How Can an Adult Adopted Person Find Birth Records in Ontario?

Many adopted adults want to learn about where they came from. In Ontario there is a legal process for getting your original birth registration and adoption order, and a separate register for connecting with birth relatives.

This article explains who can apply, what you can ask for, how vetoes and no-contact notices work, and what to do next. If your situation is complicated, a lawyer can help you understand your options.

Applying for your records

Under the Vital Statistics Act, an adopted person who is at least 18 may apply to the Registrar General for uncertified copies of the original birth registration and the registered adoption order. No fee is charged to access adoption records.

A birth parent may also apply for identifying information about the adopted person, once the adopted person is at least 19.

The original birth registration is the record made at birth, before the adoption changed who the child's legal parents were. On the date of an adoption order, the adopted child becomes the child of the adoptive parent, and each former parent stops being a parent. The exception is a former parent who is the spouse of the adoptive parent, as in a stepparent adoption, who stays a legal parent.

The Adoption Disclosure Register

Adopted people and birth relatives can join the Adoption Disclosure Register to exchange information. Applications must be mailed (not faxed, emailed or hand-delivered), and a match can take months or years or may never happen.

The register is a separate tool from your records application. Some people use both.

Records and the register are also different from openness arrangements made as part of an adoption. Open adoption does not always mean visits, and openness agreements can allow various kinds of contact between the child, the adoptive family, and people from the child's past. An openness agreement may be made at any time before or after the adoption order.

Disclosure vetoes

An adopted person or a birth parent may file a disclosure veto only if the adoption order was made before September 1, 2008. While a veto is in effect, the Registrar General will not release the identifying copies or information.

If your adoption order was made on or after that date, a veto is not available under this rule. Whether a veto affects your particular file is worth confirming with the Registrar General or a lawyer.

Because vetoes depend on the date of the adoption order, it helps to know that date before you start. If you are not sure, the copy of your adoption order is a good place to look.

No-contact notices and contact preferences

Knowingly contacting someone, or trying to, despite their no-contact notice is an offence with a fine of up to $50,000 for an individual or $250,000 for a corporation. If you sign an agreement not to make contact, take it seriously.

Even when no notice is on file, reaching out to a birth relative is a sensitive step. Many people find it helpful to think about how they would like to be contacted themselves, and to move at a pace that respects the other person's wishes.

What to do next

• Confirm you are at least 18 before applying for your own records.
• Apply to the Registrar General for the original birth registration and adoption order.
• Consider joining the Adoption Disclosure Register, and mail your application.
• Check whether your adoption order was made before September 1, 2008, since that affects whether vetoes can apply.
• If a no-contact notice applies, follow it, and speak with a lawyer if you are unsure.

Frequently asked questions