Birth Certificate: Adopted

[Topham26]

Ben

If the original birth name is known, anyone can find the birth registration from the GRO index. My brother is there under his birth name, but didn't know it, of course, until he was told following counselling.

Gillg

Hi Gill,

I was born 1944, and this was the procedure in 1990.  I had known from 1980 that I was adopted, but never attempted to trace until after both my adopted parents had died.  I was amazed when I discovered my birth registration on GRO.


Ann

[coombs]

My friend has even asked if we could trace her birth mother. The surname is quite common though but she was originally from Scotland and moved down to Surrey when she had her.

[Topham26]

Coombs,

Your friend must have great respect and trust in you, I had the support of a dear and trusted friend but I do believe that this lady must request the legal documentation herself, and with your support and help to find the answers if possible.  I imagined the counselling to be so different than it was but I can honestly say the people involved were understanding and sympathetic and helped me tremendously.

Ann

[coombs]

Her birth was registered 3 months after the event. Born May and registered in August 1936. SHe must have trust in us if she requested we send for her birth cert.

[Topham26]

Hi Coombes,

Do you know why your friends birth was not registered until 3 months after her birth   I thought that the law only allowed 42 days in which to register a birth   I hope your friend finds her answers (with your help) good luck with the search.

Ann

[coombs]

Hi Coombes,

Do you know why your friends birth was not registered until 3 months after her birth   I thought that the law only allowed 42 days in which to register a birth   I hope your friend finds her answers (with your help) good luck with the search.

Ann

I am not sure why it was registered late. She must have had a reason. Even though they had 42 days to register some births were registered later than 42 days after. I dont think she was trying to cover up the birth. We sent it to her and she allowed us to keep a scanned copy for ourselves.

[ambers]

I found it surprsing that they sent out a 1926 birth certificate of an Adopted person to me, although I had no way of knowing who adopted him from it.
I doubt any check was made to see if he was deceased first or what relation I was

I  had trawled the births for ten years looking for a surname matched with a mothers maiden name in a certain area....I was suprised to learn he had been adopted.

Makes you wonder how many grandchildren into this hobby learn these facts when the relation has no idea.  I research with the grandchild of this mans sister, she didn't know he had been adopted by her grandmothers second husband and had assumed he was just using  his surname. 

Ambers

[Gillg]

Ambers

Are you saying that you traced the adopted person's birth from the GRO index, and that the mother's maiden name and probable place of birth was already known to you?  In that case you or anyone else who had that information could have ordered the birth certificate through the GRO.  This is not the same as simply not knowing these details and not being able to work them out.  In my brother's case he knew only his birthplace and date of birth.  This was 1936 and other details were not given to the adoptive parents.  Even if he had trawled through all the hundreds of boys born in that year quarter in that city he would have been no wiser, as my parents had changed his forenames and, of course, his surname.  The only way forward for him was to apply to Kew and undergo counselling.

Gillg

[LizzieW]

I had a daughter who I had to give up for adoption in 1960 and her birth shows up in GRO index.  We are now back in touch and she will be 50 in a couple of weeks and talking about how adoption affects people, this is what she wrote to me a few weeks ago about how she feels about her adoption.

I suppose the fact of growing up adopted has left me with a psyche that perhaps lends itself to relationships with people who know what it is to be different, to feel different, to have grown up with a complicated sense of belonging (or not belonging).  I had a happy childhood, and feel very much part of my adoptive family, as I always have.  But there is something else there too, always was, although I didn’t recognise and articulate and acknowledge it for a long time.

It might be relevant that, like Gillg's parents, my daughter's adoptive parents were told they couldn't have any children, but after they adopted her, her mother became pregnant and she has a brother born to the family. 

Lizzie