Any organisation that created or holds records about you, must provide you access to or copies of your personal records once you ask for them.
There are limited reasons why an organisation might not give you some or all of your records. Learn about exceptions in the Privacy Act and your rights to your records
If you are a survivor of abuse and have made a claim or want to make a claim, you or your legal representative can ask the organisation considering your claim, for a copy of your records.
Learn about how to get your records when you make a claimopen_in_new.
If you are unsure which organisation has records about you, you can:
Contact the organisation that holds your records and ask for access to them.
Under the Privacy Act you have the right to request your records in the way you prefer. For example, you can request your records:
You have the right to request your records without having to use an organisation's form. But it may take longer for the organisation to complete your request.
If your request is urgent and you give reasons for the urgency, organisations have to consider your urgent request.
The organisation may ask for personal information, to confirm your identity and to assist them to find your records. For example:
The organisation may need to ask you for additional information to help them find your records, such as the full names of your parents, or the names and birth dates of any siblings who may have lived with you.
This is because your records may have been kept within a family file.
The organisation must reply to your request within 20 working days, either to provide your records or to tell you:
If the organisation finds records about you, they may redact (hide or remove) some information (for example, details about other people). Learn more about redactionsopen_in_new.
If the organisation is sending your request to a different organisation (usually because they do not hold your records), they need to transfer the request and tell you they are doing so, within 10 days of receiving your request.
The organisation your request is transferred to will have 20 working days once they receive the request to respond to it.
If there are records, you should get access to them or receive copies of them in the format you prefer. For example:
Under the Privacy Act you have the right to access your records in the format you prefer, with a few limited exceptions.
If the organisation does not give a good reason for why they cannot provide your records in your preferred format, you can make a complaint to the Privacy Commissioneropen_in_new.
Learn what kinds of records you might receiveopen_in_new.
You can request records about living or deceased whānau.
However, unless you have your whānau members' permission to act for them or power of attorney, organisations do not have to provide their records to you.
Learn more about your rights to access records.
If you do not have your whānau member's permission or power of attorney, you may still be able to access some information from government agencies.
Under the OIA government agencies will decide whether to let you access information about your living or deceased whānau, balancing your family member’s rights to privacy with your rights as their relative.
For example, some organisations may:
Learn about your rights and what you can do if they are not respected.
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This webpage gives you advice on how to get your records from times when you were in the guardianship or care of others.
Here records means the information an organisation has kept / made about a person.
Here guardianship is when an adult is put in charge of the care of a person.
A guardian should:
Here being in the care of others means when an organisation is put in charge of a person.
The organisation decides for the person things like:
Kōnae tells you how to get records an organisation has about:
The organisations include:
Faith-based institutions are run by religious groups like churches.
Guardianship is when a guardian is put in charge of a person.
Click here to learn what kinds of records you might get.
You have a legal right to get your records.
A legal right means a law says that you can do something.
A law is a rule made by the Government that everybody must follow.
If an organisation has about you it must:
There are some reasons an organisation may not be able to give you the information you have asked for.
These reasons are set out in the Privacy Act.
Here privacy means keeping information about you safe.
The Privacy Act says how your information should be:
Click here to find out more about your legal rights to your records.
If you are a survivor of abuse in care you:
Here a survivor of abuse in care is where a person:
Here claim is asking the organisation to do something to make up for what happened to a person while they were in care.
The organisation with your records must give them to you if:
Click here to learn more about how to get your records when you make a claim.
Here are the steps to take to ask for your records from the record holder.
The record holder is the organisation that has your records.
Step 1
Contact the organisation that has your records.
You can contact the organisation by: