Registration of Adoption Orders

Every adoption must be registered in the Adopted Children Register, which has been in existence since 1975.

An adopted person has a right to apply to the Registrar General to obtain a copy of his / her birth certificate once 18.

Also, since 1984 there is an obligation on the Registrar General to keep "Adoption Contact Register" containing names of adopted persons and their relatives.

If an adopted person applies to the Registrar General he or she must be given the name of a registered relative and it must be the adopted person who makes the move to contact that relative.

The Adoption & Children Act 2002 also makes provisions for new information that must be kept by adoption agencies in relation to a person's adoption.