Understand your rights, records and legal position.
Information for adoptees about your rights, your records and the laws that affect your life. Explore research and cases to learn more about adoption
Ask the Adoptee Rights Assistant
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Find information on the questions that matter to you.
Rights
What adoption changes in law, what rights adoptees have now, and where the limits are.
Records
Birth records, adoption files, court records, redactions, tracing and finding record holders.
Law
Important judgments and legal developments explained in plain language.
International Adoption
Country, date, recognition, records and the separate questions of immigration and citizenship.
Research
Search studies about adoption and adoptee experiences, or discover three at random.
About
Why this project exists, how sources are checked, and what the service does and does not do.
Grounded in research and open to new evidence.
We are adding research, case summaries and records information, and reviewing existing entries as new evidence becomes available. Each database entry shows when it was last checked and the scope of that review.