From time to time, Family Historians seek information abut the birth family family member who was placed for adoption, or the whereabouts of a child, who was placed or adopton, so that they can include this information in their Family Tree.
History of NZ Adoption helps you to learn about how an adoption story may have unfolded, and some discussions about changing the adoption law.
Under current New Zealand law, family historians have no explicit rights in to receive this information. Therefore. they may feel frustrated or blocked from learning more. I believe that the key is to seek the support of the family member who is either the birth parent or adopted person - For information about these rights is in AAI Your Rights pamphlet below.
If the family member is deceased, and all other parties to the adoption are deceased, a Section 76 application to Registrar General of Births. may be successful (see below)
A Family historian may also be able to convince a Judge that they have special grounds to open the Court records so that they can link up with "missing" family member. (This is referred to as a Section 23 application. A sample application form is set out below). This does not apply to records held by other agencies such as Oranga Tamariki (formerly Child, Youth and Family, Child, Youth and Family, Department of Social Welfare and Child Welfare), solicitors etc
Further information about both of these applications is available below.