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Disclosure of information in relation to a person’s adoption | |
56 Information to be kept about a person’s adoption | |
(1) In relation to an adopted person, regulations may prescribe— | |
(a) the information which an adoption agency must keep in relation to his | |
adoption, | 5 |
(b) the form and manner in which it must keep that information. | |
(2) Below in this group of sections (that is, this section and sections 57 to 65), any | |
information kept by an adoption agency by virtue of subsection (1)(a) is | |
referred to as section 56 information. | |
(3) Regulations may provide for the transfer in prescribed circumstances of | 10 |
information held, or previously held, by an adoption agency to another | |
adoption agency. | |
57 Restrictions on disclosure of protected etc. information | |
(1) Any section 56 information kept by an adoption agency which— | |
(a) is about an adopted person or any other person, and | 15 |
(b) is or includes identifying information about the person in question, | |
may only be disclosed by the agency to a person (other than the person the | |
information is about) in pursuance of this group of sections. | |
(2) Any information kept by an adoption agency— | |
(a) which the agency has obtained from the Registrar General on an | 20 |
application under section 79(5) and any other information which | |
would enable the adopted person to obtain a certified copy of the | |
record of his birth, or | |
(b) which is information about an entry relating to the adopted person in | |
the Adoption Contact Register, | 25 |
may only be disclosed to a person by the agency in pursuance of this group of | |
sections. | |
(3) In this group of sections, information the disclosure of which to a person is | |
restricted by virtue of subsection (1) or (2) is referred to (in relation to him) as | |
protected information. | 30 |
(4) Identifying information about a person means information which, whether | |
taken on its own or together with other information disclosed by an adoption | |
agency, identifies the person or enables the person to be identified. | |
(5) This section does not prevent the disclosure of protected information in | |
pursuance of a prescribed agreement to which the adoption agency is a party. | 35 |
(6) Regulations may authorise or require an adoption agency to disclose protected | |
information to a person who is not an adopted person. | |
58 Disclosure of other information | |
(1) This section applies to any section 56 information other than protected | |
information. | 40 |
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(2) An adoption agency may for the purposes of its functions disclose to any | |
person in accordance with prescribed arrangements any information to which | |
this section applies. | |
(3) An adoption agency must, in prescribed circumstances, disclose prescribed | |
information to a prescribed person. | 5 |
59 Offence | |
Regulations may provide that a registered adoption society which discloses | |
any information in contravention of section 57 is to be guilty of an offence and | |
liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard | |
scale. | 10 |
60 Disclosing information to adopted adult | |
(1) This section applies to an adopted person who has attained the age of 18 years. | |
(2) The adopted person has the right, at his request, to receive from the | |
appropriate adoption agency— | |
(a) any information which would enable him to obtain a certified copy of | 15 |
the record of his birth, unless the High Court orders otherwise, | |
(b) any prescribed information disclosed to the adopters by the agency by | |
virtue of section 54. | |
(3) The High Court may make an order under subsection (2)(a), on an application | |
by the appropriate adoption agency, if satisfied that the circumstances are | 20 |
exceptional. | |
(4) The adopted person also has the right, at his request, to receive from the court | |
which made the adoption order a copy of any prescribed document or | |
prescribed order relating to the adoption. | |
(5) Subsection (4) does not apply to a document or order so far as it contains | 25 |
information which is protected information. | |
61 Disclosing protected information about adults | |
(1) This section applies where— | |
(a) a person applies to the appropriate adoption agency for protected | |
information to be disclosed to him, and | 30 |
(b) none of the information is about a person who is a child at the time of | |
the application. | |
(2) The agency is not required to proceed with the application unless it considers | |
it appropriate to do so. | |
(3) If the agency does proceed with the application it must take all reasonable | 35 |
steps to obtain the views of any person the information is about as to the | |
disclosure of the information about him. | |
(4) The agency may then disclose the information if it considers it appropriate to | |
do so. | |
(5) In deciding whether it is appropriate to proceed with the application or | 40 |
disclose the information, the agency must consider— | |
(a) the welfare of the adopted person, | |
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(b) any views obtained under subsection (3), | |
(c) any prescribed matters, | |
and all the other circumstances of the case. | |
(6) This section does not apply to a request for information under section 60(2) or | |
to a request for information which the agency is authorised or required to | 5 |
disclose in pursuance of regulations made by virtue of section 57(6). | |
62 Disclosing protected information about children | |
(1) This section applies where— | |
(a) a person applies to the appropriate adoption agency for protected | |
information to be disclosed to him, and | 10 |
(b) any of the information is about a person who is a child at the time of the | |
application. | |
(2) The agency is not required to proceed with the application unless it considers | |
it appropriate to do so. | |
(3) If the agency does proceed with the application, then, so far as the information | 15 |
is about a person who is at the time a child, the agency must take all reasonable | |
steps to obtain— | |
(a) the views of any parent or guardian of the child, and | |
(b) the views of the child, if the agency considers it appropriate to do so | |
having regard to his age and understanding and to all the other | 20 |
circumstances of the case, | |
as to the disclosure of the information. | |
(4) And, so far as the information is about a person who has at the time attained | |
the age of 18 years, the agency must take all reasonable steps to obtain his | |
views as to the disclosure of the information. | 25 |
(5) The agency may then disclose the information if it considers it appropriate to | |
do so. | |
(6) In deciding whether it is appropriate to proceed with the application, or | |
disclose the information, where any of the information is about a person who | |
is at the time a child— | 30 |
(a) if the child is an adopted child, the child’s welfare must be the | |
paramount consideration, | |
(b) in the case of any other child, the agency must have particular regard | |
to the child’s welfare. | |
(7) And, in deciding whether it is appropriate to proceed with the application or | 35 |
disclose the information, the agency must consider— | |
(a) the welfare of the adopted person (where subsection (6)(a) does not | |
apply), | |
(b) any views obtained under subsection (3) or (4), | |
(c) any prescribed matters, | 40 |
and all the other circumstances of the case. | |
(8) This section does not apply to a request for information under section 60(2) or | |
to a request for information which the agency is authorised or required to | |
disclose in pursuance of regulations made by virtue of section 57(6). | |
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63 Counselling | |
(1) Regulations may require adoption agencies to give information about the | |
availability of counselling to persons— | |
(a) seeking information from them in pursuance of this group of sections, | |
(b) considering objecting or consenting to the disclosure of information by | 5 |
the agency in pursuance of this group of sections, or | |
(c) considering entering with the agency into an agreement prescribed for | |
the purposes of section 57(5). | |
(2) Regulations may require adoption agencies to make arrangements to secure | |
the provision of counselling for persons seeking information from them in | 10 |
prescribed circumstances in pursuance of this group of sections. | |
(3) The regulations may authorise adoption agencies— | |
(a) to disclose information which is required for the purposes of such | |
counselling to the persons providing the counselling, | |
(b) where the person providing the counselling is outside the United | 15 |
Kingdom, to require a prescribed fee to be paid. | |
(4) The regulations may require any of the following persons to provide | |
counselling for the purposes of arrangements under subsection (2)— | |
(a) a local authority, a council constituted under section 2 of the Local | |
Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 (c. 39) or a Health and Social | 20 |
Services Board established under Article 16 of the Health and Personal | |
Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1972, | |
(b) a registered adoption society, an organisation within section 140(3)(b) | |
or an adoption society which is registered under Article 4 of the | |
Adoption (Northern Ireland) Order 1987, | 25 |
(c) an adoption support agency in respect of which a person is registered | |
under Part 2 of the Care Standards Act 2000 (c. 14). | |
(5) For the purposes of subsection (4), where the functions of a Health and Social | |
Services Board are exercisable by a Health and Social Services Trust, the | |
reference in sub-paragraph (a) to a Board is to be read as a reference to the | 30 |
Health and Social Services Trust. | |
64 Other provision to be made by regulations | |
(1) Regulations may make provision for the purposes of this group of sections, | |
including provision as to— | |
(a) the performance by adoption agencies of their functions, | 35 |
(b) the manner in which information may be received, and | |
(c) the matters mentioned below in this section. | |
(2) Regulations may prescribe— | |
(a) the manner in which agreements made by virtue of section 57(5) are to | |
be recorded, | 40 |
(b) the information to be provided by any person on an application for the | |
disclosure of information under this group of sections. | |
(3) Regulations may require adoption agencies— | |
(a) to give to prescribed persons prescribed information about the rights or | |
opportunities to obtain information, or to give their views as to its | 45 |
disclosure, given by this group of sections, | |
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(b) to seek prescribed information from, or give prescribed information to, | |
the Registrar General in prescribed circumstances. | |
(4) Regulations may require the Registrar General— | |
(a) to disclose to any person (including an adopted person) at his request | |
any information which the person requires to assist him to make | 5 |
contact with the adoption agency which is the appropriate adoption | |
agency in the case of an adopted person specified in the request (or, as | |
the case may be, in the applicant’s case), | |
(b) to disclose to the appropriate adoption agency any information which | |
the agency requires about any entry relating to the adopted person on | 10 |
the Adoption Contact Register. | |
(5) Subordinate legislation may make provision for enabling an adopted person | |
who may receive any information in pursuance of this group of sections to | |
authorise another person to do so on his behalf. | |
(6) Regulations may provide for the payment of a prescribed fee in respect of the | 15 |
disclosure in prescribed circumstances of any information in pursuance of | |
section 60, 61 or 62; but an adopted person may not be required to pay any fee | |
in respect of any information disclosed to him in relation to any person who | |
(but for his adoption) would be related to him by blood (including half-blood) | |
or marriage. | 20 |
(7) Regulations may provide for the payment of a prescribed fee by an adoption | |
agency obtaining information under subsection (4)(b). | |
65 Interpretation | |
(1) In this group of sections— | |
“appropriate adoption agency”, in relation to an adopted person or to | 25 |
information relating to his adoption, means— | |
(a) if the person was placed for adoption by an adoption agency, | |
that agency or (if different) the agency which keeps the | |
information in relation to his adoption, | |
(b) in any other case, the local authority to which notice of intention | 30 |
to adopt was given, | |
“prescribed” means prescribed by subordinate legislation, | |
“regulations” means regulations under section 9, | |
“subordinate legislation” means regulations or, in relation to information | |
to be given by a court, rules. | 35 |
(2) But— | |
(a) regulations under section 63(2) imposing any requirement on a council | |
constituted under section 2 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act | |
1994 (c. 39), or an organisation within section 140(3)(b), are to be made | |
by the Scottish Ministers, | 40 |
(b) regulations under section 63(2) imposing any requirement on a Health | |
and Social Services Board established under Article 16 of the Health | |
and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1972, or an | |
adoption society which is registered under Article 4 of the Adoption | |
(Northern Ireland) Order 1987, are to be made by the Department of | 45 |
Health, Social Services and Public Safety. | |
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(3) The power of the Scottish Ministers or of the Department of Health, Social | |
Services and Public Safety to make regulations under section 63(2) includes | |
power to make— | |
(a) any supplementary, incidental or consequential provision, | |
(b) any transitory, transitional or saving provision, | 5 |
which the person making the regulations considers necessary or expedient. | |
(4) Regulations prescribing any fee by virtue of section 64(7) require the approval | |
of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. | |
(5) Regulations making any provision as to the manner in which any application | |
is to be made for the disclosure of information by the Registrar General require | 10 |
his approval. | |
Chapter 4 | |
Status of Adopted Children | |
66 Meaning of adoption in Chapter 4 | |
(1) In this Chapter “adoption” means— | 15 |
(a) adoption by an adoption order or a Scottish or Northern Irish adoption | |
order, | |
(b) adoption by an order made in the Isle of Man or any of the Channel | |
Islands, | |
(c) an adoption effected under the law of a Convention country outside the | 20 |
British Islands, and certified in pursuance of Article 23(1) of the | |
Convention (referred to in this Act as a “Convention adoption”), | |
(d) an overseas adoption, or | |
(e) an adoption recognised by the law of England and Wales and effected | |
under the law of any other country; | 25 |
and related expressions are to be interpreted accordingly. | |
(2) Where the context allows, references in this Chapter to adoption include an | |
adoption effected before as well as after the day on which this Chapter comes | |
into force (referred to in this Chapter as “the appointed day”). | |
67 Status conferred by adoption | 30 |
(1) An adopted person is to be treated in law— | |
(a) where the adopters are a married couple, as if the person had been born | |
as a child of the marriage (whether or not the person was in fact born | |
after the marriage was solemnized), | |
(b) where the adoption is effected by an order made by virtue of section | 35 |
51(2), as if the person had been born as a child of the marriage of the | |
adopter and the person to whom the adopter is married (whether or not | |
the person was in fact born after the marriage was solemnized), and | |
(c) in any other case, as if the person had been born to the adopter in | |
wedlock (but not as a child of any actual marriage of the adopter). | 40 |
(2) An adopted person— | |
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(a) where the adoption is effected by an order made by virtue of section | |
51(2), is to be treated in law as not being the child of any person other | |
than the adopter and the person to whom the adopter is married, and | |
(b) in any other case, is to be treated in law, subject to subsection (3), as not | |
being the child of any person other than the adopters or adopter; | 5 |
but this subsection does not affect any reference in this Act to a person’s | |
natural parent. | |
(3) In the case of a person adopted by one of the person’s natural parents as sole | |
adoptive parent, subsection (2)(b) has no effect as respects entitlement to | |
property depending on relationship to that parent, or as respects anything else | 10 |
depending on that relationship. | |
(4) This section has effect— | |
(a) in the case of an adoption before the appointed day, from that day, and | |
(b) in the case of any other adoption, from the date of the adoption. | |
(5) Subject to the provisions of this Chapter and Schedule 4, this section— | 15 |
(a) applies for the interpretation of enactments or instruments passed or | |
made before as well as after the adoption, and so applies subject to any | |
contrary indication, and | |
(b) has effect as respects things done, or events occurring, on or after the | |
appointed day, or after the adoption, whichever is the later. | 20 |
68 Adoptive relatives | |
A relationship existing by virtue of section 67 may be referred to as an adoptive | |
relationship, and— | |
(a) a male adopter may be referred to as the adoptive father, | |
(b) a female adopter may be referred to as the adoptive mother, | 25 |
(c) any other relative of any degree under an adoptive relationship may be | |
referred to as an adoptive relative of that degree; | |
but this section does not prevent the term “parent”, or any other term not | |
qualified by the word “adoptive”, being treated as including an adoptive | |
relative. | 30 |
69 Rules of interpretation for instruments concerning property | |
(1) The rules of interpretation contained in this section apply (subject to any | |
contrary indication and to Schedule 4) to any instrument so far as it contains a | |
disposition of property. | |
(2) In applying section 67(1) to a disposition which depends on the date of birth of | 35 |
a child or children of the adoptive parent or parents, the disposition is to be | |
interpreted as if— | |
(a) the adopted person had been born on the date of adoption, | |
(b) two or more people adopted on the same date had been born on that | |
date in the order of their actual births; | 40 |
but this does not affect any reference to a person’s age. | |
(3) Examples of phrases in wills on which subsection (2) can operate are— | |
1. Children of A “living at my death or born afterwards”. | |
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