Rules & Regulations of the State of Tennessee
Title 0250 - Children's Services
Subtitle 0250-07 - Social Services Division
Chapter 0250-07-12 - Rules Governing Access to Adoption Records for Adoptions Finalized On and After March 16, 1951
Section 0250-07-12-.02 - DEFINITIONS

Universal Citation: TN Comp Rules and Regs 0250-07-12-.02

Current through September 24, 2024

(1) Adopted Person

(a) Any person who is or has been adopted under this part or under the laws of any state, territory, or foreign country.

(b) For purposes of the processing and handling of, and access to, any adoption records, sealed adoption records, sealed records, post-adoption records, or adoption assistance records pursuant to this part, this term shall also include a person for whom any of those records is maintained by the court, other persons or entities or persons authorized to conduct a surrender or revocation of surrender pursuant to this part, or which records are maintained by the Department, a licensed or chartered child-placing agency, a licensed clinical social worker, or the Department of Health or other information source, whether an adoption petition was ever filed, whether an adoption order was ever entered, whether the adoption was ever dismissed, whether the adoption was ever finalized, or whether the adoption was attempted or was otherwise never completed due to the abandonment of any necessary activity related to the completion of the adoption.

(c) Whenever used, the term "adopted person" shall mean persons in subparagraphs (a) and (b).

(2) Adoption - The social and legal process of establishing by court order, other than by paternity or legitimation proceedings or by voluntary acknowledgment of paternity, the legal relationship of parent and child.

(3) Adoption Record - The records, reports, and papers, including those of termination of parental rights or adoption proceeding, maintained about an adopted person by the clerk or judge of the court where the adoption petition is filed, where a surrender or revocation of a surrender is filed, or by any other person who is authorized to witness the execution of surrenders or revocation of surrenders, or by the state, district or county offices of the Department, or by a licensed or chartered child-placing agency, or by any other information source and which record contains all social, medical, legal or other information concerning a person who has been placed for adoption or for an adopted person, or a person for whom adoptive placement activities are currently occurring, and which existed prior to its becoming a sealed record or a sealed adoption record; provided, however, that the adoption record shall not include any home study or preliminary home study or any information obtained by the Department, a licensed child-placing agency, a licensed clinical social worker, or an attorney in connection with a home study or adoption proceeding other than that which is expressly included in a report to the court by such persons. Information relating to the counseling of a biological mother regarding crisis pregnancy counseling shall not be included in the adoption record for purposes of release pursuant to this part without a court order pursuant to T.C.A. § 36-1-138.

(4) Adoptive Parent(s) - The person(s) who have been made the legal parent(s) of a child by the entry of an order of adoption under the provisions of the law of any state, territory, or foreign country.

(5) Advance Notice Registry:

(a) A registry established and maintained by the Department for the purposes of permitting registration by eligible individuals who wish to receive advanced notification prior to the release of adoption records, sealed records, sealed adoption records, post-adoption records or any other records or papers which may contain identifying information regarding such person.

(b) This record is confidential and shall be opened only as provided by TCA 36-1-138.

(6) Alleged Parent - A person who was named or described in the sealed record or the sealed adoption record as a parent of the adopted person, but who does not otherwise meet the definition of biological parent pursuant to these rules.

(7) Automatic Veto - The process whereby the spouses, siblings or future siblings, lineal descendants and lineal ancestors and any spouses of those persons are automatically protected by a Contact Veto filed by an eligible person in conformity with the procedures set forth in T.C.A. §§ 36-1-128, 36-1-129 and § 36-1-130.

(8) Biological Parent - Based on a birth certificate, a court order, an unqualified surrender of parental rights, or based on an unqualified acknowledgment of parenthood, or any other document contained in the sealed records or the sealed adoption records, the person(s) identified as the birth parent(s) who genetically conceived the adopted person. The information in the adoption records, sealed records, and sealed adoption records must be consistent as to the identity of the biological parent.

(9) Biological Relative - The biological parents or child, the brothers and sisters of the whole or half blood, the blood grandparents of any degree, the blood aunts or uncles, or the blood cousins of the first degree of an adopted person or person for whom any adoption records, sealed record, sealed adoption record or post-adoption records are maintained.

(10) Chartered Child-Placing Agency - For purposes of this Chapter, an agency which had received a charter from the State of Tennessee through legislative action or by incorporation for the operation of an entity or a program of any type which engaged in the placement of children for foster care or residential care as part of a plan or program for which those children were or could have been made available for adoptive placement and which may have, at sometime during its existence, become subject to any licensing requirements by the Department or its predecessors.

(11) Child - Any person under eighteen (18) years of age.

(12) Contact Veto Registry - A Registry established and maintained by the Department for the purposes of permitting registration of the willingness or unwillingness of eligible persons or classes of persons for contact with persons eligible to have access to any records covered by this part; provided, however, the Contact Veto Registry shall not be applicable to records requested pursuant to T.C.A. § 36-1-127(b). Registration on the Contact Veto Registry will not be permitted until a form developed by the Department is properly completed by the requesting party and submitted with the fee established by the Department.

(13) Court - The chancery, circuit, or former county courts, or other courts in Tennessee which have or may have possessed adoption jurisdiction at any time, or for the purpose of accepting a surrender of parental rights, the juvenile, circuit or chancery courts, in Tennessee.

(14) Court Report - The report to the adoption or surrender court in response to an order of reference which describes to the court the status of the child and the prospective adoptive parents or the persons to whom the child is surrendered. Such a report may be preliminary, supplementary, or final in nature. The court report shall not include the home study or preliminary home study, but instead shall include a summary of such study.

(15) Crisis Pregnancy counseling - Any counseling provided by the Department, a licensed child-placing agency or licensed clinical social worker related to the pregnancy, planning and decisions for the expected child by his/her mother.

(16) Department - The Tennessee Department of Children's Services or any of its divisions or units.

(17) Department of General Services - The state executive branch agency which maintains the State's records management center and in which the sealed records or sealed adoptions records are stored.

(18) Department of Health - The state executive branch agency which administers the Division of Vital Statistics, which Division maintains records of births.

(19) Eligible Person - A person who is verified by the Department as being in the class of individuals who is permitted by T.C.A. §§ 36-1-128 and 36-1-303 and this Chapter to receive access to records or to file with the Contact Veto Registry or the Advance Notice Registry. The alleged parent/relative is not an eligible person for access to records.

(20) Family Unit - A group of two or more persons residing together who are related by blood, marriage, or adoption. A person whose work, study, treatment or care results in only temporary, periodic, or otherwise time-limited absence from the family unit shall be deemed to be a member of the family unit to which he or she usually returns to reside at the end of such absences. Any person who receives 50% or more of his or her support, in cash or in-kind, from persons to whom he or she is related by blood, marriage or adoption shall, for purposes of income and resource determination, also be deemed to be a member of the family unit which contributes the greatest percentage of such support.

(21) Guardian or Co-Guardian:

(a) A person or persons of an entity, other than the parent of a child, appointed by a court or defined by law specifically as "guardian" or "co-guardian" or "conservator" to provide supervision, protection for and care for the person or property or both, of a child or adult. This may also include the Department, a licensed child-placing agency or a child caring agency.

(b) This term also means a person or entity appointed as guardian(s) as the result of a surrender, parental consent, or termination of parental rights.

(22) Home Study - The product of a preparation process in which individuals or families are assessed by themselves and the Department or licensed child-placing agency, or a licensed clinical social worker as to their suitability for providing foster care or adoption and their desires with regard to the child they wish to adopt. The home study shall conform to the requirements set forth in the rules of the Department and becomes a written document which is used in the decision to approve or deny a particular home for adoptive placement. The home study shall be confidential, and at the conclusion of the adoption proceeding shall be forwarded to the Department to be kept under seal pursuant to T.C.A. § 36-1-126, and shall be subject to disclosure only upon order entered pursuant to T.C.A. § 36-1-138.

(23) Identifying information - Any information contained in an adoption record, sealed record, sealed adoption record, or post adoption record not permitted to be released pursuant to T.C.A. § 36-1-133(b)(1)-(7).

(24) Incest - This term shall have the same meaning as set forth in Tennessee Code Annotated, § 39-15-302, or as such section may be amended.

(25) Information Sources - The courts, agencies, or entities which maintain or have maintained information directly related to the adoption, the placement, or potential placement for adoption of an eligible person.

(26) Last Known Address - The latest complete mailing address of an individual identified in the adoption record, or a sealed record, sealed adoption record, or post adoption record as maintained by the Department. For purposes of searches involving people registered with the Contact Veto Registry, the last known address will be the most recent address filed with the Registry. For the adopted person, the last known address will be that address contained in the post adoption record or if no post adoption record exists, the last known address will be the address contained in the sealed records.

(27) Legal Parent:

(a) The biological mother of a child;

(b) A man who is or has been married to the biological mother of the child if the child was born during the marriage or within 300 days after the marriage was terminated for any reason, or if the child was born after a decree of separation was entered by a court;

(c) A man who attempted to marry the biological mother of the child before the child's birth by a marriage apparently in compliance with the law, even if the marriage is declared invalid, if the child was born during the attempted marriage or within 300 days after the termination of the attempted marriage for any reason;

(d) A man who has been adjudicated to be the legal father of the child by any court or administrative body of this State or any other state or territory or foreign country or who has signed, pursuant to T.C.A. §§ 24-7-118, 68-3-203(g), 68-3-302 and 68-3-305(b), an unrevoked surrender and sworn acknowledgment of paternity under the provisions of Tennessee law, or who has signed a sworn acknowledgment pursuant to the law of any other state, territory, or foreign country; or

(e) An adoptive parent of a child or adult.

(28) Legal Relative - The person who is included in the class of persons set forth in the definition of "biological relative" or "legal parent", and who, at the time a request for search services or information is made pursuant to T.C.A. §§ 36-1-101 et seq. is related to the adopted person by any legal relationship established by law, court order, or by marriage, but specifically includes, in addition, a step-parent.

(29) Legal Representative:

(a) The conservator, guardian, legal custodian, or other person or entity with legal authority to make decisions for an individual with a disability, or an attorney-in-fact, an attorney-at-law representing a person for purposes of obtaining information pursuant to this part, or the legally appointed administrator, executor, or other legally appointed representative of a person's estate, or

(b) Any person acting under any durable power of attorney for health care purposes or any person appointed to represent a person and acting pursuant to a living will.

(c) For purposes of this definition, "disability" means that the individual is a minor pursuant to any state, territorial, or federal law, or the law of any foreign country or that the individual has been determined by any such laws to be in need of a person or entity to care for the individual due to that individual's physical or mental incapacity or infirmity.

(d) Authority to act on behalf of an individual shall be presented to the Department by way of certified copies of orders or powers, or signed statements authorizing representation by attorneys at law.

(30) Licensed or Chartered child-placing agency - Any agency operating under a license to place children for adoption issued by the Department, or by a charter from the State of Tennessee as described in 0250-7-12-.02(10).

(31) Licensed Clinical Social Worker - An individual who holds a license as an independent practitioner from the board of social worker certification and licensure pursuant to T.C.A. § 63-23-101 et seq. and in addition, is licensed by the Department to provide foster care placement services and adoption placement services.

(32) Lineal Ancestor - Any degree of grandparent or great-grandparent, either by birth or adoption.

(33) Lineal Descendant - A person who descended directly from another person who is the biological or adoptive ancestor for such person, such as the daughter of her mother or granddaughter of her grandmother.

(34) Parents - Any biological, legal, adoptive parent, or for purposes of T.C.A. §§ 36-1-127 through 36-1-141, step-parents. "Step-parent" shall mean the current husband or wife of the adopted person's biological, legal or adoptive parent.

(35) Post Adoption Unit - The unit in the state office of the Department responsible for maintaining post adoption records, conducting search requests and opening or approving the opening of adoption records, sealed records, sealed adoption records, or post adoption records pursuant to Title 36, Chapter 1, Part 1 of the Tennessee Code Annotated.

(36) Post-Adoption Record means:

(a) The record maintained in any medium by the Department, separately from the sealed record or sealed adoption record and subsequent to the sealing of an adoption record or which is maintained about any sealed record or sealed adoption record. The post-adoption record contains information, including, but not limited to, adopted persons or the legal or biological relatives of adopted persons, or about persons for whom sealed records or sealed adoption records are maintained, or about persons who are seeking information about adopted persons, or persons on whom a sealed record or sealed adoption record is maintained, and the post-adoption record contains information concerning, but not limited to, the Contact Veto Registry established by this part, the written inquiries from persons requesting access to records, the search efforts of the Department pursuant to the requirements of the Contact Veto process, the response to those search efforts by those persons sought, information which has been requested to be transmitted from or on behalf of any person entitled to access to records pursuant to this part, any updated medical information gathered pursuant to this part, court orders related to the opening of any sealed adoption records or sealed records, and personal identifying information concerning any persons subject to the provisions of this part.

(b) The limited record maintained by the licensed or chartered child-placing agency or a licensed clinical social worker pursuant to T.C.A. § 36-1-126(b)(2), which indicates the child's date of birth, the date the agency received the child for placement, from whom the child was received and such person's last known address, with whom the child was placed and such person's or entity's last known address, and the court in which the adoption proceeding was filed and the date the adoption order was entered or the adoption petition dismissed.

(c) This record is confidential and shall be opened only as provided by T.C.A. §§ 36-1-101 et seq. and this Chapter.

(37) Rape - This term shall have the same meaning as set forth in T.C.A. §§ 39-13-502 and 39-13-503 and as those sections may be amended, but shall not include statutory rape as defined in Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 39-13-506 as that section may be amended.

(38) Record - Any paper, report, document, or photograph, or other medium of preservation of information. For purposes of this Chapter, a record which may be available to an eligible person shall not include the remaining names of other persons on a list, log, or roll maintained by the Department or any other entity who are not, as determined by the Department, a part of the eligible person's request for service.

(39) Resources - For purposes of these rules, resources shall include only the following assets of the requesting person or any other member of his or her family unit.

(a) Cash;

(b) Accounts in financial institutions, certificates of deposits, or any other evidence of financial assets;

(c) Stocks;

(d) Bonds;

(e) Securities;

(f) Cash value of life insurance policies;

(g) Notes receivable;

(h) The equity value of any real property which is not the primary home, farm, or business operation of the family unit;

(i) The equity value of any vehicles owned by the adopted person, his or her siblings, or lineal descendants, or members of the family unit in excess of one vehicle per member of the family unit;

(j) The equity value of personal property of the family unit, in addition to subparagraphs (a)-(g) which exceeds $10,000; and

(k) All assets which are shown to be pledged as security for loans or mortgages shall be excluded from countable resources.

(40) Sealed Adoption Record means for purposes of this Chapter:

(a) The adoption record as it exists subsequent to its transmittal to the Department, or subsequent to its sealing by the court, pursuant to the requirements of T.C.A. § 36-1-126, or

(b) The limited record maintained by the licensed or chartered child-placing agency or a licensed clinical social worker pursuant to T.C.A. § 36-1-126(b)(2).

(c) This record is confidential and shall be opened only as provided by T.C.A. §§ 36-1-101 et seq. and this Chapter.

(d) The sealed adoption record shall not, for purposes of release of the records pursuant to T.C.A. §§ 36-1-127 through 36-1-141 be construed to permit access, without a court order pursuant to T.C.A. § 36-1-138, to home studies or preliminary home studies or any information obtained by the Department, a licensed or chartered child-placing agency, a licensed clinical social worker, or other family counseling service, a physician, a psychologist, or member of the clergy, an attorney or other person in connection with a home study or preliminary home study as part of an adoption or surrender or parental consent proceeding or as part of the evaluation of prospective adoptive parents, other than those studies which are expressly included in a report to the court by such entities or persons. Information relating to the counseling of a biological mother regarding crisis pregnancy counseling shall not be included in the adoption record for purposes of release pursuant to this part without a court order pursuant to T.C.A. § 36-1-138.

(41) Sealed Record means for purposes of this Chapter:

(a) Any records, reports or documents maintained by a judge, a court clerk, the Department, a licensed or chartered child-placing agency, a licensed clinical social worker, the Department of Health, or any other information source which consists of adoption records or information about an adoption proceeding or a termination of parental rights proceeding about an adopted person, or which contain information about a person who was placed for adoption but for whom no adoption order was entered or for whom an adoption proceeding was dismissed or for whom an adoption was not otherwise completed, or which contain information concerning persons in the care of any person or agency, and which records have otherwise been treated and maintained by those persons or entities under prior law, practice, policy, or custom as confidential, non-public adoption records, sealed adoption records, or post-adoption records of the person, or which may be otherwise currently treated and maintained by those persons or entities as confidential, non-public adoption records, sealed adoptions records or post-adoption records of the person; or

(b) The limited record maintained by the licensed or chartered child-placing agency or a licensed clinical social worker pursuant to T.C.A. § 36-1-126(b)(2).

(c) This record is confidential and shall be opened only as provided by T.C.A. §§ 36-1-101 et seq. and this Chapter.

(d) The sealed record shall not, for purposes of release of the records pursuant to T.C.A. §§ 36-1-127 through 36-1-141 be construed to permit access, without a court order pursuant to T.C.A. § 36-1-138, to home studies or preliminary home studies or any information obtained by the Department, a licensed or chartered child-placing agency, a licensed clinical social worker, or other family counseling service, a physician, a psychologist, or member of the clergy, an attorney or other person in connection with a home study or preliminary home study as part of an adoption or surrender or parental connection with a home study or preliminary home study as part of an adoption or surrender or parental consent proceeding or as part of the evaluation of prospective adoptive parents, other than those studies which are expressly included in a report to the court by such entities or persons. Information relating to the counseling of a biological mother regarding crisis pregnancy counseling shall not be included in the adoption record for purposes of release pursuant to this part without a court order pursuant T.C.A. § 36-1-138.

(42) Sibling - Anyone having a sibling relationship.

(43) Sibling Relationship - The biological or legal relationship between persons who have a common biological or legal parent.

(44) Surrender - A document executed under the provisions of T.C.A. § 36-1-111 or under the laws of another state or territory or country, by the parent or guardian of a child, by which that parent or guardian relinquishes all parental or guardianship rights of that parent or guardian to a child, to another person or public child welfare agency or licensed child-placing agency for the purposes of making that child available for adoption.

(45) Sworn Statement - A notarized form completed and submitted by an eligible person prior to their receiving access, under this Chapter, to adoption records, sealed adoption records, sealed records or post adoption records. By signing this statement the person agrees that after receiving the records, the person will not contact or attempt to contact in any manner, by themselves or in concert with any other persons or entities, an adopted person or a person for whom sealed records, sealed adoption records or post-adoption records of an adoption or attempted adoption of such person are maintained until the adopted person being sought has consented to contact, or any of the persons who have filed or who are eligible to file a contact veto pursuant to T.C.A. § 36-1-128, or persons to whom an automatic veto applies under T.C.A. § 36-1-130 until the Department has completed the search of the Contact Veto Registry and/or search for the person being sought as provided in T.C.A. § 36-1-130 or pursuant to T.C.A. § 36-1-131 and written notification of the results of the search request have been given to the requesting person. The sworn statement shall contain language, which shall be acknowledged by the requesting party, concerning the existence of the contact veto procedure and the legal remedies for breach of the contact veto.

(46) Terminated For Cause - Court-ordered severance of parental rights on an involuntary basis.

(47) Unit of Service - As used in this Chapter, a unit of service shall consist of the process required to open each record necessary to fulfill the request for services and conduct searches for persons with whom contact is sought. A unit of service shall also include the search for records not held by the Department for each person for whom the request is made and registering, altering or withdrawing a request with the Contact Veto Registry. The fee for service charged pursuant to Section 0250-7-12-.07 shall be applied to each unit of service as stated in Section 0250-7-12-.07.

(48) Verification - The process of determining the correct identity and relationship of a person who seeks to obtain access to any adoption records, sealed records, sealed adoption records, or post adoption records and shall include any information contained in 0250-7-12-.02(49) and may include any other information satisfactory to the Department necessary to determine the person's status as an eligible person.

(49) Written Request - An inquiry made in writing by a potentially eligible person or their legal representative seeking access to the records of an adopted person or persons for whom records are maintained which were sealed on or after March 16, 1951. Such request must have the original signature of the person making the request and shall include the following:

(a) Name, date of birth, address and telephone number of the person requesting service;

(b) Information, including legal documents or affidavits which establishes the person's legal relationship to a person involved in the adoption (adopted person 21 years of age or older, birth/adoptive/legal parent of the adopted person, siblings, lineal descendants, or lineal ancestors of the adopted person or legal representative of the requesting party), or which otherwise establishes the person's right to request access.

(c) Any other information the Department requires to establish the person's identity;

(d) Shall include identification of any person(s) or class of persons, if any, with whom the requesting party seeks contact;

(e) If the information in the written request does not establish the person's right to have access to the records, the Department will search the sealed records, sealed adoption records and post-adoption records, including those of other alleged siblings, if available, for information which may establish the person's right to have such access as an eligible person.

Authority: T.C.A. §§ 36-1-101 et seq., 37-5-112, 71-1-105(12), Public Chapter 901, 1992, Public Chapter 1079, §13 (1996), Public Chapter 1068 (1996), and Public Chapter 1054 (1996).

Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. Tennessee may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.