2016 New York Laws
DOM - Domestic Relations
Article 7 - ADOPTION
Title 2 - (112 - 114) ADOPTION FROM AN AUTHORIZED AGENCY
112-B - Post-adoption contact agreements; judicial approval; enforcement.

   112-b.   Post-adoption   contact  agreements;  judicial  approval;
  enforcement. 1. Nothing in this section shall be construed  to  prohibit
  the  parties  to  a  proceeding under this chapter from entering into an
  agreement regarding communication with or contact  between  an  adoptive
  child,  adoptive  parent or parents and a birth parent or parents and/or
  the adoptive child's biological siblings or half-siblings.
2. Agreements regarding communication or contact between  an  adoptive
  child,  adoptive parent or parents, and a birth parent or parents and/or
  biological siblings or half-siblings of an adoptive child shall  not  be
  legally  enforceable  unless the terms of the agreement are incorporated
  into a written court order entered in accordance with the provisions  of
  this  section.  The  court  shall not incorporate an agreement regarding
  communication or contact into an order unless the terms  and  conditions
  of  the  agreement  have  been  set forth in writing and consented to in
  writing  by  the  parties  to  the  agreement,  including  the  attorney
  representing  the  adoptive  child. The court shall not enter a proposed
  order unless  the  court  that  approved  the  surrender  of  the  child
  determined  and  stated  in  its  order  that  the communication with or
  contact between the adoptive child, the prospective adoptive  parent  or
  parents  and  a  birth  parent  or parents and/or biological siblings or
  half-siblings, as agreed upon and as set forth in the  agreement,  would
  be  in  the  adoptive  child's best interests. Notwithstanding any other
  provision of law, a copy of the order entered pursuant to  this  section
  incorporating  the post-adoption contact agreement shall be given to all
  parties who have agreed to the terms and conditions of such order.
3. Failure to comply with the terms  and  conditions  of  an  approved
  order  regarding  communication  or contact that has been entered by the
  court pursuant to this section shall not be grounds for setting aside an
  adoption decree or revocation of written consent to  an  adoption  after
  that consent has been approved by the court as provided in this section.
4.  An  order  incorporating  an  agreement regarding communication or
  contact entered under this section may be enforced by any party  to  the
  agreement  or  the  attorney  for  the child by filing a petition in the
  family court in  the  county  where  the  adoption  was  approved.  Such
  petition  shall  have  annexed  to  it a copy of the order approving the
  agreement regarding  communication  or  contact.  The  court  shall  not
  enforce an order under this section unless it finds that the enforcement
  is in the child's best interests.
5.  If  a birth parent has surrendered a child to an authorized agency
  pursuant to the provisions of section three  hundred  eighty-three-c  or
  section three hundred eighty-four of the social services law, and if the
  court  before  whom  the surrender instrument was presented for approval
  approved an agreement providing for communication or contact pursuant to
  paragraph (a) of  subdivision  two  of  section  three  hundred  eighty-
  three-c  or  paragraph  (a)  of subdivision two of section three hundred
  eighty-four of  the  social  services  law,  a  copy  of  the  surrender
  instrument  and  of  the  approved  agreement  shall  be  annexed to the
  petition of adoption. The court shall issue an order  incorporating  the
  terms  and  conditions  of  the  approved  agreement  into  the order of
  adoption. Notwithstanding any other provision of  law,  a  copy  of  any
  order entered pursuant to this subdivision shall be given to the parties
  who approved such agreement.
6.  If  a  surrender instrument executed by a birth parent pursuant to
  section three hundred eighty-three-c or three hundred eighty-four of the
  social services law contains  terms  and  conditions  that  provide  for
  communication  with  or  contact  between  a child and a birth parent or
  parents, such terms and conditions  shall  not  be  legally  enforceable
  after  any  adoption approved by a court pursuant to this article unless

  the court has entered an order pursuant to  this  section  incorporating
  those terms and conditions into a court ordered adoption agreement.