I have been procrastinating writing about this for some reason and today I realized why. I am not a control freak or anything like that but when I decided to do something I want to accomplish it and I usually do. I get very frustrated waiting for others and that is what petitioning the court depends on. You are waiting on the judge to grant you a court order and appoint an intermediary. Then you are waiting on the intermediary to provide you with you non-identifying information and if you have requested a search, you are waiting for her to conduct the search.
I am not trying to be or intending to be negative here. The reality is that opting to petition the court is going to take some time. Often times the county children and youth or similar agency is appointed the intermediary and they have other responsibilities in addition to post adoption searches. Often times, those other responsibilities take precedent over adoption search, such as the current children in the system, or the abuse that sadly does take place.
Now with that said, I am going to say that petitioning the court is something that every adoptee should try. I am not aware of any state that doesn’t allow sealed adoption files to be open by petitioning the court and a court order being granted.
The court file contains a variety of documents related to you adoption and petitioning the court is usually not difficult and it is not terribly expensive.
Like I mentioned above the mostly likely thing to happen is that the judge will grant a court order appointing on intermediary to conduct a search or that non identifying information be compiled and provided to you. There have been instances where judges have opened the entire file so I suggest asking. This actually happened to me after I found my birth mother deceased. I had contacted the county CYS that was appointed to conduct my search and let her know that I had found a grave. I had also asked that since my birth mother was deceased and in accordance with the law, would she please provide me all of the information in my file. Her response was that she would have to check with her supervisor. It took her two weeks to get back to me to tell me that I had no right to that information. My reaction, was to contact the judge that granted my court order and plea my case to him. I did so in writing and when he received my letter and the information I provided he called me. We chatted for a few minutes and he then transferred me to his paralegal who scheduled a time that I could come in an view the file. I did so and although I didn’t learn a whole lot it was validating to see and read things in black and white. I wasn’t allowed to photo copy anything but I was allowed to take notes in regards to the information in the file.
Petitioning the court does not require the services of a lawyer. The first step will be determining what court has your file. You probably have already obtained this information if you followed the steps detailed in the other blogs I have written. The court that has your file will be the court that finalized the adoption. This is usually the county where your adoptive parents resided at the time of your adoption. Most courts will have the proper forms for petitioning available to you on request, and you do not need to be physically present at a hearing date in order for the judge to read and respond to your petition, although appearing in person can greatly enhance your chances of success.
Along with the petition, you should include the reason for your request. You may simply believe the information belongs to you, and you can state this, but the sad truth is that you are more likely to be successful if there are extenuating circumstances. If you have a medical condition that could be eased with the information or with finding your birth parents, proof and explanation of that condition should be included in your petition. If there were unusual circumstances involved in your adoption, if you know your birth parents are deceased, if you already know the identity of your birth family, or if your adoptive parents are deceased, you should include a statement to that effect, along with proof of your claims. However, even if you do not have any unusual circumstances, and just want the information, you should still try a petition.