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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Perthshire => Topic started by: Fergie38 on Sunday 11 February 24 21:11 GMT (UK)
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Have a child in my tree that was born out of wedlock in 1922.
When the child was three or four years on, the mother got married.
Now family tradition says that the child was adopted by the mothers husband and was thereafter known by the new fathers surname.
Yet, the child's birth certificate is openly available for public viewing on Scotland's People.
I thought that when a child was adopted, their birth certificate was withdrawn from the public domain.
Is it likely that the child was not legally adopted and just simply took the fathers surname is its own. ?
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Legal adoption in Scotland began in 1930.
The Adoption of Children (Scotland) Act, 1930
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The original certificate remains available with the original details.
After the introduction of the adoption laws in 1930, a note was made on the original certificate that noted 'adoption', with no further details relating to the adoption.
After the court proceedings for adoption are completed, the child would have access to a short certificate under new adoptive name and parents. If you knew you were adopted, but not know who your birth parent/s were, you would need to apply to the courts for release of information and be directed to specialist adoptive services and units.
If you knew your original name, you would be able to order your original certificate without any problem. Many children don't have this info and therefore have to reach out for assistance.
This explains it much better than me! www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/research-guides/research-guides-a-z/adoption-records
However, this doesn't apply for an informal adoption in the 1920s.
Monica
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It's only the adoption certificates that have been removed from the indexes in the public domain, not the original birth certificates.
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Thank you folks for your replies and clarifying things for me.
Cheers.