ASSEMBLY, No. 72

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 1996 SESSION

By Assemblyman KAVANAUGH

An Act concerning certain children's records and supplementing Title 9 of the Revised Statutes.

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

    1. a. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, every parent shall have access to records and information pertaining to his or her minor child, including, but not limited to, medical, dental, insurance, child care and educational records, whether or not the child resides with the parent, unless that access is found by the court to be not in the best interest of the child or the access is found by the court to be sought for the purpose of causing detriment to the other parent.               b. The place of residence of either parent shall not appear on any records or information released pursuant to the provisions of this section.

    c. Any parent may petition the court to have the other parent's access to the records limited. If the court, after a hearing, finds that the parent's access to the record is not in the best interest of the child or that the access sought is for the purpose of causing detriment to the other parent, the court may order that access to the records be limited.

    2. The Department of Education shall promulgate rules and regulations pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L. 1968, c. 410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.) to effectuate the purposes of this act.

    3. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

    This bill would guarantee all parents equal access to their children's medical, dental, insurance, child care and school records. The bill would provide that the place of residence or other identifying information about either parent would not appear on any records distributed. The bill would also authorize the court to deny access to the records if it finds that it is not in the best interest of the child or if the access is sought only for the purpose of causing the other parent to suffer a detriment.

    The bill would also grant rule making powers to the Department of Education to establish guidelines and procedures for distributing records to the parents.

    This bill embodies recommendation number 7 of the report of the Commission to Study the Law of Divorce, issued April 18, 1995.

Provides divorced parents access to children's records.