The legislation will likely change the long-standing situation where the right to privacy of the birth mother took precedence over the rights of the adopted person. "What we're seeking to do there is balance a right to know your identity, to know your origins - a basic human need, which I think we all accept and recognise - with that right to privacy. "In doing so we've tried to make a clear distinction between access to information and contact. "So whereas we say adopted people have a right to the information about their origins, we are putting in place a system where the natural mother clearly identifies that she doesn't want contact with the adopted person - we're putting in place an information meeting, where that clear preference is conveyed to the adopted person.