Adoption info

[ldrn]

My mother was born Oct 28, 1930 on St Vincent St at a home for unwed mothers.  She thinks her mother was 17 when she was born, her mother's name was Annie Brown Miller McPhee.  She has no other information about her mother.  Mom's not in the greatest of health and has finally decided she'd like to find out info on her biological family.  If anyone has any suggestions we'd greatly appreciate it. 

[RJ_Paton]

The following is from the NAS website

Where are the legal records of adoptions kept?

The records of adoptions originating in the Court of Session are kept at that court for five years. The records of adoptions in sheriff courts are generally kept in the local courthouse for up to 25 years after the process closed. All of these records will eventually come to the Legal Search Room of the National Archives of Scotland (NAS). As a general rule, if an adoption took place less than 25 years ago, you should contact the court (or the NAS) to confirm where the records are, before making a visit.

Do all the legal records of adoptions survive?

The overwhelming majority of the adoption records for the years after 1930 do survive. Inevitably, however, from the many thousands of processes, a few are missing. This is one reason why it is worthwhile contacting the court (or the NAS) before making a visit.

Who can inspect the legal records of an adoption?

Adoption processes are among the most confidential records held in the courts and the NAS and they are closed to general public access for 100 years. This means that the staff of the NAS are also forbidden to examine them. Each process is individually sealed and the indexes themselves are restricted. The processes may, however, be opened to access in the following circumstances:

    to the adopted person if he or she is over 16 years of age. They must produce their birth certificate (to prove that they are adopted), together with some independent proof of their identity (passport, driving licence, staff pass from place of employment, etc).

    to a person authorised in writing by the adopted person. A copy of this authorisation must be given to the NAS. By law, the NAS cannot themselves inspect a process on behalf of an adopted person.

    to a representative of one of the organisations that deal with adoptions in Scotland, or to an authorized social worker. As before, this authority must come in writing from the adopted person.

    exceptionally, and on application to the court that originally dealt with the adoption, a person other than the adoptee may be allowed to inspect the adoption process. This is very rare and is usually only granted for reasons such as medical grounds. Once it has been examined, the packet of process papers is resealed in the presence of the person who has read them. All enquiries are kept confidential and the NAS keeps no permanent record of the names or other details of people who have looked at their adoption papers.

What information is needed to locate the legal papers of an adoption?

To locate an adoption, the NAS staff need to know the adopted person's birth name, the date of adoption and the court that dealt with the adoption. This information can be obtained from:

[MonicaL]

Hi Ldrn

Welcome to RootsChat 

You have quite a full  name  set for reputed mother and there looks to be a corresponding birth entry on Scotlands People for a birth with that name, including the middle names you have given. Have you ordered the birth cert for this Annie to see who her parents were?

Monica

[Lodger]

Chances are that the mother, being only 17, would have married sometime after the child was born and, as Monica says, you have quite a full name to go on. I expect there should be a domicle address on the 1930 birth certificate and you may just be lucky enough to find her at the same address if and when she subsequently married.

[sancti]

Mother's birth registered 1912 Holytown

[sancti]

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[sancti]

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[ldrn]

Wow that's amazing info!  I don't know if my mom has her actual birth certificate or not.  I'll have to ask her and see.