Researching information on your parents of origin or your adopted child

Services offered by CISSS or CIUSSS

Integrated health and social services centres (CISSS) or integrated university health and social services centres (CIUSSS) offer assistance in finding information to:

• Adopted persons
• Adoptable persons who have not been adopted
• Parents of origin who have given a child up for adoption
• Brothers and sisters of an adopted person

Call the CISSS or CIUSSS adoption services in the region or territory where the adoption judgment was issued to make a request and obtain information on your social and biological history, your parents of origin, your adopted child or your brothers or sisters of origin.

When the information sought is available and accessible, the CISSS or CIUSSS can also provide support to help you contact your parents of origin or your adopted child or your brothers or sisters of origin, under certain conditions. To find out more, go to the page Contacting your parents, brothers and sisters of origin or your adopted children.

The CISSS or CIUSSS can also help you register or withdraw an identity disclosure veto or contact veto to prevent your parents of origin or your brothers and sisters of origin, or both, from contacting you.

If you are an adoptable person who has not been adopted, contact the CISSS or CIUSSS in charge of your child protection file. If you don't know where your file is, contact the CISSS or CIUSSS in your region.

All these services are offered free of charge by integrated health and social services centres that also offer protection and rehabilitation services for youths in trouble of adaptation and their families.

Processing requests

Once a request is received, the CISSS or CIUSSS looks for the information in the archives and records of the healthcare institution where the child was born.

In Québec, adoption files are confidential and cannot be consulted. In fact, none of the information in a file may be disclosed, except in accordance with the law. However, some information may be obtained in the form of a summary of family and medical antecedents.

A person who wishes to receive a summary of family and medical antecedents must contact the CISSS or CIUSSS in the region or territory where the adoption judgment was issued.

The CISSS or CIUSSS produces a summary of the social and biological history and gives it to the person who requested their services. At this stage, the person can also receive psychosocial support if they are concerned, for instance, that the information in the summary may be upsetting.

If an identity disclosure veto is registered in the file, the information included in the summary protects the identities of:

• The parents of origin
• The adopted child
• The adoptive parents
• The brothers and sisters of origin

This respect for the anonymity of persons is in accordance with the rules prescribed by the Civil Code of Québec and the Youth Protection Act.

Content of the summary

The summary of family and medical antecedents contains information that, by law, may be communicated. If the information is in the adoption file, the summary may indicate:

• the child’s usual given name before the adoption
• the date, time and place of birth
• medical information on the child and his or her parents of origin
• the circumstances surrounding the adoption
• the profile of the parents of origin, meaning
  • age
  • civil status
  • language
  • religion
  • ethnic origin
  • education
  • occupation
  • lifestyle

The summary may also contain other information on the child, such as the date of placement for adoption and the year of adoption.

The summary of family and medical antecedents is sent upon request to:

• an adopted person who is 14 years of age or over
• an adopted person under 14 years of age, with the consent of the adoptive parent
• the adoptive parent

The parent of origin may also obtain a summary of family and medical antecedents of the adopter.

Your identity will remain protected and your personal information will remain confidential. This means that, unless you consent to it, your identity cannot be revealed to your parent of origin if he requests it.

If you consent to the disclosure of your identity and your information to your parent of origin so that he can contact you, you must:

1. Fill out the Application to Withdraw an Identity Disclosure Veto or a Contact Veto form
2. Print and sign the form
3. Send the form and all requested documents to the CISSS or CIUSSS in the region or territory where the adoption judgment was issued.

Call the CISSS or CIUSSS in the region or territory where the adoption order was issued to find out how to submit your request.

In order to protect your personal information, requests must be sent by mail. The transmission of personal information by email is not secure and may compromise the confidentiality of your information.

A withdrawal of an identity disclosure veto or a contact veto can be registered at any time.

Since June 16, 2019, you have the right to:

• find out your original first name and surname, if the information is available and if disclosing this information does not reveal the identity of a parent who has registered an identity disclosure veto
• find out the first name and surname of your mother or father of origin, unless they have refused to allow this information to be disclosed
• obtain information allowing you to contact your parents of origin, if this information is available and provided there is no disclosure veto

Death of your parents of origin

If your mother or father of origin has been dead for more than 12 months when you make your request, you have the right to know their first name and surname. Otherwise, you will have to wait until 12 months after the death to have access to this information.

Individuals adopted in Québec and their brothers and sisters of origin

If you were adopted in Québec, or if you are the brother or sister of origin of a person adopted in Québec, you have the right to obtain information about the identity of your brothers and sisters of origin, whether or not they have been adopted. You also have the right to obtain information that will allow you to contact them.

To do this, the following two conditions must, however, be met:

• Your brother or sister and you have both requested to know each other’s identity or to contact one another
• Disclosure of this information does not reveal the identity of your parents of origin, if either of them has refused to allow their identity be disclosed. This condition does not apply to parents of origin who have been dead for 12 months or longer

Individuals who gave a child up for adoption in Québec prior to June 16, 2018

Since June 16, 2019, your adopted child may find out your identify if he requests it and if you have not registered an information disclosure veto.

However, if you want your identity to remain confidential, you must:

1. Fill out the Identity Disclosure Veto and Contact Veto form
2. Print and sign the form
3. Send the form and all requested documents to the CISSS or CIUSSS in the region or territory where the adoption judgment was issued.

Call the CISSS or CIUSSS in the region or territory where the adoption order was issued to find out the address where to send your request.

In order to protect your personal information, requests must be sent by mail. The transmission of personal information by email is not secure and may compromise the confidentiality of your information.

If you want your identity to remain confidential, you must do this before a request to obtain information concerning your identity is made by the adopted person.

If you have already requested that your identity remain confidential, you do not have to submit a new request.

Information about the identity of your minor child will, however, remain confidential. Therefore, you cannot obtain information about your child unless he is of full age and has not registered an identity disclosure veto or has been dead for 12 months or longer.

Individuals who were adopted abroad or the parents of origin of a child who was adopted abroad must contact the Secrétariat à l’adoption internationale . The same applies to individuals from Québec who were adopted by someone from another province or abroad and to their parents of origin.

For more information on researching your social and biological history or locating a parent of origin or an adopted child, contact the CISSS or CIUSSS offering protection and rehabilitation services for youths in trouble of adaptation and their families in your region.

Registration form identity disclosure veto and contact veto 

Application to withdraw an identity disclosure veto or a contact veto