78B-6-141.   Petition, report, and documents sealed -- Exceptions.
     (1) A petition for adoption, the written report described in Section 78B-6-135, and any other documents filed in connection with the petition are sealed.
     (2) The documents described in Subsection (1) may only be open to inspection as follows:
     (a) in accordance with Subsection (3)(a), by a party to the adoption proceeding:
     (i) while the proceeding is pending; or
     (ii) within six months after the day on which the adoption decree is entered;
     (b) subject to Subsection (3)(b), a court enters an order permitting access to the documents by a person who has appealed the denial of that person's motion to intervene;
     (c) upon order of the court expressly permitting inspection or copying, after good cause has been shown;
     (d) as provided under Section 78B-6-144;
     (e) those records shall become public on the one hundredth anniversary of the date the final decree of adoption was entered; or
     (f) if the adoptee is an adult at the time the final decree of adoption is entered, the documents described in this section are open to inspection and copying without a court order by the adoptee or a parent who adopted the adoptee, unless the final decree of adoption is entered by the juvenile court under Subsection 78B-6-115(3)(b).
     (3) (a) A person who files a motion to intervene in an adoption proceeding:
     (i) is not a party to the adoption proceeding, unless the motion to intervene is granted; and
     (ii) may not be granted access to the documents described in Subsection (1), unless the motion to intervene is granted.
     (b) An order described in Subsection (2)(b) shall:
     (i) prohibit the person described in Subsection (2)(b) from inspecting a document described in Subsection (1) that contains identifying information of the adoptive or potential adoptive parents; and
     (ii) permit the person described in Subsection (3)(b)(i) to review a copy of a document described in Subsection (3)(b)(i) after the identifying information described in Subsection (3)(b)(i) is redacted from the document.

Amended by Chapter 159, 2009 General Session
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Last revised: Thursday, May 28, 2009