Commentary on Sections Part 1 - Adoption Chapter 5 – Registers Section 76: Adopted Children Register
Subsection (1) places a duty upon the Registrar General to continue to maintain the Adopted Children Register and provides for entries to be made in the Register. Subsection (2) provides that the Adopted Children Register is not to be open to public inspection or search. Subsection (3) provides that entries may not be made on the Register unless they are made by adoption orders or by the amendment of adoption orders (subsection (6) and Schedule 1). Subsection (4) provides that a certified copy of an entry on the Register is evidence of an adoption to which it relates. Subsection (5) provides that where the birth information is contained in the Adopted Children Register, a certified copy of that entry is to be treated as a certified copy of an entry in the registers of live births. Subsection (7) provides that regulations may make provision for any person to have access to any information contained in the Adopted Children Register upon payment of a prescribed fee. Subsection (8) provides that regulations made under subsection (7) may provide that a relevant period must have expired in relation to the information. The relevant period in relation to the adoption of a child means the expiration of 100 years from the date of the child’s birth or such other period as may be prescribed (subsection (9)). Subsection (10) provides that regulations made under subsection (7) allows the Registrar General to make arrangements with any person for the purpose of providing access to information, as mentioned in subsection (7) and, for that purpose, to transfer information to that person subject to conditions (including conditions as to the making of payments by that person to the Registrar General).