Please contact the Adoption Information Unit:
Postal address: Locked Bag 5000, Parramatta NSW 2124
Phone: 1300 799 023 or (02) 9716 3005 (from overseas)
Email: Adoption.Information@dcj.nsw.gov.au
Website: https://www.facs.nsw.gov.au/families/adoption/finding-info
Quote this number to access your records: State Records Authority of New South Wales Series Number, 14661
These records are held by State Archives and Records Authority of New South Wales (June 1961 - current).
This series, Benevolent Society adoption register [Dependent Children and Adoptions Branch, Department of Community Services], covers records relating to the adoption of children between 1969 and 1975 through the Benevolent Society of New South Wales. This series is made up of two books or volumes that contain entries relating to adoptive parents, birth parents, and children who were adopted through the Benevolent Society of New South Wales between 1969 and 1975. The entry for each birth mother includes a serial number, this serial number is also included in the entry for adoptive parents of the birth mothers children enabling clear identification of an individual’s adoptive and birth parents.
This series, Benevolent Society adoption register [Dependent Children and Adoptions Branch, Department of Community Services], is held by the State Records Authority of New South Wales. However the Department of Human Services is responsible for these records, so people wishing to access the records in this series will need to contact the Adoption Information Unit. The Adoption Information Unit (AIU) is part of the New South Wales state government department of Family and Community Services and provides adoption information and support for individuals and their families in relation to adoptions in New South Wales and Intercountry adoptions that involve New South Wales.
The first of these two volumes concerns adoptive parents and contains the following information for each entry: prospective parents’ name, address, religion and dates of birth; the date references were received; the date of birth and sex of the child (where the application has proceeded); date of placement of the child and its age at that time; the name of the solicitor; the court serial number and the agency’s serial number.
The second volume concerns the natural mother and includes the following information: name, address, marital status, religion and ethnic origin of the mother; age, marital status and ethnic origin of the natural father; the child’s date of birth, sex and legal status at that time; the court serial number and the agency’s serial number.
The agency serial number for an entry in the natural mother’s volume corresponds to the agency serial number of the family the child was placed with.