Archives black out names in adoption files. Adoptees react furiously
As of this week, adoptees can view their adoption files at the National Archives, but contrary to expectations, access is limited.
Maurice Timmermans June 19, 2024, 08:29
Adoptees will be able to view their adoption files at the National Archives from Monday and will no longer have to contact the Child Protection Council. However, there is disappointment among adoptees now that it appears that the archive will black out sensitive data, such as names of half-brothers and sisters and information about genetic diseases.
This is evident from an appeal to the Open Government Act (Woo) by the foundation Verleden in Zicht, which stands up for the interests of adoptees. Archive staff will weigh the right to information about the descent of the 'children' against the right to privacy of the biological parents.
“We were always told that the National Archives would provide full access to the files,” says Barbalique Peters, board member of Verleden in Zicht. “And that the archive would not black out anything, as the Child Protection Council used to do. We were fooled.”
Genetic diseases
It concerns 15,000 domestic and international relinquishment and adoption files of persons born before 1970. These paper folders, which the Child Protection Council handed over to the National Archives in March, contain information about the child and the adoptive parents. In the case of domestic adoption, these folders also contain information about the biological parents and often also the names of (half)brothers and sisters.
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“They will be blacked out,” says Peters. “That is indigestible, we are furious about it. Genetic diseases will also not be disclosed, while that data can be crucial for the health of children.” In April, the Lower House supported a motion by the SP and the VVD, in which MPs also advocated complete openness.
Archives have always resisted
According to Verleden in Zicht, the National Archives was put under pressure by the Council for Child Protection, because the two government agencies have been at loggerheads for years over the dossier policy. The council demanded that the dossiers would not be made fully accessible for privacy reasons and because of the sensitive content. For each request – about a hundred per year – the council asked for permission from the biological mother and ultimately decided for itself what adopted children would and would not be allowed to see.
The National Archives has opposed this, according to a 2020 investigation by the Government Information and Heritage Inspectorate, partly because archive employees do not feel qualified to assess what should and should not be blacked out in a relinquishment and adoption file. The archive also believed that the right to information about descent is more important than the right to privacy of biological parents.
Abuses brought to light
The National Archives denies that it was pressured by the Child Protection Council. The archive states that it takes into account the sensitivity of the information, although it will no longer ask permission from the adoptive parents. "We strive for as much access as possible and we only shield data in exceptional cases."
According to Verleden in Zicht, the Ministry of Justice and Security and the Council for Child Protection fear that all kinds of abuses will come to light if the files are made fully public. Peters: "For example, that the council granted an adopted child to parents who did not meet the standard."
Growing up as a grandma's child
The ministry says it 'does not want to run away from events in the past', according to spokesperson Daniël van Dam. "That is why an independent committee led by emeritus professor of pedagogy Micha de Winter has been commissioned to investigate the history of domestic distance and adoption, including the role of the government in this."