Adoption records in Scotland

MothballsWallet

Hi, I've done a quick search in the forum and could only find one result on the keywords "adoption records scotland".

Does anyone here know how long adoption files are kept in Scotland? I know from another poster on here that they're kept for 99 years in England, but I'd like to know how long Scottish authorities are required to keep them.

barbarawright

Formal adoption hasn't actually existed in the UK for 99 years. This might be helpful for Scotland - http://www.nas.gov.uk/guides/adoptions.asp

MothballsWallet

Thanks for that - my "birth" certificate that I have mentions the date the court made the adoption order.

Certainly in England at least one local authority keeps their adoption records for 99 years (so it might be local policy rather than a law) to give the adoptee plenty of time to decide whether they want to see them or not.

barbarawright

MothballsWallet wrote: »

Thanks for that - my "birth" certificate that I have mentions the date the court made the adoption order.

Certainly in England at least one local authority keeps their adoption records for 99 years (so it might be local policy rather than a law) to give the adoptee plenty of time to decide whether they want to see them or not.

Formal adoption only started in 1927 in England so, while they may be planning to keep records for 99 years, they haven't done so yet.

littlejaffa

The simplest thing is to contact the sheriff court named and say you'd like to see the records, they can send some/not all, to you - or you can go in and view them. If they don't have them it's likely they're stored centrally and will be able to point you in the right direction.
you can take copies (at a cost) of anything in the records that interest you, or just take your own notes and should be left alone to read/record etc as you need

Expect to see social services notes, records and recommendations, on you, your birth family and possibly our adoptive family, also medical reports for you and possibly your birth mother (on occasion others).
Each is different dependant on the circumstances and the attitude at the time.

You don't say in your post if it's a private adoption or something more standardised, that will effect the info you get.

The info you see by going in person is much more, than what you'd get through the post.

Hope that helps