What Are Birthlink's Care Connect and Redress Services?

Birthlink's Care Connect service helps adults who have been in care to find information about their past or trace estranged family members, and it currently operates in partnership with Future Pathways to locate and access in-care records. The Redress Service is a separate strand of Birthlink's work, and the organisation states there are no changes to it. Both are distinct from Birthlink's post-adoption work, which is working through a backlog of outstanding communication and Adoption Contact Register requests.

Care Connect: who it is for and what it does

Care Connect is aimed at adults with experience of being in care. According to Birthlink, the service supports two broad goals:

• Finding information about your past — for example, understanding what records exist about your time in care.
• Tracing estranged family members — reconnecting with relatives you have lost contact with.

The service is delivered in partnership with Future Pathways, which Birthlink describes as helping to locate and access in-care records. If your goal is to establish what records exist before deciding whether to trace anyone, that records-access element is the natural starting point.

When Care Connect is the right route

Care Connect fits if you were in care and your question is about your own history or about locating family you are estranged from. It is not the same as Birthlink's adoption-focused work: if your situation involves an adoption with a Scottish connection — as an adopted person, birth parent or relative — the post-adoption and records services are the relevant ones instead.

Redress Service: what is confirmed

Birthlink states that there are no changes to the Redress Service. The available information confirms the service continues as before but does not set out eligibility criteria, application steps or timeframes. If redress is your reason for contacting Birthlink, treat the service as operating normally and ask directly about your circumstances rather than assuming a process from the website.

The current caveat: post-adoption delays

Birthlink's homepage carries an important notice. Following a temporary pause in post-adoption work, the organisation is processing all outstanding communication and Adoption Contact Register requests and will contact people once requests are processed. The notice asks people not to contact Birthlink again about an existing request, and to let the organisation know if personal details have changed or if they no longer wish to access the service. Monthly updates are promised on the webpage.

This matters for choosing a route: the delays described apply to post-adoption work and the Adoption Contact Register, not to Care Connect or Redress. If your enquiry is about Care Connect or Redress, the backlog notice is not a reason to delay getting in touch.

Choosing between the services

Practical next steps

1. Identify your category using the table above — in-care survivor, redress, or adoption-connected.
2. For Care Connect, be ready to explain whether you want information about your past, help tracing family, or both, and mention any records you already hold.
3. For an existing post-adoption or Contact Register request, wait for Birthlink to make contact; only get in touch again to update your details or withdraw.
4. If you are unsure, call the After Adoption Information Line on 0131 225 6441 between 9am and 4pm, Monday to Friday.

Birthlink's stated aim is to enhance the well-being and promote the welfare of all people affected by adoption with a Scottish connection, and its services extend to in-care survivors through Care Connect. The main decision for most people is simply which of these routes matches their situation — and the current delays only affect the adoption side.