An adoption reunion registry is a formal mechanism where adoptees and their birth family members can be reunited. Registries may be free or charge fees, be facilitated by non-profit organizations, government agencies or private businesses. Generally, such adoption registries exist only in countries which practiced ''

closed adoption Closed adoption (also called "confidential" adoption and sometimes "secret" adoption) is a process by which an infant is adopted by another family, and the record of the biological parent(s) is kept sealed. Often, the biological father is not re ...

'', i.e. adoption in which the full identities of the birth parents, birth family members and the adopting family are not readily disclosed. Some reunion registries are based on mutual consent and do matches from the information provided by the registrants. Others, run by governmental agencies, have access to the original documents identifying a birth family or adopting family. This is a form of adoption disclosure. In general, adoptees must be adults before they may be given identifying information, or at least age 18. In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, state law governs whether such an institution may release this identifying information to the interested party. Some states have an adoption registry, in which both the adopted adult and birthparent must register before information will be provided. In other states, if the adoptee requests information, the organization will contact the birth parent and request consent for a reunion. In

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, adult adoptees from

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Newfoundland, and

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

generally have access to their own birth and adoption information provided no disclosure veto has been filed. In other provinces/territories, limited access to information is allowed; all jurisdictions have some form of reunion register. In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, adoption law has been amended to allow for

open adoption Open adoption is a form of adoption in which the biological and adoptive families have access to varying degrees of each other's personal information and have an option of contact. While open adoption is a relatively new phenomenon in the west, it ...

s, the right to access one's records, and a state-run adoption reunion registry has been established. Though many such registries are operated by government agencies, many private registries do exist, and can be found on the Web. These tend to be owned and/or managed by members of the adoption community and are generally more successful than government-run registries. A problem generally with state-run registries has been the lack of publicity surrounding them. In contrast, in April 2005, the state-run National Adoption Contact Preference Regist
Trace Your Birth Family - Index
was launched in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

with a national radio and newspaper advertising campaign, and included an application form for the registry being delivered to every household. The Irish registry allows a person using it to specify whether or not they want contact and/or reunion, what form that contact should take (e.g., letter, phone, e-mail), and, if they do not want contact at the time being, still allows for the passing of medical and/or background information to the other party.

References

External links

The key place to register for a reunion registry is with the state or country that handled your adoption.
State Statutes Search - Child Welfare Information Gateway
(Use this link to find the latest info for the registries in the US States)
Canadian registryAICAN - Australian Intercountry Adoption NetworkThe ALMA Society
(central, global reunion registry, $69.99 registration free)
Adopted.com
(central, global reunion registry, free for three profiles but if you need more you pay a subscription)
Reunion Registry
- (free, US & International, you can not check the registry yourself, it is used to find search clients for Searchquest America)
California Adoption Reunion Registry
(NOT for California, it is a free gateway to FindMyFamily.org which does TV shows)
FindMyFamily.org
(United States reunion registry, free, looking for folks for TV shows) www.isrr.org is free and stands for International Soundex Reunion Registry print off the form, or send for one, free, and mail it in . Defunct Registries
Adoption Registry
-(free, old TXCare registry which is pretty much defunct now & has been for years)
Birth Parent Search
-(attempts to take you to iamadopted.com which no longer exists)
Adoption Database - Adoption Registry
-(It's $10 to register a search. If she takes on the case it's $25 with $175 due at the end of the search) {{Adopt Adoption reunion Public records