O.C.G.A. § 19-8-20 (2019)
Forwarding of decree, report, and subsequent orders to department; issuance of adoption certificate; use as evidence
(a) Upon the entry of the decree of adoption, the clerk of the court granting the same shall forward a copy of the decree, together with the original of the investigation report and background information filed with the court, to the department. If there is any subsequent order or revocation of the adoption, a copy of same in like manner shall be forwarded by the clerk to the department.
(b) At any time after the entry of the decree of adoption, upon the request of an adopted individual who has reached 18 years of age or upon the request of any adopting parent, the clerk of the court granting the decree shall issue to that requesting adopted individual or adopting parent a certificate of adoption, under the seal of the court, upon payment to the clerk of the fee prescribed in paragraph (4) of subsection (g) of Code Section 15-6-77, which adoption certificate shall be received as evidence in any court or proceeding as primary evidence of the facts contained in the certificate.
(c) The adoption certificate shall conform substantially to the following form: “This is to certify that (names of each adopting parent) have obtained a decree of adoption for (full name of adoptee and date of birth of adoptee) in the Superior Court of County, Georgia, on the day of , as shown by the court’s records (adoption file number). Given under the hand and seal of said court, this the day of , . Clerk
History
Code 1981, § 19-8-20, enacted by Ga. L. 1990, p. 1572, § 5; Ga. L. 1991, p. 1324, § 4; Ga. L. 1991, p. 1640, § 8; Ga. L. 2018, p. 19, § 1-1/HB 159; Ga. L. 2020, p. 493, § 19/SB 429.
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The 2020 amendment, effective July 29, 2020, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, revised punctuation in subsection (c).
Annotations
JUDICIAL DECISIONS Editor’s notes. - In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, decisions
under Ga. L. 1941, p. 300, § 14 are included in the annotations for this Code section.
Order need not state that investigative report was considered by court. - When transcript of evidence reflects that trial court gave consideration to investigative report by Department of Human Resources as required by Ga. L. 1941, p. 300, § 14, before making the
court’s decision, the fact that such court did not explicitly state in the order that the report was considered was not ground for reversing the judgment. Wellfort v. Bowick, 147 Ga. App. 565, 249 S.E.2d 363, 1978 Ga. App. LEXIS 2776 (1978) (decided under Ga. L. 1941, p. 300, § 14).
RESEARCH REFERENCES C.J.S. 2 C.J.S., Adoption of Persons, § 6. ALR. Necessity of notice to parents before
adoption of child, 24 A.L.R. 416; 76 A.L.R. 1077.