Substitute Senate Bill 23 Summary

• Repeals former sections 3107.39-3107.44 and replaces adoption record access procedures with new provisions allowing adopted persons and lineal descendants to request copies of adoption files from the Department of Health at age 18 or older.

• Creates new "contact preference forms" allowing biological parents to indicate whether they welcome, prefer intermediary contact, or prefer no contact with adopted persons who obtain their adoption file information.

• Establishes "biological parent's name redaction request forms" (available for one year after the bill's effective date) permitting biological parents to have their names redacted from adoption file copies, with a system allowing redaction requests to be removed later.

• Transfers releases previously filed under former law into adoption files and makes them advisory only (unenforceable), while creating new procedures for biological parents to submit social and medical histories directly to the Department of Health alongside contact preference and name redaction forms.

• Reorganizes vital records provisions by dividing former section 3705.12 into multiple new sections (3705.121-3705.126) addressing adoptions decreed in other states, foreign birth records, and procedures for accessing sealed adoption files, with most provisions taking effect one year after enactment.