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> Date: 24 Aug 96 
> From: "Jane C. Nast" 
> To: Jim Kelly  (jkelly@wimsey.com)
> Subject: American Adoption Congress Press Release
> For Immediate Release
            
                 LANDMARK FEDERAL COURT DECISION 
      ALLOWING ACCESS TO ADOPTION RECORDS IN TENNESSEE
In a decision handed down late Friday in Federal Court, Nashville, 
Tennessee,Judge John Nixon denied a motion for a preliminary injunction which 
had been sought by plaintiffs in a lawsuit seeking to overthrow the 1995 
Tennessee state law granting Tennessee-born adopted adults the right of 
access to documents pertaining to them at the time of adoption, including 
their original birth certificate and court records.  Plaintiffs hoping to 
overturn the Tennessee statute were represented by the Washington D.C. based 
American Center for Law and Justice.  The law also allows birth parents and 
birth siblings of adopted adults to request information about the adoptee.
Small World Ministries, the only adoption agency in Tennessee belonging to 
NCFA, a national lobbying group which has opposed adoptees' access-to-records 
legislation throughout the country since 1980, filed a suit  against the 
State of Tennessee on behalf of two birth mothers and one adoptive couple 
only days before the law  was to go into effect.  The law, originally passed 
in June 1995 and amended in May of 1996, was to take effect on July 1, 1996 
with respect to adoptions occurring in Tennessee after the records were 
sealed in 1951. Persons adopted in Tennessee before the records were sealed 
in 1951 were granted access to records on July 1, 1995.  
The denial of the temporary injunction by Judge Nixon means that the 
Department of Children's Services which has been charged with implementing of 
the new law may now go forward with processing requests for records.
Under the new law, birth parents have the right to file a contact veto 
refusing contact and adult adoptees have a right to deny both a release of 
identifying information and contact.
It is likely that this Federal District Court decision will have far-reaching 
effect in states where similar legislation is pending.  THIS STORY WENT OUT 
ON THE AP NATIONAL WIRE SERVICE OUT OF NASHVILLE YESTERDAY OR TODAY, SO 
PLEASE WATCH FOR IT.
For further information:
L. Anne Babb, 405-329-9294
Pres. American Adoption Congress: 
Denny Glad, 901-386-2197
Pres. Tennessee Coalition for Adoption Reform
Pres. Memphsis based Tennessee the Right to Know
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