Adoption Records Tasmania: How to Access Information About a Past Adoption

For decades, Tasmania's adoption records were sealed. The identity of birth parents was hidden from adoptees, and the identity of adoptive families was hidden from birth parents. This was deliberate policy — the "clean break" theory that dominated adoption thinking well into the twentieth century held that all connections to the past were best severed.

That framework has been dismantled. Under the Adoption Act 1988 (Tas), people affected by past adoptions have significant legal rights to access information about their origins and their adopted children. The shift is not just procedural — it reflects a fundamental change in how the state understands adoption as a lifelong experience, not a one-time administrative transaction.

Who Can Access Adoption Records in Tasmania

The Adoption Act 1988 Part 6 establishes a rights-based framework for information access. Four categories of people have standing to request records:

Adult adoptees. Once an adopted person turns 18, they are entitled to a copy of their original, pre-adoption birth certificate. This is the certificate that was created at birth, before the adoption order was made — it includes the names of the birth parents as recorded at the time. The right is not discretionary; it is statutory.

Birth parents. A birth parent can apply for identifying information about their adopted child once the child has reached adulthood (18). Before that point, birth parents can receive non-identifying information about their child's general welfare and development, subject to the adoptive family's willingness to share it.

Adoptive parents. Adoptive parents can request non-identifying information about the birth family to help them in raising their child and answering questions about origins. They can also access records relevant to their child's medical history.

Adult children of adoptees. People who are the biological or adoptive children of someone who has died and who was themselves adopted can, in some circumstances, access records to understand their own heritage.

The Adoption Information Register

DECYP maintains the Adoption Information Register, which is the central record system for Tasmanian adoptions. This register holds original birth certificates, consent documents, and other records related to each adoption. When applicants request information, they are accessing records held in or linked to this register.

To apply, contact DECYP's Post-Adoption Services. Applications can be made in writing or by phone. There is no deadline — people can apply for records years or decades after their adoption was finalised. DECYP may also be able to facilitate mediated contact or the exchange of letters between parties who both want to connect.

Original Birth Certificates

For adult adoptees in Tasmania, access to the original birth certificate is a legal entitlement, not a favour granted at the department's discretion. This is a significant point of difference from the pre-1988 era, when such documents were permanently sealed by order of the court.

The original birth certificate shows the adoptee's name at birth (which may differ from the name they were raised with) and the names of their birth parents as recorded at the time. If the birth father's name was not recorded — a common situation in historical adoptions — his details will not appear.

An adoptee who turns 18 does not need a reason to access this document. They apply to DECYP, verify their identity, and the document is provided.

Contact Vetoes: What They Are and What They Mean

Access to information does not automatically mean that contact will be welcomed. Tasmania's system separates the right to information from the right to contact, through a mechanism called a Contact Veto.

Any person who has identifying information about them accessible under the Act — a birth parent, an adult adoptee, or an adoptive parent — can lodge a Contact Veto on the Adoption Information Register. A Contact Veto is a formal, legal request not to be contacted by a named category of person. It is not a prohibition on receiving information; it is a prohibition on the other party initiating contact.

Breaking a Contact Veto is not simply a social misstep — it carries legal consequences. Tasmanian law makes contravening a Contact Veto an offence.

Before disclosing identifying information to an applicant, DECYP checks the register for a Contact Veto. If one has been lodged by the person the applicant is seeking to find, the applicant is informed that identifying information cannot be released, and that a Contact Veto is in place. The name of the person who lodged it is not disclosed.

Vetoes can be lodged and withdrawn at any time. A person who lodges a veto in their thirties may withdraw it in their fifties if their circumstances or feelings change.

Non-Identifying Information

Even when identifying information is withheld — by a Contact Veto or because the applicant does not yet have the legal right to identifying details — DECYP can provide non-identifying information. This typically includes:

• General information about the birth parents' background, health, and circumstances at the time of the adoption
• The ethnic and cultural background of the birth family
• Medical information relevant to the adoptee's health
• A general account of the adoptive family's background, lifestyle, and circumstances (for birth parents)

Non-identifying information is released carefully, with any details that might inadvertently identify a person removed or generalised.

The Records Search Process

The practical experience of searching for adoption records in Tasmania varies considerably depending on the era of the adoption and the completeness of historical records.

Adoptions from the earlier decades of the twentieth century — particularly those processed before the 1970s and 1980s — were recorded in ways that reflect the administrative practices of their time. Some records contain comprehensive information; others are thin, reflecting situations where birth father details were deliberately omitted or where original documents have been lost.

DECYP's Post-Adoption Services team works with applicants to locate and retrieve what is available. In some cases, they can also search records held by former non-government adoption agencies — including Centacare (now CatholicCare) and the former Anglican Adoption Agency (records of which are held by Anglicare Tasmania). The Find and Connect project also maintains a historical register of child welfare organisations and their records that can be useful for older adoptions.

Searching for Birth Parents or Siblings

If you are an adult adoptee seeking to find a birth parent, or a birth parent seeking to find an adult child, DECYP's Post-Adoption Services can facilitate a registered search. This is not a private investigation service — the department works through official channels to make contact attempts or to communicate between parties who both want to connect.

Relationships Australia Tasmania (RA Tas) also offers support through this process, including counselling before and after a reunion. Finding a birth parent or child is emotionally significant, and the support of a trained counsellor experienced in adoption is not a luxury — it is a genuine asset.

What If Records Cannot Be Found

For adoptions that occurred in the distant past, or where records were not properly maintained, some information simply may not exist. In these situations, DECYP can advise on alternative sources: the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages Tasmania, historical church records where a religious organisation was involved, and the broader Find and Connect resource network.

The absence of records does not extinguish the legal rights. If you are an eligible person under the Act, DECYP is obligated to search and to disclose what it can find.

The right to know your origins is one of the most important features of Tasmania's modern adoption framework. If you're working through an adoption in Tasmania — whether as a prospective adoptive parent building an understanding of how the system works, or as someone affected by a past adoption — the Tasmania Adoption Process Guide covers the information rights framework alongside the full adoption process.

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