Amy J. Moshier
Prothonotary and Clerk of Courts
County Court House
One East Second Street – Room 23
Coudersport, PA 16915
Phone: 814-274-9740
Fax 814-274-3361
April 9, 2001
Dear Ms. Shay:
I am writing in response to your letter of April 4, 2001 inquiring about our policies re: procedures necessary to release adoption information. Since I took office in January of 2000 we have only had two inquiries about releasing adoption information. In those instances the person inquiring happened to be the adopted person. The same basic procedure would apply to either a request from the adoptive person or the birth parent.
The person inquiring should first submit a written request to ascertain if the adoption was in fact filed in this county.
If they are notified that the record is filed in our county,they may then petition the court for the release of the desired information. The petition should include the reason(s) such release of information is requested. There is no filing fee if we have the case.
Our president judge will then determine if the reason(s) have justified the release of information.
If such release is ordered, the judge will direct that Potter County Children and Youth Services act as intermediary between the birthparents and the adopted person, his adoptive parent or legal guardian.
I am not familiar with the waiver of confidentiality you made reference to, however we would certainly file such waivers in the adoption file and the judge would undoubtedly take notice of the same when making his determination.
I hope this answers your questions,
Sincerely,
Amy J. Moshier
Prothonotary & Clerk of Courts
Potter County
2-27-99 Letter returned
The letter addressed to
Potter County Courthouse
Orphans' Court Division
227 North Main St.
Coudersport, PA 16915
was returned as "Not Deliverable as addressed, unable to forward."
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UPDATE [not from the letter] : MARCH, 2000
A searcher in Potter was kind enough to pass on this address as current:
Potter County Courthouse
Room 30
Judge John Leete
Coudersport,PA 16915
(814)274-9720