New Hampshire state laws provides a provision that provides natural parents an opportunity to file a form with Vital Records stating their preference about personal contact with the child they relinquished to adoption. When received by the state, this form is placed in the adoptee’s sealed record and provided to the adoptee when the records are requested and released.

If a natural parent wants contact he or she should complete a “contact preference form” and mail it to the NH Division of Vital Records. The address is on the form and the form can be obtained by clicking on the link at the bottom to the page a the following link: http://www.sos.nh.gov/vitalrecords/Preadoption%20birth%20records.html

If a natural parent does not want contact an “updated medical history form” should be filled out and filed with the NH Division of Vital records along with the “contact preference form”. The updated medical form can also be found at the above referenced link.

The third option that a natural parent has is to welcome contact through an intermediary. If this is the option the natural parent prefers, an adoptee can contact an intermediary through the eleven agencies directed through the state. A listing of these agencies can be obtained by clicking “fact sheet” on the above reference link.

It is my understanding that if there is no matter what the contact preference on file states, Vital Records will release the copy of the original birth certificate to the adoptee. In addition, if the natural parent prefers contact via an intermediary, to the best of my knowledge there is no procedure in place to ensure that this happens leaving the adoptee to search and contact on his or her own. Although there is no legal repercussion written into the law, I am inclined to say that the natural parent has chosen this preference for a reason and I would recommend to respecting their request.