Work requiring to see Adoption Order for Adopted Dependents - is that disc. when not required for birth kids?

Question

My company is doing a dependent audit for benefits. They are requiring that I submit the adoption order approved by the court as well as the birth certificate when they only require a birth certificate for "natural dependents" versus "dependents adopted". That seems just plain wrong. The birth certificate has my name and spouse's name on it but they want additional documentation of a court order that is sealed by the court. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Answer 1

I've been down this road before.  If the adoption has been finalized, which I assume it is because you have the birth certificate, no one can request the original adoption papers at your employment.  Cite the privacy act to them.  

If the adoption had NOT been finalized yet, then the only thing showing you have custody of this child is the placement papers, and then YES they are allowed to ask to see these for purposes of medical coverage, etc.  

I would suggest doing one of the following:

1) If a large corporation, contact the HR Department and express your concerns.

2) Ask the lawyer that accompanied you to finalization to write a letter to your employer on your behalf.

3) Contact the EEOC office and ask if they have any suggestions as to how to handle this.  If they feel it is discriminatory, they will provide you with an attorney or resources to fight this.

Good luck to you.

Answer 2

drop the discrimination term, it's inflammatory.

it makes no business sense that they need any other document than a bc. i do these audits, and if your name appears on the bc, my job is done. i'm curious, have they told you why they want additional documentation?

Answer 3

I don't get it either.  What Andraya said could make some sense I suppose, but honestly I don't know.

Answer 4

What they are doing is to see if you have this child. All you have to show them is the paper work that you got when the adoption was final. We had to show my husbands work the samething.What you have isnt sealed by the court. Like we have papers from the judge saying it was finale so you can show people like doocs, your unsurance things like that. Or if you havent gotten a SS card. That is all they need nothing else. We had to do the samethine.

Answer 5

That seems like a pretty dumb rule.  How can they possibly know whether or not your child is adopted if you have a birth certificate on him/her.  I would personally just ignore the request.  That puts the burden back on them to demand this proof which would allow you to more easily make a legal claim of discrimination.  Otherwise, you're just wasting your time and money fighting a battle you shouldn't even have to fight.

Answer 6

Contact legal aide and see if this is even ligit....our son's records are sealed.  We would have no such document...when he was adopted, we had to go to the state and his birth certificate was "changed" to list us as his parents, etc....

Answer 7

The company I work for did that to me as well.  They wanted tax records, birth certificates, marriage decree, and social security cards.  Really spooky if you ask me.  

I hope you have access to the required documentation.

Answer 8

Perhaps they are looking to make sure the adoption was legit.

No matter what their reason it is just plain stupid. That is all I could come up with. Legally an adopted child enjoys the same rights as a  child born to his or her parents and the adoptive parents enjoy the same rights as if they had given birth to the child. The request for adoption records doesn't make sense in my mind.

Can you explain that the records are sealed? Maybe there is someone within the company who is compassionate enough and has enough power to bend this foolish rule.

Answer 9

seems abit stupid to me why would they want that not even you can get sealed record it has to be adoptee and their real parents or whatever so forget it.

Answer 10

Outright discrimination

Answer 11

Did you apply for new medical coverage for a child who was recently adopted?

Did you change the beneficiary on your pension plan or life insurance through your company?

Otherwise, it doesn't make sense. What excuse did they use?