Assisi Mother & Baby Homes

[dawnsh]

Hi Mike

Welcome to Rootschat and thanks for sharing your story which I'm really pleased to see had a happier ending for you than some of the others here.

People who've posted here before should receive an email notification that you have posted and may come back again.

Dawn

[JHoward999]

Hi,

Apologies for being late to this thread, but I just found out today that I have a half brother born at the Assisi home in 1955/56or57, I could probably find a closer date, but not sure about an exact date.

I have his mum and dad's name, but not his exact date of birth. I believe he was adopted. I really, really would like to find him, for me and his biological dad, who wanted to marry my half brother's mum, but it was not allowed.

Would anyone know how I can find records from the home, would I even be allowed access to those records?

Thanks, I look forward to hearing from you.
J

[dawnsh]

Hi J

Welcome to Rootschat 

Because of the sensitive nature of adoptions, it is highly unlikely that you would be granted access to someone else's adoption file.

However, if you contact the St Francis Childrens Society they may be able to offer help

http://www.sfcs.org.uk/about-us/

You could try looking at possible births in the GRO birth index, the registration district I think for this is Alton, Churt is on the Hampshire borders, as you have the mothers surname and an idea of the date range.

Once you know his birth name, you could put his name on the GRO adoption contact register here

https://www.gov.uk/adoption-records/the-adoption-contact-register

or here

http://www.adoptionsearchreunion.org.uk/default.htm

or here

http://www.missing-you.net/categories/adoptions.php

in the hope that he has also registered to find his birth family.


Hope this helps.

Dawn

[JHoward999]

Thanks Dawn, it looks like I need to find the baby's birth name then. If you don't mind my asking, do you know how I go about finding this out?

[dawnsh]

I suggested in my last post that you look at the GRO birth index for the year of birth and look for babies whose surname and mothers maiden name are the same (this infers an illegitmate birth but will not discount those mothers who marry someone who has the same surname) and where the birthis registered in Alton.

You can search here

www.freebmd.org.uk

According to your earlier post you can discount all the girls.

Once you have the list it's going to be a case of buying all the birth certs to find out which child could be related to you.

You can order certificates from the GRO without using the index references (volume and page numbers) and then specify the mothers name and exact place of birth further into the application. If you do not know the date of birth, put in 01/01/1955 or 56 (or whatever) and the GRO will search one year either side.

It's a long winded process and could be financially prohibitive.

You could try and narrow down the list by trying to find later marriages or deaths, but the birth certificate, although it may be annotated to show and adoption, won't show the name after adoption which is where the contact registers come in.

Dawn

[JohnTOConnor1954]

Hello! ( 1st post )
 For many years i have worked as a motorcycle courier delivering small items mostly around London area but also over the whole country.About 18 months ago i had a delivery to "Assissi" in Hammer Lane Hindhead surrey, it was for me a strange experience driving from London to deliver the letter as it is the place i was born back in 1954. I had a short conversation with the present owner of the property and i explained my story briefly to him,He confirmed that his house was once a maternity home run by nuns and that there is a statue of the virgin mary in his rear garden from that era..So that was quite a coincidence.. I found out about 40 years ago my mothers name and my original name around the time they changed the law concerning the exchange of information with adopted children and parent/s - I believe it was kept secret from children and parents under the Adoption of Infants act 1926 to protect people adopting children from them being Rescued by their original parents..
Anyway I would like to try and find my Mother or any information about her. She was 15 years old when i was born in 1954 so she would be about 76 now and would have been born in 1939 roughly..
Her name was Margaret and my name John and i was born on December 21st 1954. So if you happen to read this I'm still alive and i hope you are too. I am very approachable and hope you are able one day to read this.. Good luck to all the other folk in their journeys for information. The full address for "Assissi"  is   Assisi, Hammer Lane, Grayshott, Hindhead Surrey  GU26 6JD
or just type the postcode GU26 6JD into google maps and you can see the house via street view or an aerial shot or click on following link
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Grayshott,+Hindhead+GU26+6JD,+UK/@51.1267993,-0.7840224,158a,48.4y,2.59t/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x48743305106d0d27:0x5346924b738a8c47!8m2!3d51.1265359!4d-0.7835364
 Take care ..
 

[dawnsh]

Hi John

Welcome to Rootschat and thank you for posting

We have a clearly defined 'no living people' policy here and if it comes to light that your birth mother ist still alive, then this topic will be edited to remove her name.

http://www.rootschat.com/help/posting_guide.php

Rootschat isn't a forum for finding missing family and friends but we may be able to offer help or information in general terms and by personal message if you can increase your post count

http://www.rootschat.com/help/pms.php

The birth & file details were not withheld as part of the official secrets act but the Adoption of Infants act 1926.

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~framland/acts/adopt1926.htm

Have you accessed your file from the GRO at Southport?

What research have you done to find your birth mother? for example have you registered with the organisations shown in reply #6 on the previous page?

Have you checked the marriage index to see if she married after your birth?

http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl

Dawn

[JohnTOConnor1954]

Hi dawnsh Thanks for your quick reply and apologies for the mistakes in my post

[JohnTOConnor1954]

I have just written to the GRO to try and get on the register so i am still in the early stages but about 40 years ago i did get some info about my mother and my original Birth certificate but i will have to re apply for them as i no longer have them Did check out the BDM marriage search site with mixed success just now  I guess finding your site with info about Assissi rekindled my interest..There is a lot more information available nowadays compared with when i last tried to look years ago  Thanks for your reply will try and use e-mail when i get enough posts..