N.Y. Domestic Relations Law § 114 (2026)

§ 114. Order of adoption. 1. If satisfied that the best interests of
the adoptive child will be promoted thereby, the judge or surrogate
shall make an order approving the adoption and directing that the
adoptive child shall thenceforth be regarded and treated in all respects
as the child of the adoptive parents or parent. In determining whether
the best interests of the adoptive child will be promoted by the
adoption, the judge or surrogate shall give due consideration to any
assurance by a local commissioner of social services that he or she will
provide necessary support and maintenance for the adoptive child
pursuant to the social services law. Such order shall contain the full
name, date and place of birth and reference to the schedule annexed to
the petition containing the medical history of the child in the body
thereof and shall direct that the child's medical history, heritage of
the birth parents, which shall include nationality, ethnic background
and race; education, which shall be the number of years of school
completed by the birth parents at the time of the birth and also at the
time of surrender of the adoptive child; general physical appearance of
the birth parents at the time of the birth and also at the time of
surrender of the adoptive child, which shall include height, weight,
color of hair, eyes, skin; occupation of the birth parents at the time
of the birth and also at the time of surrender of the adoptive child;
health and medical history of the birth parents at the time of the birth
and also at the time of surrender of the adoptive child, including all
available information setting forth conditions or diseases believed to
be hereditary, any drugs or medication taken during the pregnancy by the
child's mother; and any other information which may be a factor
influencing the child's present or future health, including the talents,
hobbies and special interests of the birth parents as contained in the
petition, be furnished to the adoptive parents, the commissioner and the
appropriate local registrar of vital statistics. If the judge or
surrogate is also satisfied that there is no reasonable objection to the
change of name proposed, the order shall direct that the name of the
adoptive child be changed to the name stated in the agreement of
adoption and that henceforth he or she shall be known by that name. All
such orders made by a family court judge of Westchester county since
September first, nineteen hundred sixty-two, and on file in the office
of the county clerk of such county shall be transferred to the clerk of
the family court of such county. Such order and all the papers in the
proceeding shall be filed in the office of the court granting the
adoption and the order shall be entered in books which shall be kept
under seal and which shall be indexed by the name of the adoptive
parents and by the full original name of the child. Such order,
including orders heretofore entered, shall be subject to inspection and
examination only as hereinafter provided. Notwithstanding the fact that
adoption records shall be sealed and secret, they may be microfilmed and
processed pursuant to an order of the court, provided that such order
provides that the confidentiality of such records be maintained. If the
confidentiality is violated, the person or company violating it can be
found guilty of contempt of court. The fact that the adoptive child was
born out of wedlock shall in no case appear in such order. The written
report of the investigation together with all other papers pertaining to
the adoption shall be kept by the judge or surrogate as a permanent
record of his or her court and such papers must be sealed by him or her
and withheld from inspection. No certified copy of the order of adoption
shall issue unless authorized by court order, except that certified
copies may issue to the agency or agencies in the proceeding prior to
the sealing of the papers. Before the record is sealed, such order may
be granted upon written ex parte application on good cause shown and
upon such conditions as the court may impose. After the record is
sealed, such order may be granted only upon notice as hereinafter
provided for disclosure or access and inspection of records. The clerk
upon request of a person or agency entitled thereto shall issue
certificates of adoption which shall contain only the new name of the
child and the date and place of birth of the child, the name of the
adoptive parents and the date when and court where the adoption was
granted, which certificate as to the facts recited therein shall have
the same force and effect as a certified copy of an order of adoption.
For the purposes of this subdivision, the term "commissioner" shall mean
the state commissioner of health and, with respect to an adoptive child
born in the city of New York, the commissioner of health and mental
hygiene of the city of New York.
  2. No person, including the attorney for the adoptive parents shall
disclose the surname of the child directly or indirectly to the adoptive
parents except upon order of the court. No person shall be allowed
access to such sealed records and order and any index thereof except
upon an order of a judge or surrogate of the court in which the order
was made or of a justice of the supreme court. No order for disclosure
or access and inspection shall be granted except on good cause shown and
on due notice to the adoptive parents and to such additional persons as
the court may direct. Nothing contained herein shall be deemed to
require the state commissioner of health or his designee to secure a
court order authorizing disclosure of information contained in adoption
or birth records requested pursuant to the authority of section
forty-one hundred thirty-eight-c or section forty-one hundred
thirty-eight-d of the public health law; upon the receipt of such
request for information, the court shall transmit the information
authorized to be released thereunder to the state commissioner of health
or his designee.
  3. In like manner as a court of general jurisdiction exercises such
powers, a judge or surrogate of a court in which the order of adoption
was made may open, vacate or set aside such order of adoption for fraud,
newly discovered evidence or other sufficient cause.
  4. Good cause for disclosure or access to and inspection of sealed
adoption records and orders and any index thereof, hereinafter the
"adoption records", under this section may be established on medical
grounds as provided herein. Certification from a physician licensed to
practice medicine in the state of New York that relief under this
subdivision is required to address a serious physical or mental illness
shall be prima facie evidence of good cause. Such certification shall
indentify the information required to address such illness. Except where
there is an immediate medical need for the information sought, in which
case the court may grant access to the adoption records directly to the
petitioner, the court hearing petition under the subdivision shall
appoint a guardian ad litem or other disinterested person, who shall
have access to the adoption records for the purpose of obtaining the
medical information sought from those records or, where the records are
insufficient for such purpose, through contacting the biological
parents. The guardian or other disinterested person shall offer a
biological parent the option of disclosing the medical information
sought by the petitioner pursuant to this subdivision, as well as the
option of granting consent to examine the parent's medical records. If
the guardian or other disinterested person appointed does not obtain the
medical information sought by the petitioner, such guardian or
disinterested person shall make a report of his or her efforts to obtain
such information to the court. Where further efforts to obtain such
information are appropriate, the court may in its discretion authorize
direct disclosure or access to and inspection of the adoption records by
the petitioner.