78B-6-141 - Petition, report, and documents sealed -- Exceptions.
78B-6-141. Petition, report, and documents sealed -- Exceptions.
(1) A petition for adoption, the written report described in Section 78B-6-135, and anyother documents filed in connection with the petition are sealed.
(2) The documents described in Subsection (1) may only be open to inspection asfollows:
(a) in accordance with Subsection (3)(a), by a party to the adoption proceeding:
(i) while the proceeding is pending; or
(ii) within six months after the day on which the adoption decree is entered;
(b) subject to Subsection (3)(b), a court enters an order permitting access to thedocuments by a person who has appealed the denial of that person's motion to intervene;
(c) upon order of the court expressly permitting inspection or copying, after good causehas been shown;
(d) as provided under Section 78B-6-144;
(e) those records shall become public on the one hundredth anniversary of the date thefinal decree of adoption was entered; or
(f) if the adoptee is an adult at the time the final decree of adoption is entered, thedocuments described in this section are open to inspection and copying without a court order bythe adoptee or a parent who adopted the adoptee, unless the final decree of adoption is entered bythe juvenile court under Subsection 78B-6-115(3)(b).
(3) (a) A person who files a motion to intervene in an adoption proceeding:
(i) is not a party to the adoption proceeding, unless the motion to intervene is granted;and
(ii) may not be granted access to the documents described in Subsection (1), unless themotion to intervene is granted.
(b) An order described in Subsection (2)(b) shall:
(i) prohibit the person described in Subsection (2)(b) from inspecting a documentdescribed in Subsection (1) that contains identifying information of the adoptive or potentialadoptive parents; and
(ii) permit the person described in Subsection (3)(b)(i) to review a copy of a documentdescribed in Subsection (3)(b)(i) after the identifying information described in Subsection(3)(b)(i) is redacted from the document.
Amended by Chapter 159, 2009 General Session