Birth and early life information
If you were adopted, boarded out, subject to an illegal birth registration (or suspect you were) or spent time in a Mother and Baby or County Home Institution as a child, the Birth Information & Tracing Act provides you with clear and guaranteed access to information and records about your birth and early life, where this information is available.
Where are my records held?
Many societies, institutions, or agencies that held records in the past on people who were adopted, boarded or nursed out, had their birth illegally registered, or who resided in a mother and baby home as a child, have since closed.
At the time of closing, available records were transferred either to the Adoption Authority or Tusla for safekeeping. Please review the list of societies, institutions and agencies below. If you already know who holds your information you can follow one or both of the links below to apply.
What type of information might be available?
The information available will vary from person to person, depending on the type, quality and number of records held by the Adoption Authority or Tusla. For some, this could mean there are detailed records available, while unfortunately for others, there may be little or no information available.
The Act guarantees you will get unrestricted access to all of the following information, where it is available:
How do I apply for my information?
The Adoption Authority and Tusla are separate organisations (data controllers) that each have separate responsibilities to ensure your personal information (data) remains safe. For this reason you will need to make an application to either one, or both, depending on which agency holds the records you are seeking access to.
In some cases, it is possible that both Tusla and the Adoption Authority may both hold information and records that you are requesting and, in those situations, you will need to make a separate application to each organisation to find out what information exists.
What happens next?
Once your application is accepted you will receive an acknowledgment. Prior to release of birth information the contact preference register will be checked to see if there is a preference registered in respect of you (either for contact or no contact). Where there is a preference for no contact registered, this will be communicated to you in an information session prior to the release of information. More detail on what an information session means can be found in our FAQs.
A preference for no contact will never prevent your information being released to you once this process is complete.
Most people will receive their information within one month, but in some cases it may take up to three months.
What if I need more help?
If you have reviewed the list and you are still unsure about which organisation you need to apply to, we'd recommend you apply to both.
If you are having any difficulty in completing either of the forms, please do not hesitate to contact either the Adoption Authority or Tusla, using the options below, and they will be happy to assist you.
Adoption Authority of Ireland
Tusla
