|
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
|
State
Rep. Louise Williams Bishop |
|
Bishop votes for House bill to protect adoption records
HARRISBURG, Nov. 18 – State Rep. Louise Williams Bishop, D-Phila., lauded House passage of a bill that would protect adoption records from disposal or loss when private adoption agencies close in Pennsylvania.
The bill's prime sponsor is state Rep. Kevin Murphy, D-Lackawanna.
Bishop, chairwoman of the House Children and Youth Committee, said the legislation (H.B. 1907) would require adoption agencies to file a pre-closure plan with the Department of Public Welfare detailing how adoption records would be transferred to another qualified agency upon the original agency's closure.
"This bill would require that information, including medical history data, is properly filed and centrally located so that children and youth agencies, judges, adoptive parents and private adoption agencies would have continued access to adoption records even if a private agency shuts down," Bishop said.
Under Murphy's bill, the pre-closure plans would have to ensure that records are filed in a specific location and made available when needed. DPW would have to approve the records disposition program and notify local courts of the adoption records' new location.
Bishop said current DPW regulations do not provide for the disposition of adoption records when an agency closes.
The legislation has been sent to the state Senate for consideration.
###rrc/2009/cz
l:'print'releases'adoptrecords.192
|
CONTACT: Roseann R. Cadau |