Sec. 35.6. Adoption Information Registry

(a) All registrations, records and information of the Adoption Information Registry, as established pursuant to section 4138-c of the Public Health Law, shall be filed and stored within the department with the Adoption Information Registry. Such filing and storage areas shall be clearly set off and physically separate from other areas and, except to the extent necessary for the proper function of the registry, access thereto shall be restricted to employees designated by the commissioner.

(b) The records and information of the Adoption Information Registry, except to the extent necessary for the proper function of the registry, shall not be transported or removed from the designated area within the Department of Health assigned for the operation of the Adoption Information Registry.

(c) Where an adoptee registrant registers directly with the department and requests the department to have nonidentifying information released either by the department or the authorized agency involved in the adoption, such agency shall be entitled to a service fee not exceeding $50 to be paid by the adoptee registrant directly to such agency for the review, compilation and forwarding of the nonidentifying information. The authorized agency, upon receipt of such request from the department and fee from the adoptee registrant, shall provide the nonidentifying information to either the department or the adoptee registrant as directed by the department.

(d) An authorized agency which maintains a mutual-consent voluntary adoption registry shall be entitled to a registration/a service fee for the registration, and a registration/a service fee for the services related to the processing of requests for information, according to the following schedule:

(1) Where an adoptee, a biological sibling of an adoptee or biological parent is registered directly with an agency, the agency shall be entitled to a registration fee not exceeding $20.

(2) Where the agency which was involved in the adoption provides nonidentifying information to an adoptee or the biological sibling of the adoptee, the agency shall be entitled to a service fee not exceeding $50, in addition to the registration fee.

(e) The verified registration by an adoptee, the adoptive parents of an adoptee under the age of 18 for the purpose of receiving medical information updates, the biological sibling of an adoptee or the biological parents of an adoptee whose consent to the adoption was required at the time of the adoption, or whose signature was required on an instrument of surrender to an authorized agency, as specified in sections 4138-c and 4138-d of the Public Health Law, shall be in the form that shall be prescribed by the commissioner.

(f) The recording and forwarding of the nonidentifying information to the Adoption Information Registry, as specified in section 4138-c of the Public Health Law, shall be in the form that shall be prescribed by the commissioner.

(g) Any person who discloses any information in the adoption registry unlawfully shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor pursuant to section 4138-c(7)(b) of the Public Health Law.

(h) Any authorized agency which establishes a mutual-consent voluntary adoption registry shall inform the Department of Health, Adoption Information Registry, by certified mail, of the establishment of such registry on the form prescribed by the commissioner.

(i) Any authorized agency which maintains a mutual-consent voluntary adoption registry, upon registering a person and making a determination that the agency was involved in such adoption, shall promptly forward a copy of the registration form to the Adoption Information Registry of the Department of Health, indicating on the face of the form that such agency was involved in the adoption and shall provide other information as requested by the department.

(j) Any authorized agency which maintains a mutual-consent voluntary adoption registry, upon registering a person and making a determination that the agency was not involved in the adoption, shall promptly forward a copy of the registration form to the Adoption Information Registry of the Department of Health, indicating on the face of the form that such agency was not involved in the adoption and shall provide other information as requested by the department.

(k) Any authorized agency which has not established a mutual-consent voluntary adoption registry, upon receipt of a request to register with such agency, shall refer such person to the Adoption Information Registry of the Department of Health.

(l) An authorized agency is an agency as defined by New York Social Services Law, sections 371(10)(a) and 371(10)(b).