2. If you don’t want your child to find or contact you
Question & Answer
I’m a birth parent. Can my adopted child find me?If you don’t want your child to find you, you may be able to file a disclosure veto.
If you don’t want your child to contact you, you can a no contact notice. So even if your child finds you, they don’t have permission to contact you.
To file a veto or notice you have to give as much information as you can about your child, including what you know about them after the adoption took place. You must give your child’s:
- name
- place of birth
- date of birth
If you want, you can explain why you don’t want them to know your identity or why you don’t want to be contacted. You can also choose to give information about your family and medical history, without giving them your name.
Disclosure veto
If your child was adopted before September 1, 2008, you can file a disclosure veto.
A disclosure veto means that your identifying information, including your name, will not be released.
To register a disclosure veto you must fill out a form called an Adoption Information Disclosure Application to Register or Withdraw a Disclosure Veto. It is also called form 11318E.
For help filling out the disclosure veto, look at the Birth Parent’s Guide for Completing and Submitting an Application to Register or Withdraw a Disclosure Veto under the Vital Statistics Act.
If your child was adopted before September 1, 2008 and you have not yet registered a disclosure veto, it is possible that your identity has already been released.
If your child was adopted after September 1, 2008, you cannot register a disclosure veto. But you can file a no contact notice to stop them from contacting you.
No contact notice
You can file a no contact notice if you do not want to be contacted by your child. It doesn’t matter when they were adopted.
To file a no contact notice you must fill out a form called an Adoption Information Disclosure Application to Register or Withdraw a No Contact Notice. It is also called form 11313E.
For help filling out a no contact notice, look at the Birth Parent’s Guide for Completing and Submitting an Application to Register or Withdraw a No Contact Notice under the Vital Statistics Act.
If you file a no contact notice, your identifying information will only be released to your child if they sign an agreement to not contact you. If they sign the agreement but try to contact you, they can be fined up to $50,000.
Changing your mind
You can change your mind at any time after you have registered a disclosure veto or no contact notice. To do this you have to withdraw your veto or notice. There is no fee to register or withdraw them.
To withdraw a disclosure veto, you must fill out a form called an Adoption Information Disclosure Application to Register or Withdraw a Disclosure Veto. It is also called form 11318E.
To withdraw a no contact notice, you must fill out a form called an Adoption Information Disclosure Application to Register or Withdraw a No Contact Notice. It is also called form 11313E.