containing the medical history of the child in the body

thereof and shall direct that the child's medical history, heritage of

the birth parents, which shall include nationality, ethnic background

and race; education, which shall be the number of years of school

completed by the birth parents at the time of the birth and also at the

time of surrender of the adoptive child; general physical appearance of

the birth parents at the time of the birth and also at the time of

surrender of the adoptive child, which shall include height, weight,

color of hair, eyes, skin; occupation of the birth parents at the time

of the birth and also at the time of surrender of the adoptive child;

health and medical history of the birth parents at the time of the birth

and also at the time of surrender of the adoptive child, including all

available information setting forth conditions or diseases believed to

be hereditary, any drugs or medication taken during the pregnancy by the

child's mother; and any other information which may be a factor

influencing the child's present or future health, including the talents,

hobbies and special interests of the birth parents as contained in the

petition, be furnished to the adoptive parents, the commissioner and the

appropriate local registrar of vital statistics. If the judge or

surrogate is also satisfied that there is no reasonable objection to the

change of name proposed, the order shall direct that the name of the

adoptive child be changed to the name stated in the agreement of

adoption and that henceforth he or she shall be known by that name. All

such orders made by a family court judge of Westchester county since

September first, nineteen hundred sixty-two, and on file in the office

of the county clerk of such county shall be transferred to the clerk of

the family court of such county. Such order and all the papers in the

proceeding shall be filed in the office of the court granting the

adoption and the order shall be entered in books which shall be kept

under seal and which shall be indexed by the name of the adoptive

parents and by the full original name of the child. Such order,

including orders heretofore entered, shall be subject to inspection and

examination only as hereinafter provided. Notwithstanding the fact that

adoption records shall be sealed and secret, they may be microfilmed and

processed pursuant to an order of the court, provided that such order

provides that the confidentiality of such records be maintained. If the

confidentiality is violated, the person or company violating it can be

found guilty of contempt of court. The fact that the adoptive child was

born out of wedlock shall in no case appear in such order. The written

report of the investigation together with all other papers pertaining to

the adoption shall be kept by the judge or surrogate as a permanent

record of his or her court and such papers must be sealed by him or her

and withheld from inspection. No certified copy of the order of adoption

shall issue unless authorized by court order, except that certified

copies may issue to the agency or agencies in the proceeding prior to

the sealing of the papers. Before the record is sealed, such order may

be granted upon written ex parte application on good cause shown and

upon such conditions as the court may impose. After the record is

sealed, such order may be granted only upon notice as hereinafter

provided for disclosure or access and inspection of records. The clerk

upon request of a person or agency entitled thereto shall issue

certificates of adoption which shall contain only the new name of the

child and the date and place of birth of the child, the name of the

adoptive parents and the date when and court where the adoption was

granted, which certificate as to the facts recited therein shall have

the same force and effect as a certified copy of an order of adoption.

For the purposes of this subdivision, the term "commissioner" shall mean

the state commissioner of health and, with respect to an adoptive child

born in the city of New York, the commissioner of health and mental

hygiene of the city of New York.

2. No person, including the attorney for the adoptive parents shall

disclose the surname of the child directly or indirectly to the adoptive

parents except upon order of the court. No person shall be allowed

access to such sealed records and order and any index thereof except

upon an order of a judge or surrogate of the court in which the order

was made or of a justice of the supreme court. No order for disclosure

or access and inspection shall be granted except on good cause shown and

on due notice to the adoptive parents and to such additional persons as

the court may direct. Nothing contained herein shall be deemed to

require the state commissioner of health or his designee to secure a

court order authorizing disclosure of information contained in adoption

or birth records requested pursuant to the authority of section

forty-one hundred thirty-eight-c or section forty-one hundred

thirty-eight-d of the public health law; upon the receipt of such

request for information, the court shall transmit the information

authorized to be released thereunder to the state commissioner of health

or his designee.

3. In like manner as a court of general jurisdiction exercises such

powers, a judge or surrogate of a court in which the order of adoption

was made may open, vacate or set aside such order of adoption for fraud,

newly discovered evidence or other sufficient cause.

4. Good cause for disclosure or access to and inspection of sealed

adoption records and orders and any index thereof, hereinafter the

"adoption records", under this section may be established on medical

grounds as provided herein. Certification from a physician licensed to

practice medicine in the state of New York that relief under this

subdivision is required to address a serious physical or mental illness

shall be prima facie evidence of good cause. Such certification shall

indentify the information required to address such illness. Except where

there is an immediate medical need for the information sought, in which

case the court may grant access to the adoption records directly to the

petitioner, the court hearing petition under the subdivision shall

appoint a guardian ad litem or other disinterested person, who shall

have access to the adoption records for the purpose of obtaining the

medical information sought from those records or, where the records are

insufficient for such purpose, through contacting the biological

parents. The guardian or other disinterested person shall offer a

biological parent the option of disclosing the medical information

sought by the petitioner pursuant to this subdivision, as well as the

option of granting consent to examine the parent's medical records. If

the guardian or other disinterested person appointed does not obtain the

medical information sought by the petitioner, such guardian or

disinterested person shall make a report of his or her efforts to obtain

such information to the court. Where further efforts to obtain such

information are appropriate, the court may in its discretion authorize

direct disclosure or access to and inspection of the adoption records by

the petitioner.