http://www.cjonline.com/stories/051904/kan_govsigns.shtml

Governor signs bill to open some adoption records

The Associated Press
A law taking effect July 1 will permit the public disclosure of records
concerning children who die or who are seriously injured in adoptive homes or
foster care.
Records concerning children who are placed in state custody for either adoption
or foster care are confidential under Kansas law, to protect the children's
privacy.

But legislators were prompted to change that policy by the December 2002 murder
of Brian Edgar, a 9-year-old former foster child whose adoptive parents in
Overland Park bound him with duct tape and left him to suffocate.

The adoptive parents and baby sitter were convicted of murder and sentenced to
life in prison.

The new law will require the state and local law enforcement agencies to notify
affected parties when records become public and allow those people to ask a
district court to keep the records closed.

No records related to an adoptive family before an adoption occurred can become
public.

Legislators unanimously approved the records legislation on April 30, and Gov.
Kathleen Sebelius signed it into law Monday.



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A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown