Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 40, October 5, 2024
Rule 15.20 - Collection of Documents and Maintenance of Court File(a) The clerk where parental rights were terminated and the clerk where the adoption decree is entered shall maintain as a permanent court file all court records pertaining to the adoption, including the docket, all petitions, exhibits, reports, notes of testimony, decrees and other filed legal papers.(b) The clerk where parental rights were terminated and the clerk where the adoption decree is entered shall also accept the following items that shall then become part of the permanent court file:(1) a statement of medical, personal, or social history information filed by a birth parent, a survivor of a deceased birth parent, the adopted individual who is sui juris, the legal or natural guardian of a non-sui juris adopted individual, or the descendant of a deceased adopted individual;(2) a form promulgated by the Department containing medical, personal, or social history information completed by an individual named in subparagraph (1);(3) an authorization or consent form signed by a birth parent permitting the release of identifying information, including, but not limited to, any signed form promulgated by the Department to authorize the release of identifying information and any signed form promulgated by the Department of Health granting the issuance of a summary of the adopted individual's original birth record with identifying information about the birth parent;(4) a form signed by a birth parent withholding the release of identifying information or revoking a prior authorization or consent given, including any such form promulgated by the Department or the Department of Health that is signed by the birth parent; and(5) a notification from the Department given in accordance with 23 Pa.C.S. § 2915(c)(4) that an agency has closed and transferred its case records to another agency.(c) In addition to the documents listed in paragraphs (a) and (b), the clerk where the adoption decree is entered shall also accept the following items that shall then become part of the permanent court file:(1) an authorization or consent form signed by an adopted individual permitting the release of identifying information, or any form signed by an adopted individual withholding the release of identifying information or revoking a prior authorization or consent given, including any such form promulgated by the Department or the Department of Health that is signed by the adopted individual;(2) requests for non-identifying or identifying information; and(3) records or documents from an attorney who represented an individual in the adoption proceeding or who acted as counsel or as the guardian ad litem for the child, the minor birth parent, or a minor sibling of the child; provided that, the records and written documents concern the child, the birth family or the adopting family, such records and documents are in the format required by local rule, and the filing fee, if any, is paid.(d) The clerk where parental rights were terminated shall copy and forward any statement of medical, personal, or social history information and forms signed by a birth parent authorizing the release of identifying information, withholding the release of identifying information, or revoking previously given authorizations as follows: (1) a completed document in the form promulgated by the Department shall be forwarded to the Pennsylvania Adoption Information Registry ("PAIR"); and(2) documents in whatever form or format shall be forwarded to the clerk where the adoption decree has been entered if the court entering the adoption decree is known or reasonably ascertainable from information in the court file of the court that terminated parental rights.(e) All documents described in subparagraphs (b)(1), (b)(2), (b)(3), (b)(4), (c)(1), and (c)(3) shall be stamped with the date of receipt and an acknowledgement of receipt shall be sent to the individual who filed the document or the clerk who sent the document.