The Adoption of Children Act 1988 recognised adopted people had the right to know their origin and identity. Adopted adults had the right to access their original birth record. Adopted people, birth parents and relatives of an adopted person could register on the Adoption Information Register to exchange non-identifying or identifying information and make contact with birth parents, relatives or children.;;;;Adoption Information Services, later changed to Adoption and Information Services, was established to assist people to search for information and provided counselling to registered people as required by the legislation.