Hi Missie and Skye:
Missie you asked a really good question. Skye you are are doing a great job answering questions on your forum. I contacted one of our experts that deals with this type of question frequently. This is what she e-mailed back to me:
To petition a court to open a sealed adopted file the adoptee or adoptive parent should contact the court of jurisdiction (sometimes called the Superior Court)in the county in which the adoption was finalized. The positive or negative response to the petition varies from judge to judge, county to county and state to state. It is always worth a try. Call the court of jurisdiction and request their court form to open a sealed adoption file. A cover letter should accompany the request and I generally advise to
attach a copy of the birth certificate for the person whose file is to be opened. For an adoptee, some courts require a "medical necessity" statement accompanied by a letter from their family Doctor stating that they have a genetic medical condition and giving information how opening the file and finding the birth parents would change the course and treatment of the
disease. Some courts will open the file at the request of the adoptive parent. ALL courts will open the sealed adoption file under the I.C.W.A. (Indian Child Welfare Act) if the adoptee has proof in their non-identifying information that they have American Indian heritage.
This information was provided by Colleen Buckner,
http://www.arighttoknow.info. Colleen volunteers as our Search Expert here on Adoptionforums.com at:
http://www.adoptionforums.com/bullet...?s=&forumid=56 She is also available to talk with in person on her Thursday night chats at
http://www.adoptionchat.com
I am in hope that this information will be of help to you and others.
Warm regards,