Law Requires Disclosure of Child’s History

State law requires that before any adoption may become final, prospective parents must be given all available medical and psychological records on the child and its biological parents.

A spokesman for the Orange County Social Services Agency said that if the information is not readily available, the agency will often locate the records in another state, for instance, and include them in the child’s file.

For older children, the spokesman said, developmental and psychological evaluations are included.

“If there are developmental delays, our assessment of the situation would be included,” the spokesman said. “If there were foster homes, there may have been trouble, and all that information would be included. All known information would be provided.”

But Santa Ana attorney Christian Van Deusen, who specializes in adoption law, said there are still instances when all available information is not provided to prospective parents.

“Unfortunately, to facilitate the placement of a child, complete and total information is not given,” he said.

Before a child may be adopted, the prospective parents must sign a document acknowledging that they were shown the available records. In the case of Tom and Janice Colellas, who adopted Tommy, that document said no medical information was available on Tommy.

Van Deusen said that in cases where complete information on an adopted child is not provided, the parents usually have until five years after the adoption to petition the court to set aside the adoption. The parents must show that medical or psychiatric conditions existed before they adopted the child and that those conditions were not revealed to them.

After five years, Van Deusen said, the parents must resort to a court and show that they were misled or deceived into adopting a child.