Opinion ID: 1980168
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Nature of Detailed Summary of Records

Text: Because our resolution of the second issue requires further proceedings that may or may not resolve the case, we examine the other issues raised by plaintiff. Plaintiff argues first that she has a right of access to a photocopy of defendant's records under § 6-104(b), which requires an agency to furnish to an adult adoptee a detailed summary of any relevant report or information contained in confidential reports in their possession about the adoptee. 15A V.S.A. § 6-104(b). The superior court found that the plain meaning of the term detailed summary does not include photocopies of original records. We agree with this conclusion. See Random House Unabridged Dictionary 1904 (2d ed.1993) (summary is an abstract, recapitulation or compendium of information). As the probate court held, [u]nder any definition provided or reasonably imagined, a summary is something other than the original document itself. This conclusion does not, however, end our inquiry. Plaintiff claims that the summary provided her by defendant is insufficient to qualify as a detailed summary. We agree with this claim. Although plaintiff made this claim in her statement of questions, it does not appear that the superior court made an in camera inspection of defendant's file to determine whether the summary provided by defendant during the probate proceeding met the requirements of § 6-104(b). We have obtained the file from the probate court and made that inspection. As might be expected by the nature of this controversy, the summary provided by defendant is least detailed in its description of the actions and thought processes of the Elizabeth Lund Home and its employees. The file contains information, omitted from the summary, about the process of relinquishment of plaintiff to the Home. It contains more information than the summary about how the placement was made with plaintiff's adoptive parents and about the actions of Elizabeth Lund Home staff with respect to adoption authorities in Pennsylvania, the state to which plaintiff was taken immediately after the placement, and with respect to the probate court at the time the adoption decision was made. Because of these omissions, we conclude that the summary does not comply with § 6-104(b). In reaching this conclusion, we make two points about the nature of the disclosure obligation in § 6-104(b). The language requiring access to a detailed summary rather than the original records comes from the Uniform Adoption Act. The policy behind the requirement appears to be to allow release of nonidentifying information, without providing identifying information. We do not read the requirement as allowing the holder of the information to omit information important to the person making the request as long as the information can be provided without identifying information. This policy is necessarily inherent in the terminology chosen. Thus, a summary can be brief, but it must be comprehensive, even more so if it is to be a detailed summary. See Random House Unabridged Dictionary at 1904 (summary is comprehensive). Although § 6-104 does not authorize access to the records in their original form, it also does not authorize the custodian to censor the nonidentifying information provided. Second, we do not believe an adoption agency can use the requirement to provide only summaries to omit information, the disclosure of which might be detrimental to the agency. The Vermont Adoption Act of 1996 was the culmination of a five year project on the part of the Vermont Legislature. See 1989, No. 213 (Adj.Sess.) (an act forming the Adoption Reform Task Force to study issues surrounding adoption); 1993, No. 214 (Adj.Sess.) (an act making some modifications in disclosure statutes and establishing a legislative study committee to examine adoption issues generally); 1995, No. 161 (Adj.Sess.) (act adopting the Vermont Adoption Act as a new title 15A of V.S.A.). The Adoption Act was first written by the Adoption Reform Task Force and then rewritten by the Vermont Legislature, working from a 1992 draft of the Uniform Adoption Act, and as such became the first state to adopt the Uniform Adoption Act. See 9 U.L.A. 1 (Supp. Pamphlet 1998) (as of 1998, Vermont is the only state to adopt the Uniform Act). The drafters of the Uniform Act intended Article 6 to create a more open system of adoption files while balancing the interests of the birth parents, the adoptive parents and the adoptee, collectively referred to as the adoption triad. See Uniform Adoption Act, Comment to Article 6 in 9 U.L.A. 81 (Supp. Pamphlet 1998) (goal of article is to encourage the collection and release of nonidentifying information to adoptive parents and to adoptees at age eighteen on request). We have made an extensive review of the legislative history of Vermont's Adoption Act of 1996, including the many committee meetings and hearings in both the Vermont House and Senate, and from the record it is clear that the Legislature shared the Uniform Act drafter's objective of creating a balance that would remove the culture of secrecy from adoptions, while giving integrity to the interests of the adoption triad. We find nothing in the legislative history to suggest that the Legislature was concerned about protecting private information of an adoption agency or that it would elevate the interests of an agency above those of a member of the triad. Accordingly, we do not believe an agency has any legitimate interest in withholding information about its activities in preparing a detailed summary of nonidentifying information under § 6-104(b).