RootsChat.Com
Research in Other Countries => Canada => Topic started by: higherbound on Sunday 02 May 21 14:54 BST (UK)
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Hi, does anyone know if there is a way to ascertain whether a person was adopted? I have a person in my tree born in the 1910s - I have found their birth entry on the Vital Statistics website and the surname and the name of the mother all make it appear that the child is the birth child of those parents. But amongst family members there is a suggestion the child was adopted by these parents.
Is it the case that, once adopted, a replacement birth cerificate is issued, so that it appears that the adoptive parents are the birth parents? I.e. from a birth certificate there's no way to ascertain whether or not a child is adopted?
Many thanks
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There are essentially no records before 1925 most adoptions were through private agencies who didn't keep records.
Don
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Hi HB,
There wasn't any legal adoptions in most provinces until the 1920s in Canada. I have a lot of family adoptions where family members took on the child rearing of legit and illegit children of their siblings or other family members. As Don mentions many non-family adoptions were taken care of by lawyers and other agents. In most cases, few records are to be found. I was lucky enough to have several g-aunts and uncles willing to tell me of some of those adoptions - an example being my "uncle" who was in fact the son of her younger sister and hubby being adopted by my grandparents. In my case, this was in Ontario, but adoptions at that time would have been handled in a similar manner.
JDC
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Who is the child living with in the 1916 and 1921 Census?