Senator Steven Choi, Ph.D. (R–Irvine), announced on May 22 that Senate Bill 927 passed the California State Senate with unanimous bipartisan support. The bill aims to address a gap in state law by allowing adult foreign adoptees, whose adoptions were never finalized, to petition the court for readoption and secure legal documentation proving their adoption status and residency.
The legislation is significant because it offers a solution for adults who have lived as part of Californian families but lack official records due to incomplete adoptions during childhood. These individuals have faced challenges obtaining legal recognition through no fault of their own.
SB 927 establishes a process enabling adult adoptees to initiate their own readoption if both adoptive parents and the adoption agency did not finalize the adoption while they were minors. If approved by the court, these adoptees can receive delayed registration of birth from the State Registrar.
“SB 927 restores dignity and legal certainty to individuals who have spent their lives as part of Californian families, yet were left without the documentation needed to prove their status, through no fault of their own,” said Senator Steven Choi. “This bill provides a compassionate and practical solution for adoptees who fell through the cracks of the system decades ago.”
California previously enacted Assembly Bill 677 in 2019 requiring future intercountry adoptions be finalized before children turned sixteen. However, there was no remedy for adults whose adoptions remained incomplete. SB 927 seeks to close this loophole so affected adoptees can finally obtain necessary legal documents.
The bill will now move forward to the California State Assembly for policy committee assignment.
