AR HB1636

Creates a new subchapter in Arkansas law allowing birth parents to request that their names be redacted from adoption file copies provided to adoptees and their relatives through forms created by the Department of Health.

Permits adoptees age 21 and older, as well as children, spouses, or guardians of deceased adoptees, to request copies of adoption files from the Department of Health beginning one year after the act's effective date.

Requires birth parents submitting redaction or contact preference forms to provide notarized signatures, proof of identity, and completed genetic or social history information as conditions for the Department of Health to accept their requests.

Allows birth parents to specify contact preferences on forms, including whether requesters may directly contact them, contact through an intermediary, or not contact them at all, though such contact preference forms are marked as advisory and unenforceable.

Establishes a $100 fee for requesters to obtain adoption files and provides immunity from criminal and civil liability for Department of Health employees who release information in accordance with the law's procedures.