What rights do adult adoptees have?
There is no single document containing “adoptee rights”. The rules come from adoption law, records law, data protection, family law and human rights law.
Ask the Adoptee Rights Assistant
Please leave out names and identifying details.
Get your adoption records
Agency files, local authority records, court records, redactions and finding the record holder.
Get your original birth certificate
Your original birth registration is different from your adoption certificate.
Trace relatives
How records, civil registration, family history research, intermediaries and DNA can fit together.
Understand redactions
What may be withheld, what a record holder should consider and what you can ask it to explain.
Ask the court for records
Specified documents may be available from the court that made the adoption order.
Inheritance and legal family
Adoption changes default family relationships for intestacy. A will is a separate question.
Name and identity
Changing your current name does not rewrite the historical birth or adoption records.
International adoption
Recognition, citizenship, immigration and records are separate questions.
Can an adoption be undone?
Adoption orders are treated as highly final, but exceptional procedural defects are a different question.
Identity and human rights
Article 8 can be relevant to identity, origins, personal history and access to information.