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Are you trying to locate biological parents or a person concerned by adoption, adopted or not adopted, born in Quebec?

If you are the parent of a child placed for adoption

Important: The person entrusted to the adoption must be 18 years of age or over for a reunion request to be admissible.

Note that if the adoption was granted in Quebec, but to parents residing outside Quebec at the time of the adoption, your request must be sent to the Secrétariat à l’adoption internationale (SAI).

If the adoption took place in Canada, but outside Quebec, you must submit your request to the social services of the province of adoption.
Note that the laws differ from province to province. The information below is for Quebec only.

First, you must apply to the CISSS/CIUSSS (formerly Youth Center) of the place where the child was born, in order to register with their antecedent/reunion service.

This process is essential and you will be able to obtain:

The sociobiological history of the child placed for adoption, that is, non-nominative information concerning the child and the adoptive parents. This document is a composite image, without any information identifying the person sought.
The CISSS/CIUSSS will try to locate the person sought to inform him of your request. This person can accept or refuse the reunion. If the reunion is accepted, you will be informed and the procedures will follow their course. If the reunion is refused, no personal information will be sent to you. Only the wanted person will be able to reverse his decision. Note that one year after death, the identity becomes accessible.

If you are part of the siblings of the person placed for adoption (brother and/or sister)

First, you must make a request for sibling reunification to the CISSS/CIUSSS (formerly Youth Center) of the place where the child was born, in order to register with their antecedent/reunion service.

No information will be provided on siblings, unless, and only if:

a sibling member also made a request; the information given does not reveal the identity of a relative who has refused to have this information disclosed.
The death for 12 months or more cancels the refusal affixed by the parent.

* Note that it very often happens that the original names and the names given at baptism, before adoption, are fictitious and therefore of no use.

CISSS/CIUSSS give priority treatment to the following cases:

Adoptee whose mother is over 70
Serious diseases
Orphan
Social distress (psychological disorders)
Concordance

Download the CISSS/CIUSSS form

If you are the adopted or non-adopted person

Important: You must be 14 years or older to apply. If you are under 14, the consent of the adoptive parents is required.

Note that if you were adopted by parents residing outside Quebec at the time of the adoption, your request must be addressed to the Secrétariat à l’adoption internationale (SAI).

If you were born or have been adopted in Canada, but outside Quebec, you must apply to the social services of the province of adoption. Note that the laws differ from province to province. The information below is for Quebec only.

First, you must apply to the CISSS/CIUSSS (formerly Youth Center) in the place where you were adopted (or placed for adoption if you were not adopted), in order to register with their antecedent/reunion service.

This process is essential and you will be able to obtain:

Your sociobiological history, that is, non-nominative information concerning you and your original parents. This document is a composite image, without any information identifying the person sought.
Your original identity
The identity of your officially recognized birth parents on the adoption record, unless there is a veto
on the disclosure of their identity still in effect. The veto on the disclosure of their identity is automatically canceled one year after the death of the person who affixed it. Without a veto on disclosure, the CISSS/CIUSSS may contact the parent concerned and inform them that their identity will be revealed to you. At that time, a reunion may be considered or a contact veto may be requested, which means that no contact between you and that person will be permitted. If, however, the CISSS/CIUSSS is unable to locate the parent, the parent is classified as "not found". In such a situation, the identity would still be provided with a caveat to possible contact, if you were to find that person yourself.

If the person is deceased, you will have access to their identity, the age of death and the causes of death, if known. From then on, your file is closed at the CISSS/CIUSSS. The Mouvement Retrouvailles can help you with the rest. Do not hesitate to contact us.

* We remind you that the CISSS/CIUSSS are the only holders of adoption files and that the Mouvement Retrouvailles does not have access to them.

If you are 18 and over

We suggest that you register for the Mouvement Retrouvailles at the same time.

By registering with the Mouvement Retrouvailles, you have a chance to have a match with one of our members who may be looking for you. In that case, you will be notified. If there is no match, the file remains active in the event of a possible match in the future. Each file is automatically checked for each new access to our database. Note that in the event of a match, we must verify with the CISSS/CIUSSS, when it is possible, in order to avoid placing two people in contact, who ultimately have no connection.

WE SUPPORT YOU
By registering with the Mouvement Retrouvailles, if the reunion is organized by the CISSS/CIUSSS, you can request to be accompanied by a volunteer of our organization. We have accompanying persons to guide and support you during your steps, according to the needs and the places where our services are available. Do not hesitate to ask for this service, people are there ready to help, and without any judgment. We are all in the same situation, to different degrees.

It is important to note that our support is provided before, during and after the reunion, if applicable. Even if your reunion has taken place, we are still there for you.

You gave a child for adoption in Quebec before June 16, 2018

Since June 16, 2019, the adopted/non-adopted person can know the identity of the birth parents, on request and if there is no refusal to disclose your identity before a request for communication is made by the adopted/non-adopted person.

Any nominative information concerning the adopted/non-adopted person remains confidential, as long as they have not reached the age of majority and they have not consented to the disclosure of their identity. If the adoptee has been dead for 12 months or more, his identity may be revealed.

REFUSAL OF IDENTITY DISCLOSURE IN THE FILE

If a refusal of identity disclosure is entered in the file, you can request a death verification each year from the date you obtained the denial information.

The information contained on this site does not in any way replace that of the legal text, which has official status. We have tried to adequately summarize the process. For all the details, you can also refer to the website of the Ministry of Health and Social Services:
https://www.quebec.ca/info-adoption/

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