Frequently Asked Questions

Why do I have to give the Adoption Authority proof of identity when making a request for personal information?

We request proof of your identity to protect people’s personal information.  

We cannot provide information to any individual until they provide proof that they are who they say they are. If we did not ask for proof of your identity, then any member of the public could pretend to be you and could be given your personal information.

Some of the documents I received are heavily redacted (blacked out in parts). Why is that?

Sometimes we have to redact parts of documents. Redact means to black them out. We do this as blackened parts are private and cannot legally be shared due to reasons like confidentiality or data protection concerns.  

If a document refers to someone other than you then we must legally protect any information which would identify them.  

Similarly, if another person asked us for documents that mentioned you we would black out (redact) the references to you to protect your personal information.

Can I have information about someone other than me personally, for example, a family member who is now deceased?

Data relating to deceased individuals falls outside the remit of the GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018. You may receive personal data relating to deceased persons (such as your birth parents or adopted parents) if you can verify that such persons are deceased, your relationship with them, and to the extent that we hold data relating to them.

Please note that even if an individual is deceased, there are circumstances where the information can remain confidential even after death. This can be the case for instance, where the deceased expressed a wish for information to be kept confidential, or provided information on the understanding that it would be treated as confidential.  

The Authority must take these wishes into account and consider the deceased person's expectation of privacy and confidentiality.  

The Authority is also legally required to consider these factors together with your rights to access information, before deciding what information can be disclosed.

If I discover something is incorrect in my data that I received from the Adoption Authority, do I have the right to get it corrected?

Yes, in some situations you can correct information about you that is incorrect. This is known as “a right to rectification” under the GDPR. We can advise you as to how to do this if you tell us what has been recorded incorrectly.

Correcting some information (like factual information) may mean that documents have to be amended by the organisation who gave us the information in the first instance. This may take some time as there are legal procedures to follow. However, we can correct simple mistakes such as misspellings or a typing error.

How to get us to correct incorrect information

In order for the correction to be made, please write to us in with the correction you want. The correction might be to:

• Update an address
• Update a telephone number
• Correct the spelling of your name

Sometimes we are not able to make corrections. For example, if the spelling mistake or the date of birth is on an official document which we hold, we may not be able to make the correction for you.  

If this is the case, we will explain this and tell you how you can get the official document corrected if necessary.

It depends. While there is a right to erasure under GDPR (also known as “the right to be forgotten”), it is not an absolute right as certain records cannot be erased because they must be kept by law.  

For example, the record of an adoption order is a legal record and must be kept for that reason.

The Adoption Authority has to keep much of the data we have about you as it is part of a legal process. We will review the data we hold about you, when we receive a request to erase information, and consider whether it can be erased.  

We will inform you of the actions we have taken in response to your erasure request within one month of receipt of your request.