A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT requiring adoption agencies acting as confidential intermediaries to report certain information to the north carolina department of health and human services and requiring the Department to maintain records of this information as well as certain other information as recommended by the house select committee on adoptee birth certificates.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 48‑9‑104 reads as rewritten:
"§ 48‑9‑104.  Release of identifying information; confidential intermediary services.
(a)	Except as provided in G.S. 48‑9‑109(2) or (3), no person or entity shall release from any records retained and sealed under this Article the name, address, or other information that reasonably could be expected to lead directly to the identity of an adoptee, an adoptive parent of an adoptee, an adoptee's parent at birth, or an individual who, but for the adoption, would be the adoptee's sibling or grandparent, except upon order of the court for cause pursuant to G.S. 48‑9‑105.
(b)	A child placing agency licensed by the Department or a county department of social services may agree to act as a confidential intermediary for a biological parent or adult adoptee or adult lineal descendant of a deceased adoptee, without appointment by the court pursuant to G.S. 48‑9‑105, in order to obtain and share nonidentifying birth family health information or facilitate contact or share identifying information with adult adoptees, adult lineal descendants of deceased adoptees, and biological parents with the written consent of all parties to the contact or the sharing of information. Further, a child placing agency licensed by the Department or a county department of social services may agree to act as a confidential intermediary for the adoptive parents of a minor adoptee, without appointment by the court pursuant to G.S. 48‑9‑105, to obtain and share nonidentifying birth family health information. An agency that agrees to provide confidential intermediary services may charge a reasonable fee for doing so, which fee must be pursuant to written agreement signed by the individual to be charged. The Division shall establish guidelines for confidential intermediary services.
(c)	Each child placing agency licensed by the Department or county department of social services acting as a confidential intermediary shall report to the Department annually by February 1 of each year for the previous calendar year the following information:
(1)	The length of time it takes the agency to conduct an individual search.
(2)	The length of the agency's waiting list.
(3)	The number of biological parents found and the number of biological parents unable to be found.
(4)	The number of adoptees found and the number of adoptees unable to be found.
(5)	The number of biological parents refusing contact after being found.
(6)	The number of biological parents providing updated medical information.
(7)	The number of reunions resulting from the provision of confidential intermediary services.
(8)	The minimum and maximum fees paid by persons soliciting confidential intermediary services.
The Department shall maintain records of the information reported by each agency. The Department shall also maintain records of the number of agencies within each county providing confidential intermediary services and the number of agencies within each county not providing confidential intermediary services, which information shall be made available to the public."
SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.