New York Laws
Title 2 - 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.

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