The law gives the birth parents of adopted children one year to file a “contact preference” form that indicates whether and in what manner they wish to be contacted by the child they gave up for adoption. They also have the opportunity to have their names redacted from their children’s birth certificates.

Then, beginning in March 2015, Ohio adoptees born between January 1, 1964 and September 18, 1996 will be able to obtain their adoption files, including their original birth certificates, upon reaching the age of 18.

Prevailing national attitudes about adoption have changed drastically in the last 50 years. In the 1960s, adoption was a very sensitive and secretive issue. Not everyone was accepting toward adopted children or toward the mothers who gave them up. In response, many states sealed adoption records, making it all but impossible for an adoptee to identify his or her birth parents without a court order — a very high barrier. But in the 1990s, these attitudes began to change rapidly. Adoption was no longer treated as secretive. At that time, states began to reverse their laws, making all future adoptions open unless the biological parents requested otherwise.

Now, Ohioans adopted during the time when sealed records were the norm will be given the chance to access their adoption files. And reform activists are hoping that the new law will inspire other states to follow in Ohio’s footsteps.

Currently, Florida has no such law. The Sun Sentinel recently featured a Boca Raton woman named Kimberly Remy, 31, who has sought to find her birth parents since she was 13. She has registered on and searched adoption registries where birth parents and adoptees can reunite, but she has had no luck. With a court order, she could see her original birth certificate, but she has no guarantee a judge would grant it. In effect, the requisite court and attorney fees are a gamble she cannot afford.

Present Florida law is similar to Ohio’s in that it does allow for both closed and open adoptions. As adoption becomes more and more a celebrated social institution, birth parents nationwide are increasingly opting for some level of openness in adoptions. These arrangements can vary from simply allowing the records to remain available for their biological child to taking an active part in the child’s life after the adoption.

As prevailing attitudes change, it is likely that more states, including Florida, will implement some manner of opening older adoption records.

Alston & Baker, an Affiliation of Professional Associations: The Law Office of Robert C. Alston, Esq., P.A. and The Law Office of Marcie L. Baker, Esq., P.A. To contact a Zephyrhills divorce lawyer call 1.888.500.5245 or visit http://www.alstonbakerlaw.com.

Due to a recent drug enforcement raid, seven South Florida residents face federal charges of illegal dispensing and handing out a variety of powerful drugs, including a well-known highly addictive drug, oxycodone.

After the raid and the arrest of those on the premises of the pill mill, there was a 20-count indictment against the defendants. Those charged included the local clinic’s owner and a Boca Raton doctor, Vijay Chowdary. The litany of charges include, but are not limited to, maintaining drug-involved premises, money laundering and possessing controlled substances.

Schedule II drugs, such as oxycodone, are known for ultimately being responsible for causing more drug overdose deaths than heroin and cocaine combined. They have a higher likelihood of being abused, as they may be injected, snorted, dissolved or crushed to achieve a quick high.

The premises raided belonged to Intracoastal Medical Groups, Inc. in Broward County. The clinic allegedly offered patients prescriptions for various controlled substances without any existing medical issues and with only a cursory medical examination. According to witnesses and investigators – who had been on the case for months – traffickers and addicts would frequent the clinic to get as many of the pills as they could.

Further evidence suggested the clinic faked medical documents, tests and allegedly issued fake identity cards to make it appear that all of their patients lived in Florida, when in fact, many of them came from other states to obtain drugs for eventual resale elsewhere. On the surface, this case appeared to be about diverting highly addictive drugs to sell them for profit at the expense of the clinic’s patients.

Convicted defendants could face, in total, up to 60 years for distributing, dispensing, and aiding and abetting the distribution and dispensing of oxycodone outside the usual parameters of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose; for conspiracy to distribute, dispense and possess oxycodone and for maintaining a location for the distribution of narcotics.

Even though the evidence may suggest the seven defendants are guilty of what they have been charged with, this is not always the case. Evidence can tell more than just one story. Furthermore, just because someone was on the premises when the clinic was raided, does not, in and of itself, indicate they were involved in any way with what may or may not have been going on there.

Anyone that is facing drug charges, or has been charged, needs to speak to a competent defense attorney. There are a number of vitally important questions that need to be answered, such as: did the police have the right or probably cause to search the clinic and/or other related locations, did they need a search warrant to personally search the seven individuals on the premises and/or their vehicles and homes, was the search and seizure carried out in a timely manner, and how relevant and current was the information used to conduct the search and seizure?

Drug cases have many legal issues that may result in the evidence being thrown out or suppressed. Do not wait to call an experience criminal defense attorney. Your case may stand a chance of being dismissed.

Thomas C .Grajek is a criminal defense lawyer in Tampa, Lakeland, and Polk County Florida. To contact a Lakeland criminal defense lawyer or to learn more, visit http://www.flcrimedefense.com/ or call 863-688-4606.