Anyone can request to access records that Archives New Zealand (Archives NZ) holds, except for restricted records. Records about people who have been in care are usually restricted records in Archives NZ.
Requesting your records can bring up a range of emotions. Learn where you can find support to help you on your journey. If you can, apply to the government agency that created the records, instead of Archives NZ
If you want to request records about you or whānau that are held by Archives NZ, Archives NZ will need permission from the government agency that created the records (for example, Oranga Tamariki or the Ministry of Education).
This means you will need to ask the government agency for permission for Archives NZ to give you access to records, before you request records from Archives NZ.
But, if you apply to the government agency first, they can retrieve:
Find out how to request access to your records from government agencies.
Another reason to request records from government agencies instead of Archives NZ, is that you may get more choice in how you receive your records.
If you are in prison, contact the government agency directly. Archives NZ can answer questions by post, but they cannot send you copies of records. The government agencies that created the records can.
You might decide to search the Archives NZ collection to look for publicly available (unrestricted) records.
These are records that do not contain personal information, such as information about government agencies or institutions (for example, newspaper articles, reports or policies).
You can access these without needing to apply for permission from the government agencies that created them.
An archivist can help you search for records that you or your whānau may be interested in, if you complete the Archives NZ online formopen_in_new. It can take up to 15 working days for an archivist to respond to you.
For example, in the search box you could type (omitting the quote marks):
Learn more about searching Archives NZ’s collectionopen_in_new.
When you search Archives NZ’s collection, you will get some search results.
Every record in Archives NZ’s collection has information about it. The information that will be useful to you is:
the title of the record
where the record is in Archives NZ’s collection
if you need permission to access it (its ‘access status’)
who you need to contact to get permission to see the record (its ‘access contact’)
whether it is a physical or digital record.
Learn more about understanding Archive NZ’s search resultsopen_in_new.
When you find a record that you are interested in, check whether access to it is restricted.
If it is restricted, you need to contact the government agency that controls the record. On the record, they are called the ‘access contact’. For example, the access contact for most child welfare care records is Oranga Tamariki.
When you contact the government agency for permission to access restricted records, they may send their permission to:
you only
you and Archives NZ or
Archives NZ only.
It will depend on the government agency. Ask the government agency to send their permission to Archives NZ, if possible. They must send their permission from the agency’s email address. If the permission is in the form of a PDF attachment or letter, the document must have the agency’s letterhead.
The government agency will tell you when they have granted you permission to access restricted records. When this happens, you can contact Archives Nopen_in_newZ and arrange access to the records.
Please select either "I found this useful" or "I did not find this useful"
You have reached the maximum character limit.
You must enable JavaScript to submit this form