(a) Upon written request of an adopted person eighteen (18) years of age or older or of the adoptive parents or guardian of an adopted person under eighteen (18) years of age, the biological or legal relatives of an adopted person, the lineal descendants of the adopted person, or the legal representatives of such persons, the department shall provide to such persons, upon proper identification of such persons by the department, nonidentifying information about the adopted person and such person’s biological or legal relatives as may be contained in the adopted person’s sealed adoption record, sealed record or post-adoption record.

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 36-1-133

  • Adopted person: means :
    (A) Any person who is or has been adopted under this part or under the laws of any state, territory, or foreign country. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
  • Adoption: means the social and legal process of establishing by court order, other than by paternity or legitimation proceedings or by voluntary acknowledgment of paternity, the legal relationship of parent and child. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
  • Adoption record: means :
    (A)
    (i) The records, reports, or other documents maintained in any medium by the judge or clerk of the court, or by any other person pursuant to this part who is authorized to witness the execution of surrenders or revocations of surrenders, which records, reports, or documents relate to an adoption petition, a surrender or parental consent, a revocation of a surrender or parental consent, or which reasonably relate to other information concerning the adoption of a person, and which information in such records, reports, or documents exists during the pendency of an adoption or a termination of parental rights proceeding, or which records, reports, or documents exist subsequent to the conclusion of those proceedings, even if no order of adoption or order of dismissal is entered, but which records, reports or documents exist prior to those records, reports, or documents becoming a part of a sealed record or a sealed adoption record pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
  • Adoptive parent or parents: means the person or persons who have been made the legal parents of a child by the entry of an order of adoption under this part or under of the laws of any state, territory or foreign country. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
  • children: means any person or persons under eighteen (18) years of age. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
  • Department: means the department of children's services or any of its divisions or units. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
  • Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
  • Legal parent: means :
    (i) The biological mother of a child. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
  • parents: means any biological, legal, adoptive parent or parents or, for purposes of §. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
  • Post-adoption record: means :
    (A) The record maintained in any medium by the department, separately from the sealed record or sealed adoption record and subsequent to the sealing of an adoption record or that is maintained about any sealed record or sealed adoption record. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
  • Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in a perceivable form. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Sealed record: means :
    (i) Any records, reports, or documents that are maintained at any time by a court, a court clerk, a licensed or chartered child-placing agency, licensed clinical social worker, the department, the department of health, or any other information source concerning the foster care or agency care placement, or placement for adoption, of a person by any branch of the Tennessee children's home society authorized by chapter 113 of the Public Acts of 1919. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
  • written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(b) The information that may be released shall include only the following; provided, that nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize or require the release of any information from a sealed adoption record, sealed record or post-adoption record if such information would lead to the discovery of the identity or whereabouts of the biological or legal relatives of the adopted person unless § 36-1-138 is applicable:

(1) The date and time of the birth of the adopted person and such person’s weight and other physical characteristics at birth;
(2) The age of the adopted person’s biological relatives at the time of such person’s birth;
(3) The nationality, ethnic background, race and religious preference of the biological or legal relatives;
(4) The educational level of the biological or legal relatives, general occupation and any talents or hobbies;
(5) A general physical description of the biological or legal relatives, including height, weight, color of hair, color of eyes, complexion and other similar information;
(6) Whether the biological or legal parent had any other children, and if so, any available nonidentifying information about such children; and
(7) Available health history of the adopted person, and the person’s biological or legal relatives, including specifically, any psychological or psychiatric information that would be expected to have any substantial effect on the adopted person’s mental or physical health.
(c) Whenever the department releases information pursuant to this section and it appears from the record that the adopted person who has sought information has been adopted two (2) or more times, the department shall specify whether the information released pertains to the adopted person’s birth parents or to any intervening adoptive parent or parents.
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