Illinois Law on Release of Non-ID

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(750 ILCS 50/18.4)
Sec. 18.4.

The agency, Department of Children and Family Services, Court Supportive Services, Juvenile Division of the Circuit Court, or the Probation Officers of the Circuit Court involved in theadoption proceedings shall give in writing the following information, if known, to the adoptive parents not later than the date of placement with the petitioning adoptive parents:
1. age of biological parents;
2. their race, religion and ethnic background;
3. general physical appearance of biological parents;
4. their education, occupation, hobbies, interests and talents;
5. existence of any other children born to the biological parents;
6. information about biological grandparents; reason for emigrating into the United States, ifapplicable, and country of origin;
7. relationship between biologicalparents; and
8. detailed medical and mental health histories of the child, the biological parents, and their immediate relatives.
However, no information provided under this subsection shall disclose the name orlast known address of the biological parents, grandparents, the siblings of the biological parents, or any other relative of the adopted.
Any adoptee 18 years of age or over shall be given the information in subsection (a) upon request.
Any of the above available information for any adoptionproceedings completed before the effective date of this Act shall besupplied to the adoptive parents or an adoptee 18 years of age or overupon request.

Comments

Some of this information is very subjective, and requires clinical/evaluative review.

Would this have been gathered/voluntarily proferred--or actually required (such as "talents hobbies" and "relationship of birth parents") routinely/customarily across all, or most, the varieties of adoptions, and of birth parents placing adoptees?

Does this mean this info gathering by agencies and therefore from birth parents will now be more strictly required/enforced?

Does anyone think this will have any impact on the willing participation of birth parents, or, indeed, on placement itself? I'm not saying I have a feeling either way--just curious about people's reaction.

It all seems like very reasonable, sensible, in fact crucial info to know. Just wanted to know reactions on how practical, or impractical it is. Like anything, if approached delicately and informatively, I'm sure it can have a high success rate of acquisition.

Posted by: anchovy at 10/20/2005 11:59 PM

Was this information ever previously available, or was it determined upon a case-by-case basis? Actually, I know it must have been at least partially available as I am from Illinois originally and had friends that were adopted whose parents did have access to at least [I]some[/I] of this information. A friend of mine growing up had very limited information about her birth parents, including their ethnic background, height and weight and the general circumstances of her adoption. Unfortunately, her parents both passed away before she was 18, and when she was able to get more information herself (her parents were reluctant to give her more than the very basics -- I don't know if they didn't know, or if they just didn't need to know and didn't want to inquire further), she couldn't find any because there was not any to be found (they were gone and had never been tracked or provided any more information). I think particularly the hobbies, talents and interests will be extremely valuable to a lot of children. It helps put together the puzzle piece of their origins if they know what their birth parents were good at and enjoyed, particularly if they find themselves excelling and interested in similar disciplines and areas.

Posted by: avalanche at 10/20/2005 03:32 PM

This information is not found in the court file. If it is available, it is found in the file of the agency that completed the adoption. If the adoption was handled by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, the information can be requested from the private agency that delivers this service for IDCFS: Midwest Adoption Center at 847-298-9096. There is no fee for information of for search service.

Posted by: Gretchen at 10/20/2005 02:16 PM

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