The Adoption Agencies Regulations 1983

Confidentiality and preservation of case records

14.—(1) Subject to regulation 15, any information obtained or recommendations or decisions made by virtue of these regulations shall be treated by the adoption agency as confidential.

(2) Where a case record has been set up by an adoption agency under regulations 7(2)(a), 8(2)(a) or 9(3) in respect of a child or a prospective adopter, any report, recommendation or decision made by that agency by virtue of these regulations in respect of that child or that prospective adopter shall be placed on the case record relating to that child or, as the case may be, that prospective adopter, and any case records set up by the agency together with the indexes to them shall be kept in a place of special security.

(3) Subject to regulation 16(2), an adoption agency shall preserve the indexes to all its case records and the case records in respect of those cases in which an adoption order is made in a place of special security for at least 75 years and shall preserve other case records in a place of special security for so long as it considers appropriate, so however that any case records and indexes may be so preserved on microfilm or such other system as reproduces the total contents of any such record or index.