Mothers and sons reunited as website finds lost families

The agony of almost two million parents and children, legally "lost" to each other and kept apart by bureaucracy, is about to end. Britain's first "adoption reunion" website - aimed at helping to reunite adopted children with their birth parents, and vice versa - will be launched next week.

The searchable online service is expected to generate a huge response, with thousands of people set to log on for information on how to find family members they have never known or have missed for most their lives.

On average, some 5,000 children are adopted in England and Wales every year, with the total number of adopted people believed to be between 500,000 and one million. In the 1950s and 1960s alone, an estimated one-fifth of all children born illegitimate were adopted, mostly as babies.

The new website - launched by the British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF) - will allow users to set out to seek "lost" relatives through its own comprehensive database of specialist sources of information in England and Wales.

Designed as a "first port of call" for those who wish to trace relatives, the website, which launches on 23 December, will highlight national and local records-holding institutions, legal guidelines and agencies. This will dramatically streamline the search for birth family, a laborious, fraught and costly process.

The Adoption and Children Act 2002, which comes into force on 30 December, gives birth relatives a legal right - for the first time - to ask for an intermediary body to make contact with an adopted adult. Adopted adults may also ask an intermediary body to help them to trace birth relatives.

Mark, 43, was adopted when a few months old. He found his birth mother, Maureen, nine years ago.

"When I was in my 30s, I asked my adoptive parents if they minded if I started looking, and my mum brought out a box of papers that we went through. She was fine with it, as was dad.

"Once I made the call to the charity Norcap, I discovered my mum had registered with them five years before. After going through intermediaries, we met a few weeks later. Her first words were: 'You look just like your dad.' Within a month of meeting my birth mum, my adoptive mum met her. They are good friends to this day."

It is estimated that more than 400,000 people in the UK have not been reunited with their birth parents, with about two-thirds of them yet to try. It was only in 1975 that adopted people were granted the right of access to birth records. The Government recently estimated that some two million people might have an interest in tracing relatives.

"About 50 per cent of people that have been adopted in this country are likely to have tried to search for their birth relatives at some point in their lives," says Ms Feast.

Making contact can be an emotional but positive experience. One BAAF study found that nine out of 10 birth mothers were pleased that their son or daughter had made contact with them.

Adoption: What the law lets you know

Historically, formal adoption was negotiated between Church or poor house and private individuals. The perils of the process were a central concern of Dickens.

1926: The Adoption of Children Act. The first legislation to regulate and monitor the process.

1976: Adoption Act 1976 (England and Wales). Established a framework for adoption and care of children waiting to be adopted. Replaced piecemeal legislation over previous 50 years.

2002: Adoption and Children Act. The most radical overhaul of adoption law for 26 years comes into force next week. Modernises existing legal framework for domestic and international adoption. Birth relatives now have a right to information about adopted children via an intermediary service. Also, unmarried couples (including same-sex couples) will be able to adopt jointly.

The BAAF's website will be at www.adoptionsearchreunion.org.uk