/Winston-Salem Journal, /Monday, December 10, 2007 New state law will regulate adoption inquiries It will let agencies help connect children, parents By Blair Goldstein JOURNAL REPORTER [Blair Goldstein can be reached at 727-7284 or at bgoldstein@wsjournal.com] People who were given up for adoption years ago will soon have more places to turn if they want to reunite with their biological parents. A new state law allows licensed adoption agencies, including county departments of social services, to act as confidential liaisons, helping connect people to their biological parents and parents to their biological children. Until now, people had to go through the court system to find this information. Adoption agencies are gearing up for the new responsibility. The law will go into effect January 1. The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Division of Social Services sent out an e-mail last week to social services and adoption agencies that begins to outline their new role. According to the e-mail, adoptees must be at least 21 years old to search for a biological parent or for the parent to search for the adoptee. If both parties agree to meet, the agencies will have to prepare them for the meeting, arrange a visit and then act as a facilitator at the meeting. To be eligible, the adoption must have been completed in North Carolina. Only an adult adoptee, a biological parent or a lineal descendant, such as a son or granddaughter, of an adoptee who has died can receive this service. Joe Raymond, the director of Forsyth County's Department of Social Services, said he thinks that the new law is a positive step. But he said that people contacted may have very different reactions. He said that people requesting information must be prepared to hear that a biological parent or child does not want to meet them. "I think the reality is some people are going to be happy about this opportunity and some are not going to be happy," he said. "It's going to cause them to go through feelings that they thought they had put aside years ago." Another issue is money. The bill comes with no state money attached. Instead, each agency has to decide how much to charge for these requests and how it will absorb the workload. Evelyn Hardy, the adoption supervisor at Forsyth County's DSS, said that the department facilitates about 70 adoptions a year. Today, she said that most of the adoptions it facilitates involve children that come through the foster-care system and are old enough to know who their biological parents are. But she said that 20 or 30 years ago, social issues, such as more restricted access to birth-control pills, led more young women to have children and give them up for adoption as babies. She said she expects that many of these adults will now come to Forsyth County DSS looking for assistance. "I expect that's going to be a service that will be well received," she said. The liaison service is voluntary. But agencies that choose not to participate are required to give people information about nearby agencies that can help. Rep. Margaret Dickson, D-Cumberland, was a primary sponsor of the adoption bill. She said she became interested in adoption as a child when a friend, who was adopted, used to wonder what her biological parents were like. When a group advocating for adult adoptees asked her to help make this question easier to solve, she agreed. "When you have two parties who consent to this, it just makes sense, and it seems the most efficient and most humane way to do this," Dickson said.