If, as an adopted child, you would like to find out about your family background, you must contact the adoption agency that arranged your adoption. As a rule, these agencies belong to the youth welfare offices, but there are also adoption agencies run by independent organizations, such as churches.

The specialists at your placement agency will let you inspect the files, support you in your research and are available to answer any questions you may have.

It is not possible for you to inspect the files if this conflicts with the overriding personal interests of the persons involved.

In individual cases, the adoption agency can make every effort to ensure that your biological parents and siblings can also inspect the files. However, relatives from your family of origin do not have a right to inspect the files.

The register of births is kept by the registry office responsible for a person's place of birth.

A long retention period for adoption files was only introduced at the beginning of 2002. If the adoption took place a long time ago, there may no longer be any placement files.

If the adoption took place before 1977, no adoption agency was involved. At that time, a notarized contract was sufficient, which had to be confirmed by the local court. In this case, you may be able to find out more by asking the court involved.