Report Title:

Adoption; Child's Ethnicity

Description:

Requires the medical information collected from the natural parents and the birth certificate of an adopted minor child to include ethnicity, if known.

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	969
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating to adoption.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

     SECTION 1.  Section 338-17.7, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

     "(a)  The department of health shall establish, in the following circumstances, a new certificate of birth for a person born in this State who already has a birth certificate filed with the department and who is referred to below as the "birth registrant":

     (1)  Upon receipt of an affidavit of paternity, a court order establishing paternity, or a certificate of marriage establishing the marriage of the natural parents to each other, together with a request from the birth registrant, or the birth registrant’s parent or other person having legal custody of the birth registrant, that a new birth certificate be prepared because previously recorded information has been altered pursuant to law;

     (2)  Upon receipt of a certified copy of a final order, judgment, or decree of a court of competent jurisdiction that determined the nonexistence of a parent and child relationship between a person identified as a parent on the birth certificate on file and the birth registrant;

     (3)  Upon receipt of a certified copy of a final adoption decree, or of an abstract of the decree, pursuant to sections 338-20 and 578-14[;].  A new certificate of birth established pursuant to this subparagraph shall include the birth registrant's ethnicity, if known;

     (4)  Upon receipt of an affidavit of a physician that the physician has examined the birth registrant and has determined the following:

         (A)  The birth registrant’s sex designation was entered incorrectly on the birth registrant’s birth certificate; or

         (B)  The birth registrant has had a sex change operation and the sex designation on the birth registrant’s birth certificate is no longer correct; provided that the director of health may further investigate and require additional information that the director deems necessary; or

     (5)  Upon request of a law enforcement agency certifying that a new birth certificate showing different information would provide for the safety of the birth registrant; provided that the new birth certificate shall contain information requested by the law enforcement agency, shall be assigned a new number and filed accordingly, and shall not substitute for the birth registrant’s original birth certificate, which shall remain in place."

     SECTION 2.  Section 578-14.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

     "(a)  The department of health shall prepare a standard form entitled, "medical information form", for the purpose of perpetuating medical information on the natural parents of the adopted minor child.  This form shall include a request for any information relating to the adopted child's potential genetic or other inheritable diseases or afflictions, including [but not limited to] known genetic disorders, inheritable diseases, [and] similar medical histories, and ethnicity, if known, of the natural parents and the parents of the natural parents.  The department of health shall make these forms available to all affected public agencies, all child placing organizations approved by the department of human services under section 346‑17, attorneys, and other private individuals assisting the natural or adoptive parents in the adoption process, and the family court."

     SECTION 3.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

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