The Descendants of Deceased Adopted Persons (DAP) group is campaigning to highlight the problems experienced by descendants who want to access birth information about deceased adopted relatives, and to bring about change.
At present the scheme of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 provides for the birth records of an adopted person to be disclosed only in limited circumstances, e.g. where the adopted person applies, or where records are held by an adoption agency which can decide whether disclosure is in the interests of all concerned.
The effect of this ruling is that the descendants of a deceased adopted person cannot obtain original records if the adopted person did not apply in his lifetime, unless, under Section 79 of the Act, they can satisfy the Court that there are exceptional circumstances justifying disclosure - which is very rare.
This anomaly in the law was brought to the attention of the Law Commission and along with other matters relating to access to adoption information and subsequently put forward as a potential project for the Law Commission’s Eleventh Programme of Law Reform.
The Access to Information project would have considered a number of issues that arise when people who have been adopted, their descendants, or members of their birth family seek information about the adoption. It would have focused in particular on two questions: whether the data protection rules are hampering individuals’ ability to access adoption information; and whether the descendants of adopted persons should have access to the same services as the adopted person or members of the adopted person’s birth family.
The project was proposed by the British Association for Adoption and Fostering and supported by the Department for Education. Commissioners recognise that this is an important area, and the technical issues raised are suitable for the Law Commission, but unfortunately the project was not included in the final list of Projects for the Eleventh Programme. The project was not taken forward solely on the grounds that the Commission did not have the resources to include this work in its Eleventh Programme.
The Descendants of Deceased Adopted Persons (DAP) group is concerned about the following key points:
1. The ruling is unjust and contrary to the intent of the 2002 Act to allow greater access to birth information.
2. Descendants should be granted the same rights as other birth relatives.
3. The Act is being applied unfairly and unequally.
4. Descendants have a human right to know their biological heritage.
5. Discrimination against a minority group.
It is important for DAP to collect background and supporting information to highlight this anomaly in the law, so that ways can be found to change the legislation.
DAP would like to hear from people, in confidence, who:
a) Have been unable to obtain birth details of their deceased adopted parents or older relatives;
b) Have obtained the information about their deceased adopted parent or relatives from, for example, the original Court where the adoption order was made or from the adoption agency involved in the adoption arrangements;
c) Would like to know how they can become involved in the campaign.
Send your contact information with a very brief summary of your search experience to:
frances@bigpond.za.net. Please write DAP in the subject line and we will get back to you.
Together we are stronger.
Further Information:
Answers to some frequently asked questions about access to birth records for descendants of deceased adopted people are provided in the Locating Records section.