Schedule 2: Disclosure of Birth Records by Registrar General
In the case of adoptions taking place before the provisions for the disclosure of information under sections 55 to 64 come into operation, Schedule 2 places a duty on the Registrar General to supply an adopted person, on application and subject to certain conditions including payment of a fee, with information to enable him to obtain a certified copy of the record of their birth (paragraph 1).
Paragraph 2 provides that, before the Registrar General gives any information to an applicant under paragraph 1, the Registrar General must inform the applicant that counselling services are available to the applicant, and where they may be obtained from. If the applicant chooses to receive counselling the Registrar General must send to the person or body providing the counselling the information to which the applicant is entitled. It will be for the adopted adult, regardless of when they were adopted, to decide whether to avail of counselling services, and from whom.
Under paragraph 2 counselling is available from an appropriate voluntary organisation, a registered adoption society within the meaning of section 2(2) of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 or an organisation within section 144(3)(b) of that Act. It is also available from any HSC trust in Northern Ireland or, if the applicant is in England and Wales, at the General Register Office or from any local authority or registered adoption support agency and, if the applicant is in Scotland, from any council constituted under section 2 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994.
Paragraph 3 provides that any adoption agency must provide counselling if asked by the adopted person.