In Québec, administrative and judiciary records regarding the adoption of a child are confidential and none of the information they contain may be disclosed, except in accordance with the law (article 582 of the Civil Code of Québec).

According to section 71.4 of the Youth Protection Act, the Minister of Health and Social Services is responsible for keeping records of the adoption of children from outside Québec and dealing with requests for searches into social and biological origin and reunions with birth parents. This responsibility is carried out in accordance with the articles of the Civil Code of Québec and in collaboration with adoption authorities in Québec and abroad. Sections 71.12 to 71.15 of the Youth Protection Act outline the minister’s responsibilities, particularly regarding the sharing of information and the type of information that may be released.

Searches into social and biological origin

The summary is released, on request, to:

• An adopted child of 14 years of age or over.
• An adopted child under 14 years of age with the consent of his adoptive parent.
• An adoptive parent.
• A birth parent.
• A close relative of the adopted person, if that person has authorization from the court, after proving that being deprived of certain information could be the cause of serious injury to that person's health or the health of any of his or her close relatives.

Provided the information is contained in the adoption file, the summary indicates the most commonly used first name of the child before adoption, the date, time, and place of the child’s birth, medical information on the child and birth parents, circumstances surrounding the adoption, and the birth parent’s profile (age, civil status, language, religion, ethnic origin, level of education, trade, lifestyle). It may also contain other information on the child, including placement date, year of legal adoption, and the child’s development.

Reunions

The reunion may take place when the parties involved have given their consent. If the request is from a biological parent, a child entrusted to adopted parents will be informed of this when he or she turns 18.

It is difficult to predict the outcome of the process to locate a biological parent because of the international aspects of the search. In fact, numerous obstacles may hinder progress, such as foreign legislation prohibiting a reunion, the absence of official registers to facilitate location of a person, or the inability of the country of origin to respond to requests for searches.

Moreover, in order for a reunion to take place, the parties involved must have given prior consent to reveal their identity and consented to a reunion.

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