Assalone, In re, 85-419-A

• Decision Date: 30 July 1986
• Docket Number: No. 85-419-A,85-419-A
• Citation: 512 A.2d 1383
• Parties: In re Janice ASSALONE. ppeal.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

Page 1383

512 A.2d 1383

In re Janice ASSALONE.

No. 85-419-Appeal.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

July 30, 1986.

Robert B. Mann, Providence, for plaintiff.

Raymond E. Shawcross, Cranston, for defendant.

OPINION

KELLEHER, Justice.

This Family Court proceeding was initiated by an adult who, adopted as a child, wished to gain access to the adoption records that contain the identity of her biological parents.

The petitioner, Janice Assalone, was born in October of 1955 and was adopted at the age of 3 1/2 years by a Rhode Island couple. She and her elder brother were raised in Coventry, Rhode Island. The petitioner had been curious about her birth parents' identities since childhood and as the years passed, her curiosity mounted. She began her search for information at an orphanage situated in Providence on Mount Pleasant Avenue, and in due course she was directed to the Diocesan Bureau of Social Services (the bureau), the agency that had handled the adoption. At the age of twenty-one, petitioner was given certain information by the bureau concerning her biological mother. The petitioner was informed that her mother had an Irish name, RH positive blood, no prior illnesses, and had given written consent for the adoption in November of 1958. The petitioner's disappointment with the limited information provided by the bureau prompted this Family Court litigation.

June 30, 1981, petitioner filed a miscellaneous petition, seeking disclosure of the identity of her biological parents and claiming that her right to know was (1) guaranteed by both the Federal and State Constitutions, (2) essential for her physical and mental health, and (3) critical to her due-process rights to inherit from her natural parents. ¹ The bureau, which was permitted to intervene in the proceedings, filed an answer denying petitioner's allegations.

After a hearing on the petition, the trial justice filed a written decision in May of 1985 addressing the issue of whether there was "good cause" to grant petitioner access to the records. The trial justice determined that petitioner had carried her "heavy burden" of persuasion and had established a compelling need to know the identity of her biological parents. He held that such need constituted the requisite good cause to lift the statutory cloak of confidentiality. Thus, he directed the clerk of the Family Court, the director of the Diocesan Bureau of Social Services, and the State Registrar of Vital Statistics to make petitioner's records available upon her request. Final judgment was entered on June 5, 1985, and the trial justice at the same time granted the bureau's motion for stay of judgment pending our determination of the bureau's appeal.

In Rhode Island the public is prohibited from inspecting records of an adoption proceeding unless disclosure of the information is granted by an order of the court. General Laws 1956 (1985 Reenactment) §§ 8-10-21 and 23-3-15. The statutory shield benefits all persons in the adoption triangle: the child, the natural parents, and the adoptive parents. In re Christine, 121 R.I. 203, 206, 397 A.2d 511, 512-13 (1979). The Legislature has given the court authority to issue an order providing access to the records, and the discretion conferred by the statute was intended to be exercised upon a showing of good cause. Id. at 207, 397 A.2d at 513; see also In re Roger B., 84 Ill.2d 323, 326-27, 49 Ill.Dec. 731, 418 N.E.2d 751, 752-53 (1981).

The one seeking access to the information--in this case the adoptee--"bears a heavy burden in establishing the requisite 'good cause.' " In re Christine, 121 R.I. at 207, 397 A.2d 513. Although the term "good cause admits of no universal, black-letter definition," Linda F.M. v. Dept. of Health of City of New York, 52 N.Y.2d 236, 240, 418 N.E.2d 1302, 1304, 437 N.Y.S.2d 283, 285, dismissed, 454 U.S. 806, 102 S.Ct. 79, 70 L.Ed.2d 76 (1981), in determining whether good cause exists to lift the cloak of confidentiality and the extent of disclosure necessary, courts uniformly balance the following competing interests:

"(1) [T]he nature of the circumstances dictating the need for release of the identity of the birth parents; (2) the circumstances and desires of the adoptive parents; and (3) 'the circumstances of the birth parents and their desire or at least the desire of the birth mother not to be identified;' and (4) the interests of the state in maintaining a viable system of adoption by the assurance of confidentiality." In re Application of George, 625 S.W.2d 151, 156 (Mo.Ct.App.1981).

See also In re Christine, 121 R.I. 203, 397 A.2d 511 (1979); In re Roger B., 84 Ill.2d 323, 49 Ill.Dec. 731, 418 N.E.2d 751 (1981); Matter of Dixon, 116 Mich.App. 763, 323 N.W.2d 549 (1982); Mills v. Atlantic City Department of Vital Statistics, 148 N.J.Super. 302, 372 A.2d 646 (1977); Bradey v. Children's Bureau of South Carolina, 275 S.C. 622, 274 S.E.2d 418 (1981).

In Christine we balanced the interests of the parties to an adoption proceeding and held that a natural mother's desire to contact her child's adoptive parents with the hope of seeing the eleven-year-old child did not outweigh the interests of the other persons in the adoption proceeding and therefore did not constitute good cause to lift the confidentiality curtain. The controversy now before us is a petition by an adult adoptee who, at the suggestion of her adoptive parents, seeks to contact her natural parents. Thus, there is no need to consider the interest of the adoptive parents and risk the disruption of a stable environment in which a child can grow. However, it is still necessary to consider the interests of the state and the potentially strong interests of the natural parents in preserving the confidentiality of the records. Linda F.M., 52 N.Y.2d at 239, 418 N.E.2d at 1303, 437 N.Y.S.2d at 284.

The state's primary concern is to provide an effective adoption procedure, and "[s]ecrecy enables the natural parent to place the child for adoption with a respectable agency with the assurance that his or her identity will not become public knowledge." In re Christine, 121 R.I. at 206, 397 A.2d at 513. The natural parents were promised at the time of the adoption that their identities would remain confidential, and they were "afforded an opportunity to restructure [their lives] after a most traumatic episode." Id. The natural parents have "a right to privacy, a right to be let alone," Mills, 148 N.J.Super. at 311, 372 A.2d at 651, and the expectation of privacy arising from the confidentiality statute is constitutionally protected. Alma Society, Inc. v. Mellon, 459 F.Supp. 912, 915 (S.D.N.Y.1978), aff'd, 601 F.2d 1225 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 995, 100 S.Ct. 531, 62 L.Ed.2d 426 (1979); Mills, 148 N.J.Super. at 311, 372 A.2d at 651; Bradey, 275 S.C. at 626-27, 274 S.E.2d at 421. Such privacy may not be disturbed unless a compelling need for the identifying information is proven; thus, petitioner must establish good cause. In re Maples, 563 S.W.2d 760, 766 (Mo.1978); Matter of Adoption of Spinks, 32 N.C.App. 422, 425, 232 S.E.2d 479, 482 (1977).

Both parties recognize that an adopted person's psychological need to know the identity of his/her biological parents may constitute good cause to permit adopted adults access to their birth records but dispute whether the evidence presented rises to such a level. The bureau contends that in order to establish good cause, the petitioner must show a "severe psychological need to know" the information that is so compelling that it overrides the birth parents' privacy rights. The bureau insists that no evidence was presented to support a finding that petitioner had a compelling need to know the identity of her birth parents; thus the conclusion that good cause has been shown was erroneous.

On appeal this court will not weigh testimony, resolve credibility issues, or draw its own factual inferences from the record where the evidence presented is susceptible to more than one interpretation. See Pearl Brewing Co. v. McNaboe, 495 A.2d 238 (R.I.1985). However, we must determine whether the evidence adduced at trial supports the trial justice's findings, and on the facts presented in the instant case we are unable to conclude that the finding of good cause for full disclosure of the information contained in petitioner's adoption records logically and reasonably flowed from the established facts.

Information concerning the identity and whereabouts of any of the parties to the adoption triangle may be released only under compelling circumstances. In re Maples, 563 S.W.2d at 766. A severe psychological need to know identifying information may present compelling circumstances that constitute good cause to permit adopted adults access to their birth records. Mills v. Atlantic City Department of Vital Statistics, 148 N.J.Super. 302, 372 A.2d 646 (1977); In re Anonymous, 92 Misc.2d 224, 399 N.Y.S.2d 857 (1977); Bradey v. Children's Bureau of South Carolina, 275 S.C. 622, 274 S.E.2d 418 (1981).

However, unless consent of the birth parents is obtained, a thinly supported claim of "psychological need to know" will not support a finding of good cause. In re Maples, 563 S.W.2d at 766. Proof must establish that deep psychological problems stem from the lack of information. Matter of Dixon, 116 Mich.App. at 771, 323 N.W.2d at 552-53. In some states this implies that the adult adoptee must show that he/she is a burden to society due to psychological problems resulting from the lack of identifying information. Maples, 563 S.W.2d at 764; accord Bradey, supra. Although good cause must be determined on a case-by-case basis, most courts require the adoptee who alleges psychological problems as a basis for the petition to prove a "concrete and compelling need" to learn the facts of one's ancestry, Linda F.M., 52 N.Y.2d at 240, 418 N.E.2d at 1304, 437 N.Y.S.2d at 285 (1981), in order to outweigh the birth parents' rights to privacy.

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