Child Given Up For Adoption

[Bekki]

Hi

I have read lots of links/answers and replies to 'adoption' but cannot find the answer to my query.

A relative (now deceased) was adopted in 1910 by family members (her Aunt) - I cannot locate he birth certificate.

It is known that when she was a young woman she got pregnant and was sent away to Hastings to give birth and have the child adopted.  I guess this would have been after 1927

How do I find out about this child?  Would they have been registered in her Mother's name (if so which one - her original name or adopted name) or would they instantly have been registered in the adoptive parent's name.

Unfortunately there is no one left in the family of the generation to ask about this. It was very hush-hush at the time and although my relative went on to have a very long and happy marriage, she never had any more children

 

I would be grateful for any comments
Thanks
Bekki

[Inicky]

i dont know about that long ago, and things may of changed, but my friend who was adopted in about 1970, her original birth cert showed her birth mothers  name, however when she was adopted she got a new birth cert in her adoptive parents name, she wasn't allowed access to her original cert until she was 18 years old.

[suzard]

i dont know about that long ago, and things may of changed, but my friend who was adopted in about 1970, her original birth cert showed her birth mothers  name, however when she was adopted she got a new birth cert in her adoptive parents name, she wasn't allowed access to her original cert until she was 18 years old.

A birth to an unmarried woman would be registered in the mother's name - the father could only be on the certificate if he attended the registration.
When a child is adopted they are not given a new birth certificate in adoptive parents names - they have an adoption certificate which gives the adoptive parents' names but not the birth parent names. The adoption certificate is then used in place of the original birth certificate . A shortened form of the adoption certificate looks very much like a short form of the birth certificate - and that is how many adopted children never realised they were adopted -
The original birth registration of the child is never removed from the records -neither is the name altered.

Hope this helps

Suz

[Bekki]

Sorry, I am still confused.......

As the birth Mother was adopted herself (1910) would she have been required to put her birth name or adopted name on the child's certificate - considering it was before official adoption began ?

Also as I am doing this research in reverse............  would I be looking in the GRO for a certificate of the child under the birth Mother's name ? ........  if not and the GRO carries only the adopted name, how do I find that ?

Thanks
B

[dawnsh]

Hi Becki

Legal adoption in England & Wales commenced in 1927, earlier adoptions therefore won't be recorded anywhere.

The birth should be registered in the name that the mother was using at the time of the birth.

I have seen more than one instance where the mothers surname on the birth cert is not the one you would have thought it was, most probably done to conceal the situation. Sometimes the grandmothers surname was used 

There is a GRO adopted Childrens Register but it's not available online and only available on microfiche at the 7 host sites around the UK,
Birmingham Central Library
Bridgend Local and Family History Centre
City of Westminster Archives Centre
Manchester City Library
Newcastle City Library
Plymouth Central Library and
The British Library

If you can't get to one of the locations send me the a pm with the adopted name and I'll have a look next time I'm at the archives.


There is no way of linking an original birth entry with an entry in the adopted childrens register unless you know both names.

Dawn
 

[LizzieW]

A shortened form of the adoption certificate looks very much like a short form of the birth certificate - and that is how many adopted children never realised they were adopted -

One of our sons is adopted and he does a lot of Agency work.  One Agency wouldn't accept his adoption certificate in place of a birth certificate as they said it wasn't the real thing!  After being told by my son that DVLA, etc accepted it, the agency relented.  They only wanted it for ID, so not sure why they weren't happy with our son's photo driving licence.

Lizzie