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Story: Adoption

Identity search

Until 1985, when adoption laws were changed, it was very difficult for adopted people to find out who their birth parents were. Wellington woman Annabeth Kew, who was raised by adoptive parents, tried to track her birth parents down in the 1970s. Her quest for information was recorded in the 1978 documentary Why am I me?

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How to cite this page

Anne Else, Adoption – From secrecy to openness, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/video/26059/identity-search (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Anne Else, published 12 April 2011.

Comments

Maria Wells
08 April 2018
Alexandra Home - Adoption Files 1941 : Does anyone know where the files went, have they been archived, can I access them - that is what my father and I would like to know. He would like to view his file from when he was born/adopted @ Alexandra Home 06.9.41. We know the files existed around 20 years ago - on visiting the home, they were given some information taken from the file (person went to another room, came back, with some information and then added to it, having remembered another detail - that leads us to believe there is more information that we would value that wasn't given to us. Thank you.