Recently the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed amendments to Pennsylvania’s adoption statutes, found in 23 Pa.C.S. Section 2731 et seq, regarding post-adoption contact agreements. Understanding these amendments is crucial for any practitioner who handles adoption matters; however, it should be noted that each local jurisdiction has procedural idiosyncrasies that must be accounted for when so doing. The amendments certainly apply to adoptions to be filed going forward, but it is unclear if the amendments apply to adoptions filed prior to the passage of the amendments.
The amendments are designed to provide a statutory basis to create, facilitate the enforcement of, and standardize post-adoption contact agreements. A post-adoption contact agreement is one in which the adopting parents enter into a contract with the adopted child’s biological parents and relatives to lay out the terms and conditions of the biological parents’ and relatives’ contact and communication with the adopted child after the adoption of the child is completed.
