(1)The Registrar General must make traceable the connection between any entry in the register of births which, by virtue of paragraph 2(2) of schedule 1 or any enactment at the time in force, has been marked “Adopted” and any corresponding entry in the Adopted Children Register.
(2)Information kept by the Registrar General for the purposes of subsection (1) is not to be open to public inspection or search.
(3)The Registrar General may disclose any such information only in accordance with subsection (4).
(4)Information is disclosed in accordance with this subsection if disclosed—
(a)under an order of the Court of Session or a sheriff,
(b)to an adopted person who is aged 16 or over and to whom the information relates, or
(c)to a local authority, Board, registered adoption society or relevant adoption society which is providing counselling for any such adopted person.
(5)Where the Registrar General discloses information in accordance with subsection (4)(b), the Registrar must inform the adopted person that counselling services are available for the person—
(a)if the person is in Scotland, from any local authority in Scotland,
(b)if the person is in England and Wales, from any local authority in England and Wales,
(c)if the person is in Northern Ireland, from any Board,
(d)if the person is in the United Kingdom and the person’s adoption was arranged by—
(i)a registered adoption service, from that service,
(ii)a registered adoption society, from that society, or
(iii)a relevant adoption society, from that society.
(6)Where—
(a)in accordance with subsection (4) information is disclosed to an adopted person who is in Scotland, or
(b)such a person applies for information under—
(i)Schedule 2 to the 2002 Act, or
(ii)Article 54 of the Northern Ireland Order,
any body mentioned in subsection (7) from which the adopted person requests counselling must provide counselling for the person.
(7)Those bodies are—
(a)any local authority in Scotland,
(b)any registered adoption service, or
(c)any registered adoption society or relevant adoption society in so far as (by virtue of section 76(2)) that society is acting as an adoption society in Scotland.
(8)In this section—
“Board” means a Health and Social Services Board established under Article 16 of the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1972 (S.I. 1972/1265),
“local authority”, in relation to England and Wales, means—
any unitary authority, or
any county council so far as it is not a unitary authority,
“relevant adoption society” means an adoption society registered under Article 4 of the Northern Ireland Order.