Need Advice - Medical & Information Release Forms?

Are you going through a reputable agency? We will be working with a lawyer as we are going the route of independent/private adoption once we locate a birthmother... BUt we have been told as potential adoptive parents that we would have access to medical history that will be important in the life and health of the child. It didn't seem like that much information was going to be given... I would check it out if I were you. Maybe google the adoption agency ratings and see if there is any feedback there. Best of luck to you and sending blessings your way!

Norcal, You do not need to sign your rights away to your personal information. Do you have your own lawyer? Has he/she reviewed those forms? If no, do not sign them. Have you talked to an unbiased NON agency affliated counselor? Have you researched the laws of your state regarding your rights? Providing an indepth family health history is important but the question I would be asking is how they intend to ensure that indepth family health history will be updated as each year it becomes more useless as YOUR family health history continues to evolve. Ask them them the following questions. 1. Do you have a process in place to forward (not just file) an updated family health history to the adoptive parents and or the adoptee once he/she reaches adulthood? 2. Will you charge either party for this service? 3. Have the adoptive parents agreed to ensure any change of address is provided to the agency should they move and do they understand why? As far as your actual medical records - no one should be allowed unfettered access to your records. Neither should your confidential counselling records be open for inspection to anyone. Kind regards,Dickons

I would certainly not sign anything to this affect. I have seen potential adoptive parents gain access to information about an expectant mother's past physical and mental health, and then share that information in public arenas (forums, blogs, etc.) If you would like to share pregnancy specific information through the agency or a lawyer, that should be your decision and not something that is automatically forwarded in my opinion. Dickons also brings up GREAT points. Lastly, I would also question how the adoptive parents would inform you of any health issues your child may have that could impact you. Often, we only think of health information sharing in one direction, but it's vastly important in both directions. Any health issues your child may have could inform the health of your future children as well. This is a widely overlooked practice, but I think it's very important!Best of luck to you!

I don't know what specific forms you are talking about, but if one of them is a HIPPA type form, I would think long and hard before signing something that says the agency or PAPs can have access to your medical records. I can understand on one hand why a PAP would want to know pregnancy related medical info, but it seems that that type of info could be sent directly from your dr's office to the agency. That way you control what info they are getting. When I have signed HIPPA forms so my husband can have access to my medical records, for example, there is no way to say that he can only have access to certain info...it's all or nothing (at least on the forms I've signed). So if you don't feel comfortable giving people that access, then don't. If the agency pushes the issue, well, it's not really up to them. I would strongly urge you to seek legal council as well as unbiased counseling. Bromanchik on here can probably provide you with some contacts in your area.

I agree with the previous posters. Those "all access" forms give me a HUGE "red flag" impression. Be careful what information you sign over to them.

Also, to answer one of your original questions, I wouldn't be surprised if requesting you to sign these forms is normal for agencies. But that doesn't mean you have to do it. I certainly wouldn't.

I see you posted this in Jan and may never even check this again but just in case and for the benefit of anyone else who comes across this later with the same questions: Last week I got my first "packet" from adoption agencies. The paperwork you described was all there (fyi this was from a major national agency, seen it advertised even on this website). I also had a "huge" problem with the wording that several distant persons could access all my information including medical history beyond the pregnancy, credit information, criminal history, work history, education history and on and on, and that's not even counting the ungodly amount of highly detailed information they wanted me to submit about me and the birth father. I found this disturbing, there is NO ONE else in my life that I have ever had to grant this type of access to for any reason. This was THE red flag of red flags. I very much think we give up too much information too freely in this day and age but this was beyond absurd. My answer to this was a resounding "HELL NO". I won't grant that kind unlimited access to my information to anyone, ever, for any reason; NO ONE is entitled to that. Now, that said, I did get a few more packets in the mail and so far that was the only one stating that I had to sign away the rights to any and all private information. All the packets vary in what they want from you regarding your history or medical history, and one packet even stated to only answer what I felt comfortable with as far as background information. So, I think it varies greatly depending on the agency. I am hopeful that I will find an agency to make a plan with that will work with me and make me comfortable as far as how much information I provide about myself. I hope things worked out well for you and that you resolved this issue in a way that worked for you. :)

Hello everyone.