Names of thousands of adopted Scots children disclosed on genealogy website

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The names of thousands of Scots who were adopted as children were available on a genealogy website, it has emerged. Safety and privacy fears were raised after a mum found details of adoptions dating back more than 100 years on Scotland's People.The site is operated by National Records of Scotland (NRS), an official arm of the Scottish Government.

NRS removed the information 36 hours after the mother complained it could endanger her adopted child.It said it had launched an investigation and was taking the issue "extremely seriously".

According to Scotland's Children and Young People's Commissioner, the information could have resulted in "a significant risk of harm".After discovering her child's details on the site, the mother who raised the concerns contacted BBC Scotland News.

The public sector worker from Central Scotland, who asked not to be named, said she was worried that under certain circumstances, the website could allow people to find out the new surname of an adopted child and track them down.The mum told the BBC: "I did a search to see how many children with his first name were born in the same year.