Adoption Records
Accessing your birth records
You can access your birth records if you don’t have them because you were adopted.
You need to be 18 or over to do this.
Everyone adopted before 12 November 1975 will need to attend a counselling session with an approved adoption advisor first.
You know your birth details
You can order a copy of your original birth certificate from the General Register Office.
For adoptions outside England or Wales, you need to contact the General Register Office where you were adopted.
You don’t know your birth details
You need to fill in an application for the Birth Certificate Information Before Adoption (BIBA) service if you don’t know your birth details. Which application form you fill in depends on whether you live:
- in the UK
- outside the UK
Post or email the form to:
Adoptions Section
Room C202
General Register Office
Trafalgar Rd
Southport
PR8 2HH
Ref: