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Adoption and Family Information Service (AFIS)

Last Updated Mar 2012

Street address:
Level 1, 45 Wakefield Street
Adelaide SA 5000
Postal address:
GPO Box 292
Adelaide SA 5001
Phone: 8207 0060
Fax: 8207 0066
Email: adoptions@dfc.sa.gov.au

Home » Families and young people » Adoption » Searching for birth relatives
The Department for Families and Communities (DFC) is now the Department for Communities and Social Inclusion (DCSI). Families SA, including the child protection and family support functions, is now part of the new Department for Education and Child Development. Youth Justice remains with DCSI and the Department now includes  Multicultural SA, Northern Connections, Office for the Southern Suburbs, Office for Volunteers, Office for Women, Office for Youth and Social Inclusion. Contact details for these offices are available on the Contacts page.

The department is currently reviewing its online information and updates are in progress. Departmental information can still be found using the search function on this site. For more information about South Australian government services please visit www.sa.gov.au.

 

Reasons for searching for birth relatives

Last Updated Nov 2008

Adopted people

Most adopted people grew up in secure and loving families and are not trying to replace their parents by searching for birth relatives. Searching is often about a natural curiosity to know about their origins and to "put the pieces of the jigsaw together".

Some adopted people may not have any desire to search once they have received their information. Others will want to continue the process in order to complete the journey they have started. Others will only start the search after a crisis in their lives such as illness or the death of an adoptive parent.

They may search to:

  • Gain information about medical conditions and family health problems.
  • Find out the reasons for their relinquishment.
  • Find out why they look like they do.
  • Know about family background, culture and ethnicity.
  • "Fill in the blanks" - they may feel that parts of them are missing and that they need these "parts" in order to become a whole person.
  • Link the past with the present and future, so they can form a sense of continuity and belonging.
  • Help themselves feel clearer about being adopted.
  • Reconnect with their relatives from whom they were separated.

Birth parents

For many birth parents the relinquishment of their child was a difficult or traumatic experience. In the past, many women felt forced to give up their babies as single parents were not accepted or supported by society. Women in particular were encouraged to start a new life and forget about their child. Fathers often were totally ignored in the process or did not even know about the pregnancy.

Fears of rejection and memories of adoption processes at the time they relinquished their child mean that some birth parents are not able to face the thought of undertaking a search. It is for these reasons that some birth parents are happy to receive adoption information and then not begin a search. This situation sometimes changes when birth parents hear of other successful stories or gain confidence from support groups.

They may search to:

  • Find out if their relinquished child is alive, well and happy.
  • Try and explain the reasons why they relinquished their child.
  • Come to terms with grief due to the relinquishment.
  • See the child who has now become an adult.
  • Try and make themselves "feel whole" again. It can be difficult for some people to reconcile the fact that their child is not with them but is "somewhere out there". Most birth parents never forget their child.