State Codes and Statutes
Statutes > Rhode-island > Title-15 > Chapter-15-7-2 > 15-7-2-2SECTION 15-7.2-2
§ 15-7.2-2 Policy. – It is the policy of this state that adoption is based upon the legaltermination of parental rights and responsibilities of birth parents and thecreation of the legal relationship of parents and child between an adoptee andthe adoptive parents. These legal and social premises underlying adoption mustbe maintained. The state recognizes that some adults who are adopted aschildren have a strong desire to obtain identifying information about theirbirth parents while other adult adoptees have no such desire. The state furtherrecognizes that some birth parents have a strong desire to obtain identifyinginformation about their biological children who were adopted, while other birthparents have no such desire. The state fully recognizes the right to privacyand confidentiality of birth parents whose children were adopted, the adoptees,and the adoptive parents. The purpose of this chapter is to:
(1) Establish a passive voluntary adoption reunion registrywhere birth parents, adult adoptees, and surviving relatives of deceased birthparents and deceased adoptees as defined in this chapter may register theirwillingness of the release of identifying information to each other;
(2) Provide for the disclosure of identifying information tobirth parents and their genetic offspring through the court if a birth parentor parents and the adult adoptee are registered;
(3) Provide for the transmission of non-identifying healthand social and genetic history of the adult adoptees, birth parents, and otherspecified persons; and
(4) Provide a mechanism in the court to inform registrants ofthe functions and procedures of the registry at the time of registration.
