STATE OF FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND REHABILITATIVE SERVICES, HEALTH PROGRAM OFFICE, SUCCESSOR TO DIVISION OF HEALTH, BUREAU OF VITAL STATISTICS, APPELLANT,
v.
BETTY PATRICIA MULLARKEY, FORMERLY BETTY PATRICIA BERKOWITZ, APPELLEE
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Florida's Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services must furnish an adopted person with her original birth certificate showing her natural parents' names upon her request, as required by statute, despite the Department's concern about protecting the natural parents' privacy interests.
A statute requiring the Department to furnish an original birth certificate at the request of the person whose birth is the subject of the certificate mandates disclosure even when the Department contends the natural parents' confidentiality should be protected.
[1] A statute explicitly requiring the state registrar to furnish an original birth certificate at the request of the person whose birth is the subject of the certificate man…
Previewing 1 of 1 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“the legislature nevertheless has explicitly required the Department to furnish the original birth certificate and all papers pertaining thereto "at the instance and request of the person whose birth is the subject of the said certificate of birth."”
The court rejected the Department's argument that an attorney ad litem should have been appointed for the natural parents to preserve their confidentiality.
Appellee was adopted and the State registrar substituted a new birth certificate bearing the adoptive parents' names for the original, with all adopti…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
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SMITH, Judge.
The Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services appeals from a circuit court order directing the Department, at the instance of appellee, to furnish her a copy of her original birth certificate showing the names of her natural parents. When a final decree of appellee’s adoption was entered, the State registrar made and substituted for the original a new birth certificate bearing the names of the adoptive parents, as required by § 382.21(1), F.S. All records pertaining to the adoption have remained sealed and subject to inspection only on court order. Sec. 63.162, F.S.
The Department does not resist appellee’s wish to receive a copy of her original birth certificate, but urges that the trial court erred in failing to appoint an attorney ad litem for the natural parents, who may wish to preserve the confidentiality of their identity. While there may be compelling reasons supporting the Department’s position, the legislature nevertheless has explicitly required the Department to furnish the original birth certificate and all papers pertaining thereto “at the instance and request of the person whose birth is the subject of the said certificate of birth.” Sec. 382.22, F.S.1975.
AFFIRMED.
MILLS, Acting C. J., and DRURY, ARV-EL, Associate Judge, concur.