Court Opinion

ID: 9778115
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 20:33:30.522079+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:33:03.925702
License: Public Domain

BARDGETT, Judge,
concurring in result.
I concur in the disposition made of the constitutional issues by the principal opinion and agree that the cause should be reversed and remanded on the basis of the statute which authorizes the court to release information contained in the records. However, I do not believe an adopted adult seeking the identity of his natural parent or the natural parent seeking the identity of her natural child should have the heavy burden indicated by the principal opinion merely to get the juvenile court to inquire of the other whether they are agreeable to the information requested. The inquiry ought also go to the adoptive parents; but, after the child is emancipated, the desires of the adoptive parent to continued confidentiality would not necessarily be as weighty as the agreement of the adopted person and the natural parent that they know the identity of each other. That step, in the instant case, has not yet been taken and, in my opinion, it should be attempted before further hearings take place.
Generally, I am in agreement with the broader approach taken by Judge Seiler in his opinion concurring in result but do not, at this time, desire to indicate agreement or disagreement with the “sliding scale” announced therein because I do not clearly understand it.
I concur in result.