RootsChat.Com

Hi there I was adopted and I have an adopted son. My adoption was within the family and I was aged 10 at the time in the late 50's so I did know my parents names etc even though my name was changed on the adoption.
When I was older (36) I applied for my birth certificate and had to see a counsellor before it was issued. It didn't really matter because by then I had traced my natural mother. I had to write to some place in Portsmouth for the actual certificate and the Counsellor had to agree to the release of that certificate. I would have traced much earlier if I had had the knowhow.

In respect of my son, I was issued with a form that gave his birth parents names and mine and my husbands as his adoptive parents. I also knew the family history and medical history of his birth parents. His adoption took place in the mid 1970's and although I have passed on this documentation to him as yet he has made no attempts to trace his birth parents. He is now nearly 40
years old. Maybe it is a male thing to not trace.
Pennine

Hello there, I found all these stories really sad and feel for the relatives who are upset by the revelations of their research.

I too feel sad about one of my great uncles. My Grandmother gave birth to triplets at home in the 1920's. The first child was born with the umbilical cord around his neck. The inexperienced midwife removed the cord, pronounced the child dead and moved on to the next child about to be born. The two remaining children, identical twins survived but the first child who was also identical to them sadly did die because he had not been helped at birth. My Grandmother was a very experienced nurse and she repeatedly told the midwife to see to the first child, clear his airways etc. The midwife refused convinced the child was still born. Later postmortem revealed that the first child though full term and a good weight and extremely healthy, had mucos in his throat preventing him breathing. If the midwife had done what grandma had said, that child would have survived with his brothers.
In those days it was just accepted as an accident of birth. These days the mother would have sued the backside off the midwife.
Even back then grandma held the child and had him christened before burial. I have often thought about how he would have been if he had lived and how as an identical triplet life would've been for him and his brothers.

Pennine

Thank you all for your help. I am still using the same email address for Rootschat that I have always used and happily I have found the post I was looking for thanks to your advice.

Pennine.

Doh! I am either thick or very tired. Sorree! Will try that. Thank you for replying.
Pennine.