Access to Birth Records and Adoption Case Records

Anyone adopted before December 1975 has to have counselling before they can get a copy of their original birth certificate or access their records. This is arranged via the General Register Office and the local authority where the adopted adult elects to receive counselling. The caller should be advised to contact the General Register Office and complete an application form. The General Registrar website provides further details: Adoption records: Accessing your birth records (GOV.UK).

As part of the process of accessing records information will be given to the adult adoptee about the Adoption Contact Register which is facilitated by the General Register Office. Information is available from that organisation - see Adoption records: Accessing your birth records (GOV.UK).

General guidance to undertake this is below but local variations when working with commissioned services and adhering to local practice may occur.

On receipt of the relevant papers containing the linking information from the General Register Office, the Adoption Support Manager will allocate the case to an adoption support social worker, who will contact the adopted person to invite him or her to attend an office interview.

At the interview, the worker will ask for photographic proof of the identity of the adopted person to ensure confidentiality, for example, a passport or driving licence and evidence of his or her address, before providing any information.

The worker should share the information provided by the General Register Office and complete the pro forma giving authority for the applicant to receive information from Court records. The worker should also give the adopted person the application form to obtain a copy of his or her birth certificate.

The worker should then complete the pro forma confirming the interview has taken place and return it to the General Register Office.

Where issues of concern have arisen at the counselling interview, for example in relation to the adopted person's instability, the adoption social worker should alert the General Register Office.

The adopted person should be advised about the Adoption Contact Register, the right to seek access to their Adoption Case Record (see Section 3, Access by Adopted persons to adoption case records) and, for those who wish for help in tracing members of their birth family, the availability of Intermediary Services - see Intermediary Services Procedure. These are in place for anyone adopted before 30^th December 2005. There may be a charge for this service.

One Adoption South Yorkshire Regional Adoption Agency should provide information about agencies which assist with searching and facilitating meetings, as requested. OASY do not provide this service themselves.

For those adopted after 12^th November 1975 and before 30^th December 2005, it is not a requirement to receive counselling before accessing birth records, but it is advised that enquirers should seek advice before starting on the process.

It is possible for the applicant, if they know their birth details, to apply directly to General Register Office for a copy of their original birth certificate.

If the applicant does not know their birth details, they should complete an application form to obtain birth certificate information and return it via email: adoptions@gro.gov.uk or post to: 

Adoptions Section
Room C202
General Register Office
Trafalgar Rd
Southport
PR8 2HH.

The adopted person should be advised about the Adoption Contact Register, the right to seek access to their Adoption Case Record (see Section 3, Access by Adopted Persons to Adoption Case Records) and, for those who wish for help in tracing members of their birth family, the availability of Intermediary Services - see Intermediary Services Procedure.

They should also be advised where appropriate about the right to register an absolute or qualified Veto on their Adoption Case Record - see Intermediary Services Procedure.

The worker should continue to offer support and advice to the adopted person for the duration of the enquiry and will also inform him or her of any other relevant agencies offering support.

At the interview, the adoption social worker will ask for photographic proof of the identity of the adopted person to ensure confidentiality, for example, a passport or driving licence and evidence of their address, before providing any information.

Most people adopted after this date should have access to their original birth certificate, since it will have been part of the documents provided when the adoptee was placed.

However, this may not be the case and for those adopted persons who confirm their wish to obtain a copy of their original birth certificate, they should be given the appropriate information to enable them to complete the application form to obtain a copy of their birth certificate. Where the requisite information is not held by the agency, the worker should seek the information from the General Register Office on the adopted person's behalf.

Adopted persons should be advised of their right to have a copy of the Child's Permanence Report. They may already have this from their adoptive parents. It would be unusual for any detailed or sensitive information recorded on the adoption file to be provided to the adopted adult without having a face-to-face meeting. At the initial interview, the adoption social worker will ask for photographic proof of the identity of the adopted person to ensure confidentiality, for example, a passport or driving licence and evidence of their address, before providing any information

For those who wish to trace members of their birth family, they should be advised of the various courses of action they can take - see Section 3, Access by Adopted Persons to  Adoption Case Records.

The social worker should continue to offer support and advice to the adopted person for as long as he or she needs it and will also inform him or her of any other relevant agencies offering support. If they wish to go on to access their adoption case record, then advice will be given in relation to this process. See Section 3, Access by Adopted Persons to  Adoption Case Records.

If it is considered that the adopted person should not have access to the information, legal advice should be obtained regarding a possible application to the High Court to prevent access.

OASY provides a service to adopted persons seeking access to their adoption case records where they are residents of the area or where the Adoption Service arranged their adoption and/or holds the files relating to their adoption. Where the applicant lives outside the area then records or summary of the records will be sent to the adoption agency in whose area they reside, for the individual to access locally.

Any request by an adopted person for access to their Adoption Case Record must be in writing. They will be asked to provide proof of identity such as passport or driving licence. Evidence of the adopted person's address will also be required. It will be directed to the One Adoption Team Manager who will decide the appropriate adoption agency to respond. OASY commission an approved adoption agency to provide this service in some cases. However, it will still be the responsibility of the agency to provide information from the records to that agency.

The adoption agency has discretion to disclose to the adopted person material from the adoption case record, and this discretion should be exercised in the context of the particular circumstances of each request. The adoption social worker must establish the extent of the information already held by the applicant.

There should be a clear record on file of all information disclosed. Where copies of documents have been provided, this should also be recorded. There should be a record when information has been withheld.

Third Party Information

Careful consideration should be given to the disclosure of information held on third parties. Specific consent from the third party is not required, but consideration needs to be given to the nature of the information, the relevance and benefit to the adopted person of knowing the information and the likely effect on them of receiving it or not receiving it.

There may be instances where the information held has been given by a third party (for example a birth relative) with a clear understanding that it may be disclosed to the adopted person in the future.

Conversely, there may be information held about a third party which is highly confidential and would serve no purpose for the adopted person to know - for example information that a birth mother had a number of terminations prior to the adopted person's birth.

All decisions should be based on professional judgment and the adoption social worker should discuss the case with a line manager before making a decision in cases that appear complex.

All decisions should be recorded on the file.

Where there is information about siblings held on the record, again consideration needs to be given to the benefit and relevance to the adopted person of knowing the information. Where, for example, a sibling has been placed for adoption separately, and the disclosure of information about the sibling may reveal confidential information about the sibling's new family, then extreme caution must be exercised particularly if the siblings are under 18 years of age.

However, if the information relates to the past family history, will provide no identifying information about the sibling's present whereabouts and the disclosure will enable the adopted person to understand more about their birth family and the reason why the siblings were separated, then disclosure is more likely to be appropriate.

The most difficult situations arise when the information relates to past family history, concerns confidential information about a sibling or family member and would clarify for the adopted person the reason why they were removed from their birth family, or siblings were separated. These situations should always be discussed with a manager and the discussion and decision to disclose or not to disclose information should be clearly recorded on the file together with reasons for the decision.

Any request to access records from an agency acting on behalf of a person not resident in South Yorkshire will be dealt with invited into a One Adoption office to view records. A summary of those records will need to be agreed by a One Adoption designated worker to disclose to the service user.

Any person may apply to the appropriate adoption agency for the disclosure of protected information about any person involved in adoption. Applications for the disclosure of protected information may therefore be made by adopted people, birth relatives or any other person involved in an adoption. The adoption agency has discretion not to agree to the requested disclosure. It must record its decision and the reasons. In reaching a decision, adoption agencies should always consider whether the information is already potentially available from other sources.

Protected information is defined as information which is about a person and contains identifying information about that person.

The Adoption Agency must consider the following matters before deciding whether to disclose protected information to the applicant:

• The welfare of the adopted person;
• The views of the person to whom the information relates and,if this is a child, their parents;
• All the circumstances of the case.

The Adoption Service cannot disclose identifying information about an adopted person to birth relatives without the consent of the adopted person.

Where the request relates to an adopted child, the obtaining of consent will depend on the child's age and understanding and the consent of the prospective adopters will also be required. The discretion of the adoption agency to disclose information is limited where this is in relation to a child.

Persons involved in adoptions can provide their consent in advance to the disclosure of identifying information about them at some point in the future.

Decisions made in relation to applications for disclosure of protected information must be communicated in writing to the applicant, and the reasons for the decision must be outlined.

Where an application for disclosure of information relating to an adult is refused, this is a Qualifying Determination and the applicant may apply to the Independent Review Mechanism in relation to the decision.

Where an application for disclosure of information is agreed despite the objection of the subject, this is also a Qualifying Determination and the subject of the information may apply to the Independent Review Mechanism (see Prepare for Review Panel  (GOV.UK)).

The person requesting an Independent Review must apply within 40 working days of receiving notification of the decision.

There is no similar right to an Independent Review where the application relates to information held on a child and is refused.

Where a matter is referred to an Independent Review Panel, the Independent Review Panel will send their recommendation to the Adoption Service. The Adoption Service is not obliged to follow the recommendation, but must take it into account when reconsidering the application.

The Adoption Service must then notify the applicant, the subject and the Independent Review Panel of the decision and reasons.

Where a birth relative requests access to an Adoption Case Record, there is no entitlement on their part to such access and it is for the Adoption Agency to decide whether information contained within the records may be disclosed. Any decision to disclose such information can only be taken after discussion with and the agreement of the Manager.

In all cases, a balance must be struck between the confidentiality of the information, the enquirer's need to know, the relevance of the information to the enquirer and, when considering a request by a birth parent or relative, whether the anonymity of the adoptive placement can be preserved.

Information which would enable the birth relative to identify the adopted person should not be given, for example whether or not there was a change of name on the adoption, or the name of the adoptive family. However, sometimes the records include information received in the intervening years such as news of progress made at school, health problems, achievements, requests for adoption support. Careful consideration needs to be given as to whether it may be appropriate to disclose any of this information to a birth relative.

Where the birth relative makes an enquiry in relation to an adopted child who is still under 18, consideration should be given to approaching the adopters to request up-to-date information about the child and/or to offer to pass on information about the birth family and/or to seek the views of the adopters about any future exchange of information. Adopters may also be asked to clarify whether the adopted child is to be told of the birth family's request although there should be no implied expectation that they should do so against their wishes - and they should be given information about independent support agencies which may be able to assist them.

The response to a birth relative should take into account any contact between the birth family and the agency since the child was adopted and any arrangements/agreements for post-adoption contact and how these have worked.

In the case of requests for information by adopters, regard must be had to the requirements on the part of the agency to share full information about the child and their history with prospective adopters prior to the placement. If the disclosure of information would assist and enhance their ability to care for the child in the placement, then the balance should weigh heavily in favour of the disclosure of the information save for confidential details about a birth parents' medical history, which would have no relevance to the adopters' in their care for the child.

Where there is a request for information from the child's file post adoption, the adoption social worker will prepare the relevant/requested information taken from the files.