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Thursday, March 12, 2009

Records Preservation and Access Committee (RPAC) Recommendations

The report on "Open Access to Public Records: A Genealogical Perspective; A White Paper by the Records Preservation and Access Committee of The Federation of Genealogical Societies and The National Genealogical Society" was posted on the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) web site - see it at http://www.fgs.org/rpac/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/rpac-white-paper-6-mar.pdf.


This is a very important document for genealogists. I urge each of you to read it and understand it.

There are two really useful sections in this report for genealogy research:

1. The recommendations of RPAC for birth, death and adoption record access are:

"The Records Preservation and Access Committee (RPAC) recommends that birth records be considered open records not less than one-hundred (100) years from the date of birth.

"The RPAC recommends that death records be considered open records not less than twenty-five (25) years from the date of death.

"The RPAC recommends that adoption records be considered open records to adoptees, preferably when they reach their majority, age 18 in most states, but no later than age 30, while effective use may be made of health information. We also recommend that adoption records become open records to the public through the state archives or another means after one-hundred (100) years from the date of the adoption. "

2. The Appendix of this report provides a state-by-state summary of the records collected, the year started, applicable codes, and the availability of those records. For instance, for California:

"Birth - 1905 - Health and Safety Code § 102430

Marriage - 1905 - Family Code § 5112; Health and Safety Code § 10361 (both repealed in 1995) - FHLC Marriage Indexes 1960 – 1981; California provides for confidential marriages which are not open to the public.

Divorce

Death - 1905 - Microfiche Index 1905-1995 FHLC Death Indexes 1940 – 1995

Adoption - Closed - Health and Safety Code § 102705

The RPAC has taken a responsible position in this white paper to protect privacy while making reasonable recommendations to open records to the public and to genealogy researchers. I really appreciate this effort - I know it took a long time to work it out. I hope that the states will take these recommendations to heart.

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