Mother and Baby Homes- Birkenhead - 60’s/70’s

[Elswick]

Would anyone here know of any M&B homes that were operational through the 60’s and 70’s in the Birkenhead area/Liverpool area?

Thanks in advance!

[CaroleW]

Quite a number - do you have the birth cert for the person as it may give an address at which the birth took place

[Elswick]

I’ve asked for those details but I’m
yet to receive them.

[CaroleW]

Given that there are 2 counties involved in your search - Lancashire & Cheshire - it would be best to wait for the info from the birth cert

[Elswick]

Sorry for the confusion this is going to cause but I've only just learnt the place of birth details.

Place of birth is as follows:

Lady Forester Memorial Hospital, Church Street, Broseley, Shropshire (Broseley Cottage Hospital).  It's a small town just outside the southern edge of Telford.  It was an NHS hospital from 1945.  This was the place of birth, but being an NHS hospital it's almost certainly not the mother and baby home that was involved. 

At the moment we have no idea of the mother and baby home, it has to be either the Birkenhead area or the Telford area, possibly around Much Wenlock or thereabouts. 

[CaroleW]

What are you trying to establish?

If she spent time in a mother & baby home prior to & after the birth - it’s unlikely that home now exists or has records from 80yrs ago.    Her hospital records may show the address if she was admitted to hospital from the home prior to the birth & discharged back there after the birth.

If the child was adopted -  you need to contact Social Services as any records would be held by them

[Elswick]

I'm helping someone with their personal story.  I have a great deal of experience in this sort of research having undertaken the same journey myself (and been successful).  Whether the mother and baby home still exists is neither here nor there as the records in question almost certainly still exist, the problem is tracking them down.  The records we're after are protected by law, and the law is on the side of the person I'm helping, so in principle these records are obtainable.  Adoption IS involved, and I'm very familiar with the process's involved and the laws (unlike many in social services). Social services do not hold historical adoption records (generally speaking), but they are the official link between the adoptee and the endless agencies tasked with archiving these types of records, all requests for records must come from social services.

Ps. The era I’m interested in is the 60’s, not the 40’s.