adoption agency in Knightsbridge (London)

[Shelagh Teresa]

I also was adopted from the National Children Adoption Association in Knightsbridge, London in 1951 and have an identical letter that was sent to my birth mother after the adoption had been finalised. I don't know if she got a photograph although the letter says one is enclosed. I only received my adoption file 8 years ago when I discovered I was adopted. I was 65 years old then and am still very traumatised by the secrets and lies.
I was adopted by my mum and dad who lived in Liverpool and when I was about 5 years old a man and a woman visited us at home. The woman picked me up and seemed very pleased to see me. It was only a short visit, I don't think they even took their coats off. I have since found out that my birth mother married an American less than a year after my adoption and they returned to live in the US in 1957. I wonder now if she somehow found me and wanted to see me before she left. She had no more children.
Another thing that makes me wonder is that when I was about 8 years old a lady came to talk to my mum. I was made to leave the room. Soon after a little girl who was a year older than me came to stay with us. I was told she was my foster sister and her parents were unable to look after her for a while. She was with us for best part of a year. As I said, we lived in Liverpool but the little girl, Susan, was from London. Could she have been something to do with the NCAA?
I found my birth mother's family. I have 4 uncles still alive in Ireland, Australia and New Zealand and about 25 first cousins scattered far and wide. I'm still searching for my birth father's family. I can't begin to say how hard this is.

[Romilly]

Hi Shelagh Teresa,

There are lots of Facebook Groups that help people to research their birth parents, I don’t know if you’ve tried this?

There’s also Search Angels, who will assist you if you ask. I would enter Search Angels into the search facility on Facebook and see what comes up.

Best of luck with your search,
Romilly.

[Shelagh Teresa]

Hi Romilly

Thank you for your reply.
I have tried a few Facebook groups and various people have tried to help me. I have also done DNA tests with Ancestry and 23&me, uploaded my data to My Heritage and GEDmatch and FTdna. My birth parents were both from Ireland and Irish records are not the easiest to search.

I have a first cousin match on my birth father's side but he was also adopted. I'm pretty sure I've found his birth father (deceased) but still can't find mine. In fact if I wasn't here I'd say he didn't exist because I can't even find a birth record!

[Gillg]

My brother was adopted through this agency.  When he married, my mother offered him the correspondence with the agency, but he turned it down, saying that our parents were the only parents he wanted.  Much later in life he regretted this and after our parents died he set about finding his heritage.  We had a great deal of help from various sources, including RootsChatters, and he was able to make contact with his birth mother's brother and various cousins. 
I was the miracle baby who was born to my parents later, after they had been told that they would never be able to have children.  One elderly aunt inquired whether my parents would be sending my brother back, now that they had one of their own!  We were a very close family and my brother was my hero.  I also became friends with my brothers cousins in those later years. 

[Romilly]

Shelagh Teresa,

Something that might be worth trying is to upload to the Living DNA Site. I’ve tested with them, in addition to Ancestry and 23andme. Like you, I’ve also uploaded to My Heritage, FTDNA and Gedmatch.

The reason that I am suggesting Living DNA is because they give the most detailed breakdown of British Isles ethnicities,and this might help you to pin down exact areas of Ireland to concentrate on.

If you could persuade your 1st cousin on your Birth Father’s side to also upload to that Site, it should assist you with sorting matches.

Another thought is, - have you tried doing a ‘Quick and Dirty Tree’ on Ancestry using your DNA matches? I’m a novice to this, but am in the process of doing one to try to identify my ever elusive Paternal Grandfather. Try googling this, and it will explain it better than I can!

Best wishes Romilly.