Redaction is when information is removed, or details are hidden before you can access it.
When an organisation says they need to ‘assess’ your records, what they usually mean is they need to decide if any information needs to be redacted.
You now have the right to get more court records about you.
If you previously requested your records from an organisation (for example, Oranga Tamariki), what you received might have excluded any court records.
If you were to make a new records request to the same the organisation, they must give you any court records they have about you - unless there is a specific court order or rule preventing them from doing so.
Examples of court records an organisation might have about you include:
These new rules apply to all organisations in New Zealand that may hold court records, except for the Courts of New Zealand.
Under the Privacy Act, you are only allowed to see information that is about you. This is to protect other people’s privacy.
For example, some organisations keep records about whānau, not individual people. If a record has information about both you and your whānau, the organisation may redact information that involves your whānau. As a result, the records you receive may be very heavily redacted
But you may be able to access records about someone else, if you have their written permission to act on their behalf.
Organisations might have to redact information because it is ‘legally privileged.’
Information may be legally privileged if it:
Under section 49(1)(a)(iii) of the Privacy Act 2020, a record holder can refuse to give access to personal information if:
The Privacy Commissioner has more information about thisopen_in_new.
If you were adopted under a closed adoption, you need to request a copy of your pre-adoption birth certificate to access information about your birth parents. You need to be aged at least 20 years to do this. Learn how to request your pre-adoptive birth certificate.
If you were adopted under a closed adoption before 1 March 1986, your birth parents may have placed a ‘veto’ on their information. They can renew the veto every ten years.
If your birth parents placed a veto on their information, they will not be included in your original birth certificate.
If you had a child adopted out, once the child turns 19 years old, they have the right to place a veto on their own information – which means their birth parents would not be able to get information about them.
For example, for digital and paper documents different organisations might:
Below are some examples of redacted documents.
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This Easy Read is about what it means when:
and
Here records means the information an organisation has kept / made about a person.
Here in the care or guardianship of others means when an organisation is put in charge of a person and decides things like:
A guardian is an adult put in charge of the care of a person.
A guardian should:
Redact means hiding / taking out some information in a document.
This could be because there is information about other people in your record.
This is often done with a thick black line.
An organisation may redact some of the information on the records you have asked for.
They will tell you this by saying something like we need to assess your records.
Here assess means to:
Organisations have to follow the Privacy Act.
The Privacy Act is a law that tells organisations how information must be:
The Privacy Act says you can only see information about you.
This protects the privacy of other people.
For example records may have information redacted about other people in your whānau / family.
Sometimes you can get records that have information about another person.
To do this the person has to:
Some organisations keep information about:
Your records may have a lot of information about your whānau / family redacted.
Sometimes the information you ask for is legally privileged.
Legally privileged means information is protected between:
For example your lawyer can only share your information with somebody else if you agree to this.
A lawyer is a person you usually pay to give you advice about the law.
Legally privileged information can be something like information between:
Legally privileged information can also be information made to support a court case.
Here a court case is when a problem is worked out at the court in a legal way.
An organisation cannot give you legally privileged information.
Some adoption records may be redacted.
Here adoption is a legal word that means:
Adoption records may be redacted if:
A closed adoption is between the:
They do not:
Birth parents are the parents when the baby was born.
You can ask for your birth certificate from a closed adoption.
A birth certificate is a legal document that has information like:
A birth certificate from a closed adoption is called a pre-adoptive birth certificate.
You will need to be 20 years or older to ask for a pre-adoptive birth certificate.
Your birth parents may have said no to putting their names on your birth certificate.
A birth parent can say no to you seeing information about them when you turn 19 years old.
Click here to find more information about how to ask for a pre-adoptive birth certificate.
Records can be:
Organisations redact records in different ways.
Records can be redacted by hiding the information under a black box.
Records can also be redacted by:
They can also be redacted by:
Getting your records about when you were in care can make you feel lots of things.
It can be good to have someone to talk to about it.
You can talk to your:
Click here to find out what support you can get on Kōnae.
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