Question About Texas House Bill 525 and Senate Bill 221

How can I access these bills? I know that we just had changes Jan 1 that are effecting my homestudy. Unfortunatly, some of the rules will prevent some people from foster/adopt.

:flower: ?

I think these bills will allow the adoptees to get their original birth certificates, even if they do not know their birth parents names. What I am wondering is, do these bills/laws permit birth parents to get a copy of the amended birth certificate?

[url]http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=80R&Bill=HB525[/url]Here is the site, that pulls up the history of the bill. If you click text you can download a copy. From what I understand, it is just for the adoptees to get a copy of their OBC. That is only if the b-parents sign a waiver stating that it is OK.

Thanks for the information. Sometimes it is difficult to understand read and understand the bills/laws. Your links were helpful. Ok..I understand this better, now. An adoptee can request his birth certificate and will get it, if his birth parents have not filed an objection. This is what the bill states: "If a birth parent files with the state registrar a contact preference form indicating the birth parent's preference that a noncertified copy of the adopted person's original birth certificate not be released until after the death of the birth parent, the state registrar may not release, without a court order, a noncertified copy of the adopted person's original birth certificate before that birth parent dies regardless of the other birth parent's preference."

The bill as passed by the Senate is a big bowl of nothing. Adoptees who were adopted after Jan. 1, 2008, can get their original certificates after they turn 18, but the birth parents can delay that until their deaths if they file the appropriate forms. Adoptees who were adopted before Jan. 1, 2008, may get them only if the birth parents have consented to the release of the certificates. If the Senate bill is enacted, nothing changes. The House, which passed the more generous bill, hasn't acted on the Senate version, and the Legislature is in adjournment. I don't live in Texas, so I don't know whether that means everything starts over next time the Legislature goes into session.