Adoption Contact Register
If you have been separated from a relative through adoption and would like to receive an intermediary service, please complete our expression of interest form, which will help Family Action to identify which services you can access through our PAC-UK service and other providers.
What is the Adoption Contact Register?
Are there any other contact registers?
Who can provide an intermediary service?
Can I use a private investigator?
What is the Adoption Contact Register?
The Adoption Contact Register came into existence in 1991 and is located at the General Register Office. The Register was introduced to help adopted people and their birth relatives let each other know of their interest to have contact. However, since the new legislation came into force it is also now possible for birth relatives to place a wish for no contact. In the past, the Adoption Contact Register was not widely known about so this has meant that the number of adopted people and their birth relatives who have been linked up with each other has been small.
Are there any other contact registers?
Yes, there are also contact registers in existence in Scotland and Northern Ireland. The addresses and contact details for these registers are listed in the Support and Help section of the website.
The NORCAP Adoption Contact Register (NCR) pre-dated the GRO Adoption Contact Register and contains over 62,000 entries. The majority of entries relate to adoptions between the 1920s and 2004. When NORCAP closed in 2013 the NCR was saved and is now held by PAC-UK. Adopted adults, birth relatives and professionals can apply to PAC-UK and pay a small fee for a register check, contact familyconnect@pac-uk.org in the first instance.
What are Vetoes?
There are two types of veto called an ‘absolute veto’ and a ‘qualified veto’.
- An ‘absolute veto’ – means an intermediary agency can’t make an approach under any circumstances.
- A ‘qualified veto’ – enables the adopted person to stipulate conditions where they would like to be contacted. For example, they may stipulate that they would be willing to have information passed to them about being a beneficiary of a birth relatives Will, or about a birth sibling’s desire to have information and potential contact but not any other birth relative.
Only adopted people can register a veto with the agency that was involved in arranging their adoption known as ‘The Appropriate Adoption Agency’ (AAA).
However, although birth parents cannot register a veto it is important for them to know, via an intermediary, if one exists so they know the implications this may have for them when seeking contact with their adopted relative.
Who can provide an intermediary service?
Intermediary services may be provided by regional adoption agencies, local authorities, voluntary adoption agencies and adoption support agencies. If the service you require is not available from the agency you approach, they should be able to advise you how to take your enquiries forward. It is important to ask the service you approach if it is an “intermediary agency”. You may find that the agency you approach contracts out some or all of its services to another agency, for example, to an adoption support agency. This is more usual in the case of local authorities. Such arrangements should be explained to you when you make your initial enquiry.
Can I use a private investigator?
It is important to request a service from an agency that you know has been registered and inspected for this purpose. It indicates that the agency meets the Government’s standards and should provide good quality services. Unregistered agencies are not allowed to provide intermediary services. These safeguards have been put in place to ensure that everyone involved in providing intermediary services has a detailed understanding of the competing needs and wishes of persons separated by adoption and knowledge of the unique issues raised by adoption, contact and reunion.
Under the Adoption and Children Act 2002 private investigators and agencies that have not been registered for the purposes of the provision of intermediary services are not able to have access to crucial information needed to link a birth relative with an adopted person. If you decide to explore other routes and use an agency or private investigator that is not registered for any part of the work, then be aware of the cost you may incur, their working practices in respect of confidentiality, and their level of experience of this complex area of work. The reason that this area of work has been made subject to registration is because of the complex emotional issues that it raises. Under the Care Standards Act 2000, it is unlawful for agencies or individuals to offer an intermediary service for adopted people and birth relatives unless they have been registered.
