Senate Passes Bill to Give More Adopted New Yorkers Access to Valuable Information

The New York State Senate today passed a bill enabling people who were adopted in New York but born in other states to participate in the New York State Adoption Registry. The bill (S.5145), sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Dean G. Skelos (R, Rockville Centre) gives adoptees born in other states the same ability to access information as eligible New York-born adoptees. 

“The Adoption Registry can be a valuable tool for a person to learn more about their heritage, medical history and even potentially reunite with their birth families,” Senator Skelos said. “Enabling individuals who were born out–of-state, as well as those born in New York the ability to obtain registry information is the right thing to do for those looking for more information about who they are and where they came from.”

If a person is born and adopted in New York, the state Health Department’s Adoption Registry can help them learn more about their birth families and, at times, facilitate reunions. Current law does not enable individuals who have been born in other states, but who’s adoptions were finalized in New York to have the same access to the records and other potentially releasable information. With this bill, all eligible New York-adopted individuals can participate in the registry. 

The bill has been sent to the Assembly.