Quebec Adoption Records and Bill 2: Open Records and Searching for Birth Parents

For decades, Quebec operated one of the most closed adoption records systems in Canada. Adoptees had no automatic right to know who their biological parents were. Birth parents could register an "identity veto" preventing their names from ever being disclosed. The secrecy was total and legally enforced.

That system ended in stages. The 2017 reform (Bill 113) took the first significant step. Then in June 2024, Bill 2 (An Act respecting family law reform with regard to filiation and amending the Civil Code in relation to personality rights and civil status) eliminated identity vetoes entirely and made Quebec's adoption records among the most accessible in the country.

If you are an adult adoptee seeking your biological family, a birth parent wondering about contact rights, or a prospective adoptive parent who wants to understand how openness will work in your child's future — this is what the current law says.

What Bill 2 (2024) Changed

The key shift: under the old system, a birth parent could register an identity veto — a formal legal request preventing their name from being disclosed to adult adoptees or other parties. Bill 2 abolished identity vetoes.

What remains is the contact veto — a birth parent can register a preference not to be contacted, but they can no longer conceal their identity from an adult adoptee. The adoptee has a right to know their biological parent's name and information. The birth parent has a right to say "please don't contact me directly" — but not a right to remain anonymous.

This is a meaningful distinction. An adoptee who searches and finds a contact veto knows their parent's identity and can make their own choices about how to proceed. They cannot be contacted through a registry by the adoptee directly, but they cannot be kept in the dark about their origins.

Who Can Access What

Adult adoptees (18+):

• Have the right to obtain information identifying their biological parents from the Directeur de l'état civil or the relevant CISSS/CIUSSS
• Can learn the names of biological parents, siblings, and in some cases extended family
• Access is subject to any registered contact vetoes — meaning they may have the information but must respect a parent's preference for no direct contact

Birth parents:

• Can obtain information about an adult child who was placed for adoption
• Can register a contact veto if they do not want to be reached directly
• Can no longer register an identity veto to prevent their name from being disclosed

For older adoptions (pre-2017): The new rules apply retroactively to adoptions that occurred before the 2017 and 2024 reforms. Adults adopted decades ago under the old closed system now have the same access rights. This is significant for the many people who were adopted before the reforms and have spent years with no legal route to their origins.

How to Search for Birth Family

Step 1: Request your adoption information.

Adult adoptees can request their file through the CISSS/CIUSSS in the region where their adoption was processed, or through the Mouvement Retrouvailles if the case predates modern CISSS organization. The government website at quebec.ca/en provides the current process for requesting origins information.

For adoptions from other Canadian provinces or from international sources, the MSSS (Ministry of Health and Social Services) provides guidance through a specific publication on cross-provincial searches.

Step 2: Contact Mouvement Retrouvailles.

Mouvement Retrouvailles (mouvement-retrouvailles.qc.ca) is the primary non-profit organization supporting reunions between adult adoptees and birth family in Quebec. They offer:

• Search assistance and case management
• Intermediary services for cases where a contact veto is registered
• Emotional support and post-reunion counseling
• Connections to regional resources across the province

Mouvement Retrouvailles operates in both French and English. They are not a government agency — they are an independent organization that has been facilitating searches for decades. Their English-language services are particularly important for adoptees from the Anglophone community whose records may be held by Batshaw or other English-language institutions.

Step 3: Understand what you may find.

Not every search results in a reunion. Birth parents may have died, may have registered a contact veto, or may have limited information on file. Some adoptions — particularly those from the early and mid-twentieth century — have incomplete records due to historical practices of that era. Managing expectations is part of the process.

For Prospective Adoptive Parents: What This Means for Your Child

If you are adopting today, your child will grow up in an era where they have a legal right to access information about their biological origins when they reach adulthood. This is the legal reality regardless of whether you adopt domestically or internationally.

Practically, this means the question of how to talk to your child about their adoption and biological origins is not a philosophical nicety — it is connected to a legal framework that gives the child independent rights as an adult. The psychosocial evaluation for adoption in Quebec may touch on your approach to openness and your child's right to their history.

Communication agreements (ententes de communication) introduced by Bill 113 allow adoptive and biological families to voluntarily agree to ongoing contact — letters, photos, occasional visits. These are not legally enforceable like a custody order, but they create a framework for openness from the start of the adoption. Some families in the Banque mixte program maintain contact with a child's biological family as part of the child's support network.

Mouvement Retrouvailles: Navigating Search

If you are searching or considering a search, Mouvement Retrouvailles is the appropriate starting point. Website: www.mouvement-retrouvailles.qc.ca. The organization has English-language support and can direct you to the right regional services.

For a broader overview of how Quebec's adoption system works — including the pathways to adoption, the psychosocial evaluation, and how the DPJ process connects to these records questions — the Quebec Adoption Process Guide provides a plain-English walkthrough of the CCQ framework.

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