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Tennessee Pages

Tennesee Access to Adoption Records

With respect to adoptions which took place prior to 1951, the law requires that all records be released to any and/or all of the following persons who may request them: adult adoptees, birth parents, birth grandparents, birth siblings, adoptive parents, adoptive siblings, the adult children and all adult descendants of the adoptee, or the legal representative of any of the above named categories of people. There are no conditions to the release of these records, and no restrictions against any use the eligible person may make of them.

With respect to adoptions which have taken place since 1951:
1. The law requires that all records be released to any adult adoptee (21 years of age or older) who may request them, or to that person's legal representative. Birth parents may NOT prevent the release of these records. (NOTE: there is one exception to this requirement - birth mothers who were the victims of rape/incest may veto the release of records IF, AND ONLY IF the records indicate that the situation was reported as rape/incest at the time it occurred. In other words, a birth mother cannot have just claimed at the time to be the victim of rape/incest, and certainly can make no such claim now, unless she officially reported it as such at the time.)
2. Before records can be released, the adoptee must stipulate whether he/she wishes contact with birth parents or any other member of the birth family. If the adoptee does stipulate a desire for contact, the records are released but he/she may not proceed on his/her own to attempt any such contact until DCS has made an attempt to locate the persons named by the adoptee and to determine whether such persons agree to contact. If the person so located agrees to contact, no further restrictions apply. If DCS cannot locate such persons, or any such persons are found to be deceased, or if any such persons fail to respond to the notification in the manner required by law, all restrictions are lifted and the adoptee is free to pursue any such contact as he/she may desire. However, if the person so notified by DCS does file a contact-veto, the law prohibits the adoptee from attempting any contact with that person, and any adoptee who violates that contact-veto is guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to legal sanctions and civil action. (NOTE: even if a birth parent files a contact-veto, the adoptee may still request contact with other birth family members, and each birth family member is entitled to agree to contact, or to file a contact-veto.)
3. At the end of all dealings with the persons with whom the adoptee has requested contact, DCS is required to provide the adoptee with copies of all correspondence between those persons and DCS, including a copy of the contact-veto if one is filed. This is to enable the adopee to see personally what steps DCS took in locating such persons and in notifying them of the request for contact, and exactly how such persons responded.
4. Birth parents, birth grandparents, and birth siblings may request the records of any adult adoptee to whom they are related, and contact with that person, and the law requires DCS to attempt to locate the adoptee and notify him/her or such a request. However, no records may be released to such persons without the adult adoptee's express written consent. The adoptee may agree to the release of records to such persons, and to contact; or the adoptee may veto the release of records, but agree to contact. Or the adoptee may veto both the release of records and contact. Or the adoptee need not even respond. The only way records or any other identifying information about the adoptee may be released to any other requesting party is if the adoptee agrees in writing. (NOTE: there are two exceptions to this provision:
a.) In situations where the birth parents' parental rights were legally terminated because of abuse or neglect, such birth parents are not eligible to request either records or contact.
b.) In situations where birth parents were not married to each other, or where the birth father did not execute an Acknowledgment of Paternity at the time of the adoption, the birth father is not eligible to request either records or contact.)

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Summary prepared by:
Denny Glad
President
Tennessee Coalition For Adoption Reform

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