Section 3705.12 | Issuance of new or foreign birth record after adoption - access to original record, adoption file.
(A)(1) the probate judge's Upon receipt of the items sent by a probate court pursuant to section 3107.19 of the Revised Code concerning the adoption of a child born in this state whose adoption was decreed on or after January 1, 1964, the department of health shall issue, unless otherwise requested by the adoptive parents, a new birth record using the child's adopted name and the names of and data concerning the adoptive parents. The new birth record shall have the same overall appearance as the record that would have been issued under section 3705.09 of the Revised Code if the adopted child had been born to the adoptive parents. Where handwriting is required to effect that appearance, the department shall supply the handwriting.
(2) Upon the issuance of the new birth record, the original birth record shall cease to be a public record. The index references to the original birth record, including references that were not a public record under this section as it existed prior to the effective date of this amendment, are a public record under section 149.43 of the Revised Code. The department shall place the original birth record and the items sent by the probate court pursuant to section 3107.19 of the Revised Code in an adoption file and seal the file. The contents of the adoption file shall not be open to inspection, be copied, or be available for copying, except as follows:
(a) The department shall copy and provide an agency with a copy of the original birth record upon the presentation by the agency, by mail or in another reasonable manner, of a certified copy of an order issued by a probate judge under section 3107.41 of the Revised Code.
(b) The department shall inspect the file to determine the court involved for the purpose of division (D) of section 3107.09 or section 3107.091 or provide the name of that court to an agency under the circumstances described in division (B)(2)(b) of section 3107.41 of the Revised Code.
(c) The department shall make the file's contents available to an adopted person or adoptive parent in accordance with section 3107.47 of the Revised Code.
(d) The department shall inspect the file to assist a birth parent or birth sibling in finding the adopted person's name by adoption in accordance with section 3107.49 of the Revised Code.
(e) The department shall open the file to file a denial of release form under division (A) of section 3107.46 of the Revised Code or an authorization of release form under division (B) of that section.
(f) The department shall open the file to file a request from an adopted person under division (A) of section 3107.48 of the Revised Code or to remove and destroy the request pursuant to division (B) of that section.
(g) The court that decreed the adoption may order that the contents be made open for inspection or available for copying.
(3) The department of health shall promptly forward a copy of the new birth record to the local registrar of vital statistics of the district in which the birth occurred. The local registrar shall file a copy of the new birth record along with and in the same manner as the other copies of birth records in the registrar's possession of the local registrar. All copies of the original birth record and all other papers, documents, and index references pertaining to the original birth record in the possession of the local registrar or the probate court shall be destroyed, except that the probate court shall retain permanently in the file of the adoption proceedings information that is necessary to enable the court to identify both the child's original birth record and the child's new birth record.
(4) On receipt of the items sent by a probate court pursuant to section 3107.19 of the Revised Code concerning the adoption of a person born in a foreign country, the department of health shall issue a "foreign birth record" unless the adoptive parents or adopted person over eighteen years of age requests that such record not be issued.
On receipt of an order issued under section 3107.18 of the Revised Code, the department of health shall issue a foreign birth record.
A foreign birth record shall be the same in all respects as a birth record issued under division (A)(1) of this section, except that it shall show the actual country of birth. After registration of the birth record in the new name of the adopted person, the department shall place the items sent by the probate court in an adoption file and seal the file. The contents of the file shall not be open to inspection, be copied, or be available for copying, except as follows:
(a) The department shall copy and provide an agency with a copy of the original birth record if available, upon presentation by the agency by mail or in another reasonable manner of a certified copy of an order issued by a probate judge under section 3107.41 of the Revised Code.
(b) The department shall inspect the envelope to determine the court involved in an adoption for the purpose of division (D) of section 3107.09 or section 3107.091 or provide the name of that court to an agency under the circumstances described in division (B)(2)(b) of section 3107.41 of the Revised Code.
(c) The department shall make the file's contents available to an adopted person or adoptive parent in accordance with section 3107.47 of the Revised Code.
(d) The department shall inspect the file to examine the adoption certificate and to assist a birth parent or birth sibling in finding the adopted person's name by adoption in accordance with section 3107.49 of the Revised Code.
(e) The department shall open the file to file a denial of release form under division (A) of section 3107.46 of the Revised Code or an authorization of release form under division (B) of that section.
(f) The department shall open the file to file a request from an adopted person under division (A) of section 3107.48 of the Revised Code or to remove and destroy the request pursuant to division (B) of that section.
(g) The court that decreed the adoption may order that the contents of the envelope be made open for inspection or available for copying.
(5) A new birth record or foreign birth record, and any certified or exact copy of the new birth record or foreign birth record, when properly authenticated by a duly authorized person, shall be prima-facie evidence in all courts and places of the facts stated in the new birth record.
(B) When the adoption of a child whose birth occurred in this state is decreed by a court in another state and when the department of health has received, from the court that decreed the adoption, an official communication containing information similar to that contained in the certificate of adoption for adoptions decreed in this state, division (A) of this section shall apply to the child's case just as if the adoption had taken place in this state. The department shall place the original birth record and all papers and documents in its possession that pertain to the original birth record or to the adoption of the child in an adoption file and seal the file. Index references to the original birth record, including references that were not a public record under this section as it existed prior to the effective date of this amendment, are a public record under section 149.43 of the Revised Code. The contents of the file shall be open to inspection and be copied or available for copying, and a copy of an original birth record shall be provided, only as authorized by division (A) of this section for adoptions decreed in this state.
(C)(1) No original birth record of any person whose birth occurred in this state and whose adoption was decreed prior to January 1, 1964, no birth record in the adopted name of any person whose birth occurred in this state and whose adoption was decreed prior to January 1, 1964, and no papers or documents that pertain to either such type of birth record or to the adoption of any such person shall be sealed on or after March 19, 1985.
(2) Original birth records of persons whose births occurred in this state and whose adoptions were decreed prior to January 1, 1964, and papers and documents that pertain to original birth records or to the adoptions of such persons, that are in the possession of the department of health, and that were sealed pursuant to division (C) of this section as it existed prior to March 19, 1985, or that were mistakenly or otherwise sealed, shall be open to inspection by and either shall be copied or made available for copying by, the adopting parents, the adopted person, or any lineal descendant of the adopted person, upon request. In all other cases, such an original birth record and such papers shall not be open to inspection, be copied, or be available for copying, except as follows:
(a) The department shall copy and provide an agency with a copy of the original birth record upon the presentation by the agency, by mail or in another reasonable manner, of a certified copy of an order issued by a probate judge under section 3107.41 of the Revised Code.
(b) The department shall inspect the file to determine the court involved in an adoption for the purpose of division (D) of section 3107.09 or section 3107.091 or provide the name of that court to an agency under the circumstances described in division (B)(2)(b) of section 3107.41 of the Revised Code.
(c) The department shall provide an adopted person a copy of the contents of the adoption file pursuant to division (B)(1) of section 3107.38 of the Revised Code.
(d) The court that decreed the adoption may order that the contents be made open for inspection or available for copying.
(3) Birth records in the adopted names of persons whose births occurred in this state and whose adoptions were decreed prior to January 1, 1964, and papers and documents that pertain to such birth records or to the adoptions of such persons, that are in the possession of the department, and that were sealed pursuant to division (D) of this section as it existed prior to March 19, 1985, shall be open to inspection by, and either shall be copied for or made available for copying by, the adopting parents, the adopted person, or any lineal descendant of the adopted person, upon request. In all other cases, such birth records and such papers and documents shall not be open to inspection, be copied, or be available for copying, except that the court that decreed the adoption may order that the contents be made open for inspection or available for copying.
(D) An adopted person whose birth occurred in this state, whose adoption was decreed prior to January 1, 1964, who did not have a new or reissued birth record in the adopted person's adopted name prepared pursuant to division (C) or (D) of this section as those divisions existed prior to March 19, 1985, and whose adoption is in full force and effect, may apply to the department of health at any time for the preparation of a new birth record in the person's adopted name. Upon receipt of such an application, the department shall prepare a new birth record in the person's name, in accordance with, and in the form described in, division (A)(1) of this section. Upon the preparation of a birth record in that form, the original birth record of the applicant or the birth record issued in the adopted name of the applicant prior to January 1, 1964, that is being replaced, whichever is applicable, shall cease to be a public record; however, the department shall maintain that birth record and papers and documents that pertain to it or to the adoption of the applicant and upon request, the adoptive parents of the applicant, the applicant, or any lineal descendant of the applicant may inspect that birth record and those papers and records at all reasonable times and may copy it or any of them or obtain a copy of it or any of them at cost from the department. A birth record in an applicant's adopted name prepared by the department under this division, and any certified or exact copy of it that is properly authenticated by a duly authorized person, is prima-facie evidence in all courts and places of the facts stated in it.
The department promptly shall forward a copy of a birth record in an applicant's adopted name that is prepared under this division to the local registrar of vital statistics of the district in which the applicant's birth occurred. The local registrar shall file the copy along with, and in the same manner as, the other copies of birth records in the registrar's possession. All copies of the applicant's original birth record or the birth record issued in the applicant's adopted name prior to January 1, 1964, that is being replaced, and all other papers, documents, and index references pertaining to it that are in the possession of the local registrar or a probate court shall be destroyed, except that the probate court shall retain permanently in the file of adoption proceedings information that is necessary to enable the court to identify both the applicant's original birth record or birth record issued in the applicant's adopted name prior to January 1, 1964, that is being replaced, and the new birth record in the applicant's adopted name that is prepared pursuant to this division in accordance with, and in the form described in, division (A)(1) of this section.
The Legislative Service Commission presents the text of this section as a composite of the section as amended by multiple acts of the General Assembly. This presentation recognizes the principle stated in R.C. 1.52(B) that amendments are to be harmonized if reasonably capable of simultaneous operation.
Available Versions of this Section
- September 18, 1996 – House Bill 419, House Bill 266 - 121st General Assembly [ View September 18, 1996 Version ]
- March 20, 2015 – Senate Bill 23 - 130th General Assembly [ View March 20, 2015 Version ]