Why did I receive no records?

Unfortunately, you may be told that there are no records to send you

Your records may have been:

• lost
• destroyed
• not created or kept at all
• heavily redacted (when information is removed or hidden) - learn more about redactions.

If an organisation cannot provide you copies of your records, they need to tell you. Under the Privacy Act you have the right to know why.

Learn about the common reasons why you might receive less information than you expected.

Other historical records could provide you with information

If the organisation cannot provide records about you, it might be helpful to look for historical information about the place where you were in the guardianship or care of others. 

These could include newspaper articles, photographs, books and audio histories.

For example, you could try looking on the Archives New Zealandopen_in_new websiteopen_in_new or the National Libraryopen_in_new website.  

Other organisations might have records about you 

You could also try requesting records that other organisations might have about you.  

For example, if the organisation that made decisions about where you lived and who you lived with no longer exists, your records might be somewhere else.  

Or, more than one organisation may have been responsible for decisions made about you, so you may be able to get different records from more than one organisation. 

You can get support to help you figure out which other organisations might have records about you. We have some suggestions about where you might find support.