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Voluntary adoption registry
Post-adoption services for: Adoptees, birth parents, and other eligible persons
 The Voluntary Adoption Registry was created in 1983 to assist adoptees, birth parents, biological siblings, and other eligible persons in learning more about an adoption that was finalized in Oregon. The registry creates a method of communicating information while preserving confidentiality and respecting the right to privacy. The Adoption Services Unit for the State of Oregon is responsible for maintaining records on all adoptions going back to the early 1920's.
The Department of Human Services (DHS) is responsible for maintaining a registry for all adoptions not handled by a private adoption agency. If your adoption was through a private adoption agency, i.e. Catholic Charities, Boys and Girls Aid Society, Albertina Kerr Homes, you may look for their information at the Coalition of Oregon Adoption Agencies web site. If the adoption was through Waverly Children's Home, they may be reached at 503-233-0187. Please contact the private adoption agency directly for registration materials. If you do not know if the adoption was through a private adoption agency, a private adoption attorney, State Public Welfare Agency, Children's Services Division, or the Department of Human Services child welfare, please call 503-945-6643.
What is Available:
Mutual consent registry: $25
This is a passive registry where adult adoptees age eighteen and older, birth parents, putative fathers, and other qualified persons may register their consent to the release of identifying information. The exchange of identifying information can occur when the adoptee and a birth parent have placed their name on an adoption registry. If the birth parent is deceased, an eligible member of the birth parent's family may register for an exchange of identifying information.
The form to register on the mutual consent registry for an adoption other than a private agency adoption is the Affidavit for Identifying Information, English (Word), Spanish (PDF)
This form must be notarized, and must be sent to the registry with a copy of the applicant's state issued birth certificate along with the required fee.
Non-Identifying Information: $45
Non-Identfying Information is genetic, social and health history birth parent information from the adoption file (i.e. physical description, illnesses, ethnic origins, age). This is information gathered by the public agency, private adoption agency, or the private attorney at the time the adoption took place. Non-identifying information will not include names or addresses of any person or any information pertaining to the adoptive parent. Non-identifying information for a birth parent is placement information only. If the adoptee is deceased, the adoptee's spouse or any progeny of the adoptee eighteen or older may request the information.
The non-identifying registration form for an adoption other than a private agency adoption is called Request for Non-Identifying Information. English (Word), Spanish (PDF)
Assisted Search Program: $400
Added to the registry by legislation passed in 1993, the Assisted Search Program allows a search by the adoptee for a birth parent, or a search by a birth parent for the adoptee. The adoptee may also search for an adult genetic sibling of the adoptee. If the birth parent is deceased, other family members may be eligible to request a search. Registration on a mutual consent registry with the appropriate adoption registry is a prerequisite for requesting an assisted search.
The purpose of the Assisted Search Program is to inform the person being sought of the provisions of the mutual consent registry. The searches are conducted in a confidential manner that assures the privacy of all parties. If the person being sought wishes to pursue contact, forms to register are sent. Identifying information cannot and will not be released to either the person who requested the search, or the person located, until both parties have filed the mutual consent registry affidavit and copy of their birth certificate with the appropriate registry.
Most searches are performed by DHS, including those adoptions through a private adoption agency. However, Boys and Girls Aid Society and Albertina Kerr Homes are eligible to perform their own searches. The form to register for an assisted search through an agency other than the Boys and Girls Aid Society and Albertina Kerr is called the Assisted Search Application. English (Word), Spanish (PDF)
For Further Information Write To:
Department of Human Services
Adoption Registry, 2nd Floor South
500 Summer Street NE, E71
Salem, OR 97301-1068
To learn more about the registry services or to order adoption registry forms in Spanish please contact:
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