The Adoption (Northern Ireland) Order 1987

Adopted Children Register N.I.

50.—(1) The Registrar General for Northern Ireland ( “the Registrar General”) shall—

(a) maintain at the General Register Office a register to be called the Adopted Children Register, in which[F1 such entries as may be—

(i) directed to be made in it by adoption orders, or

(ii) required to be made under Article 53,

and no other entries, shall be made];

(b) cause an index of the Adopted Children Register to be made and kept in the General Register Office; and

(c) keep such other registers and books, and make such entries therein, as may be necessary to record and make traceable the connection between any entry in the Register of Births which has been marked “Adopted” pursuant to Article 51 or any statutory provision at the time in force, and any corresponding entry in the Adopted Children Register.

(2) Every person shall be entitled to search the index mentioned in paragraph (1)(b) and to have a certified copy of any entry in the Adopted Children Register in all respects upon and subject to the same terms, conditions and regulations as to payment of fees and otherwise as are applicable under the Births and Deaths Registration (Northern Ireland) Order 1976F2 in respect of searches in other indexes kept in the General Register Office and in respect of the supply from that Office of certified copies of entries in the Registers of Births and Deaths.

(3) The Registers and books kept under paragraph (1)(c) shall not be, nor shall any index thereof be, open to public inspection or search, and the Registrar General shall not furnish any person with any information contained in or with any copy or extract from any such registers or books except in accordance with Article 54 or under an order of any of the following courts, that is to say—

(a) the High Court;

(b) the court by which an adoption order was made in respect of the person to whom the information, copy or extract relates; and

(c) any prescribed county court.

[F3 (4) The Department of Finance and Personnel may by regulations make provision for any person to have access, on payment of the prescribed fee, to any information contained in the Adopted Children Register.

(5) Regulations under paragraph (4) may provide that the relevant period must have expired in relation to the information.

(6)  In paragraph (5) “ the relevant period ” in relation to the adoption of a child means the expiration of the period of 100 years from the date of the child's birth or such other period as may be prescribed.

(7) Regulations under paragraph (4) may provide for the Registrar General—

(a) to make arrangements with any person for the purpose of providing access to information as mentioned in that paragraph; and

(b) for that purpose to transfer information to that person subject to conditions (including conditions as to the making of payments by that person to the Registrar General).]

F1 2001 c. 11 (NI)

F2 1976 NI 14

F3 Art. 50(4)-(7) added (16.11.2012) by Civil Registration Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 (c. 20), ss. 25(3), 34; S.R. 2012/406, art. 2, Sch.

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 Art. 50 applied (with modifications) (6.4.2010) by Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Parental Orders) Regulations 2010 (S.I. 2010/985), reg. 3, Sch. 2