You will be given four options:

• Enter a new registration;
• Amend an existing registration;
• Delete a registration;
• Search the Register.

Page 1: Your contact details

On this page we seek information on how to contact you in the event that someone else searches the Register and finds your entry. We look for your current name and a contact address (both of which are required), and optionally you can also also give us your e-mail address and phone number. It is important that these details are accurate as otherwise we will not be able to contact you in the event of a match being found on the Register. Note that the information you supply here is the information we will use to contact you, so if you do not want us to, e.g., write to your home address — do not supply it but use a friend's or work address instead. If any of these contact details change in the future, be sure to return to the site and provide the updated details.

Note: The address fields are labelled Address 1 to Address 4. This is so that you can fill in four lines of a single address, not four different addresses. It seemed a more sensible option to us than catering for postcodes, zip codes, states, townlands and so on :-)

Page 2: General adoption details

On this page we seek the basic details of your search. This includes the category you fall into (adopted person, natural parent, or other natural family member) and the category of the person you are seeking, aswell as the gender and date and place of birth of the adopted person. All of the above are required. If you are searching for a sibling who was placed for adoption, then the registrant status you should enter for yourself is 'Other Natural Family Member'.

Page 3: Particulars of adoption

On this page we seek more detailed information about the adoption, which will help to confirm a genuine match in the event that one takes place. We ask for the religion of the natural mother (because it would have been almost unheard of for a child to be placed with adoptive parents of a different religion to that of the natural mother); the race or ethnic origin of the adopted person; the adoption agency involved; the category of adoption facilitator, if one was used (e.g., priest, nun, social worker, doctor) in a private or some agency adoptions; the date of granting of the adoption order (which will always be given to the natural mother by the Adoption Board); and lastly, there is an option to leave a message for the person you are seeking. Note that this message can only be 255 characters in length, including spaces.

The only required information on this page is the religion of the natural mother and the name of the adoption agency involved. In both cases, the fields allow you to enter an answer of 'not known' if this is the case.

Page 4: Finish registration

Lastly, we require you to supply a username and password. You should choose something easy to remember, but that other people would not be able to guess. You can use the username and password to return to your registration at a later date and amend or delete it. A username and password are not required to search the Register, merely to make an entry or amend or delete an existing entry.

When you submit your registration, you will then be supplied with a unique Registration ID Number. Note this number carefully as you will need it in the event that a match is discovered or when amending or deleting your registration.

The cookie issued by this site has only one purpose, however — it keeps track of what registration page you are filling in and makes sure that as you proceed through your registration all your details are kept together.

If you are unsure whether or not cookies are enabled on your computer, use your browser's help facility to find out how to enable them.

Occasionally, some users have had difficulty registering even when cookies have been enabled on their system. In that case, we suggest using a different computer to connect to our site.

Click on a link to the left to continue using the Irish Adoption Contact Register.