Sorry it's just way back near the beginning of this post it said mums name and in brackets that she was deceased. I was also told that from a lady that turns out to be my cousin on mums side. I was only going by what I was told but i'm more than happy to take my posts down. My partner put the original comment up so when she gets home I will get her to take them off as well (I don't know how to sign in to hers). May I ask how I delete my comments on here please i'm new to this site
Hi there,
Your cousin on your mum's side and you share at least one grandparent. You need to consider searching for that grandparent or their siblings.
Back in the 1960s relinquishing mothers in NSW were often harassed into giving up their babies. Sometimes these mums were banished from their families. Sometimes these mums' families came to assume that lack of contact meant they were no longer living and sometimes those aunts/uncles had children (your first cousins) who may have overheard and mis-understood adult conversations, afterall
'as though she is dead' is very different from
'we went to her funeral'. The NSW Adoption laws from that era were restrictive and harsh. Plus, the wages for any female were much lower than any male wage as this was before 'equal pay for equal work of equal value'. Social security payments in that era did not help support single mums either, and this was before the introduction of the Federal Family Court.
Today's NSW Adoption laws are very different and there's various organisations that are available to help find information for both relinquishing parents and for their offspring. BUT those NSW laws still provide for the expectation of personal privacy to the relinquishing mum, her offspring, her offspring's father, and their respective extended family members, as well as the family who adopted you.
I cannot find anything in my offline NSW resources to support the notion that your relinquishing mum is no longer living, and from the information that is still displayed on this thread I am concerned that her expectation to privacy may be infringed as in NSW any living person's name is part of their identifying data, so it is subject to privacy and sensitivity considerations. (Her name, her probable address as per say Ancestry's uploaded 1970s electoral rolls - these infringe her personal privacy, and your own info - that also infringes her personal privacy)
If you are seeking medical history about your maternal line, then your maternal cousins should be able to help, but I would urge them to do so offline or by personal message. If you are seeking contact with your biological living relatives, then you should be seeking assistance from the organisations dedicated to those efforts, as RChat is about helping with research about our deceased ancestors.
From our HOW TO thread, :
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=368728.0 RootsChat - Our Policy on Living Persons.
Here on RootsChat we are very concerned that the privacy and security of the living is protected. For this reason we do not allow searches for living persons. Although we fully understand you would like recent information to add to your tree, or that you may wish to make contact with birth families, relatives you lost contact with when they immigrated to Australia, missing family or friends, we are afraid we are unable to assist you.
We are very sorry for the inconvenience this causes you but we are sure you will appreciate the reasons for this.
Please See:- http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,142443.0.html My wishes for you include every positive thought for you to find your birth family, and I urge you to contact your local organisations with the training and the experienced staff to work with you towards that goal.
JM
