The administrator must process registrations to try to match adoptees with birth parents or biological siblings, and may seek confirmation from specified sources.
Sec. 162.414. MATCHING PROCEDURES. (a) The administrator shall process each registration in an attempt to match the adoptee and the adoptee's birth parents or the adoptee and the adoptee's biological siblings. (b) The administrator shall determine that there is a match if the adult adoptee and the birth mother or the birth father have registered or if a biological sibling has registered. (c) To establish or corroborate a match, the administrator shall request confirmation of a possible match from the vital statistics unit. If the agency operating the registry has in its own records sufficient information through which the match may be confirmed, the administrator may, but is not required to, request confirmation from the vital statistics unit. The vital statistics unit may confirm or deny the match without breaching the duty of confidentiality to the adoptee, adoptive parents, birth parents, or biological siblings and without a court order. (d) To establish a match, the administrator may also request confirmation of a possible match from the agency, if any, that has possession of records concerning the adoption of an adoptee or from the court that granted the adoption, the hospital where the adoptee or any biological sibling was born, the physician who delivered the adoptee or biological sibling, or any other person who has knowledge of the relevant facts. The agency, court, hospital, physician, or person with knowledge may confirm or deny the match without breaching any duty of confidentiality to the adoptee, adoptive parents, birth parents, or biological siblings. (e) If a match is denied by a source contacted under Subsection (d), the administrator shall make a full and complete investigation into the reliability of the denial. If the match is corroborated by other reliable sources and the administrator is satisfied that the denial is erroneous, the administrator may make disclosures but shall report to the adoptee, birth parents, and biological siblings involved that the match was not confirmed by all information sources. Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 20, Sec. 1, eff. April 20, 1995. Amended by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 968, Sec. 8, eff. Sept. 1, 1995; Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 561, Sec. 25, eff. Sept. 1, 1997. Amended by: Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1 (S.B. 219), Sec. 1.115, eff. April 2, 2015.