Please contact Fostering and Adoption Services (Past Adoption Information and Services):
Postal Address: Locked Bag 5000, Fremantle WA 6160
Phone: 1800 182 178
Email: adoptions@communities.wa.gov.au
Website: https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-communities/past-adoption-information-and-services
These records are part of Records of the Department of Child Protection and Family Support, and predecessors (1894 - current).
Richard S. Haynes & Co Adoption Files [Mr Bryant’s client files] are a series of records that include the client files of adoption lawyer, Mr Bryant, from the firm Richard S. Haynes & Co. Richard S. Haynes & Co was a firm of lawyers in Western Australia who were involved in many adoptions from the 1940s to around 1980, and these records include information about some of the adoptions arranged by Mr Bryant. The records were transferred to the Western Austalian Department of Communities following Mr Bryant’s retirement.
Access to these records is restricted to protect people’s privacy. If you believe the Department may hold records about you, or about a family member, you are encouraged to apply.
The record series, Richard S. Haynes & Co Adoption Files [Mr Bryant’s client files], are not a complete set of the adoptions arranged through RS Haynes & Co.
The records that do exist are of a high quality, with detailed information about the parties to the adoption included. Many of the adoptions which Mr Bryant was involved with were ‘privately arranged’, particularly from Catholic hospitals such as St John of God Subiaco and St Anne’s Mt Lawley.