Sec. 07.02.13.01. Purpose

The purpose of this chapter is to:

A. Allow adult adoptees and eligible birth family members to:

(1) Exchange identifying information between all eligible consenting persons who register and are matched through the Maryland Mutual Consent Voluntary Adoption Registry;

(2) Search for and exchange identifying and nonidentifying information between adult adoptees and their birth parents who consent to the services of the Search, Contact, and Reunion Services Program; and

(3) Maintain confidentiality and anonymity if other birth family members search for the adult adoptees and eligible birth family members, and they do not desire contact;

B. Allow adult adoptees and birth parents to file disclosure vetoes to protect their confidentiality;

C. Allow a local department to contact a sibling of a minor in out-of-home placement in order to develop a placement resource or facilitate a family connection, if the sibling was adopted through a local department; and

D. Allow a director of a local department or designee to contact relatives of a minor in out-of-home placement who was adopted through a local department for the purposes of developing a placement resource or to facilitate a family connection if the local department has determined that reunification with the minor’s adoptive parent is not in the minor’s best interest.