In 2016, the work of the Missouri Adoptee Rights Movement (founded in 2010) finally came to a peak. After many years of working to get the release of original birth certificates, the Missouri legislature passed HB1599, or the Missouri Adoptee Rights Act. Now anyone adopted in Missouri can gain access to his or her original birth certificate, which is sometimes a crucial bit of information. This could also effect birth parents and their information as well, so to be sure birth parents know their confidentiality rights (and they do have them with this new law!) the Lutheran Family and Children’s Services of Missouri put together a press release below.
If you have any questions about this law or any of the information below, please contact us.
Reproduced from the LFCS of Missouri press release:
What Does This Law Do, Exactly?
- Allows an adopted individual (or his or her attorney) to apply for an original copy of his or her birth certificate.
- Outlines when an adopted person is able to obtain a copy of a redacted original birth certificate, as well as an unaltered original birth certificate.
- Creates a Contact Preference Form and Medical History Form to be completed by birth parents and attached to the original birth certificate of the adopted person.
- These forms will be made available by the court and the clerk of the court must send the form and certificate of decree of adoption to the state registrar. The law outlines the processes to be followed for each form.
This Law Requires Action By the Birth Parents!
- If you would like the adoptee to contact you, indicate on the Contact Preference Form that you would like to give the adoptee your direct contact information.
- If you would prefer that the adoptee use an intermediary, indicate this on the Contact Preference Form by providing the contact information of a trusted friend or professional that the adoptee can contact who will then contact you.
- If you do not want to be contacted by the adoptee or an intermediary, indicate on the Contact Preference Form that you do not want to be contacted. The adoptee’s birth certificate will be released to them with your name removed.
No original birth certificates will be issued before January 1, 2018, unless the adopted person was born before 1941. For more information and access to the Contact Preference Form and Medical History Form, please visit www.dhss.mo.gov