Adoption References

[dave1948]

Hi Guys,

I am trying to find out if, in 1934 after a birth had been registered in the birth mothers name, when the baby was adopted in a new name, does the original registration reference get changed to reflect an 'amended' certificate registration?

Thanks,  Dave.

[Flemming]

Hello Dave, I've seen a couple of GRO birth registrations with the word 'Adopted' written on them but nothing other than this - no reference to the adoptive parents or any change of name. Is this what you mean? Others may have different experiences of this, and I've been told that not all adoptees have such a note on their registrations. BW, flemming.

[davidft]

As Flemming has already said you will not find details of the birth parents on an adoption record. The General Registrar's Office is responsible for the records and answers some questions here that may help

https://www.gov.uk/adoption-records

[AntonyMMM]

The process (after the Adoption Act 1926) ......

When the court issues the adoption order, a note is sent to the superintendent registrar of the district where the original birth register entry is held. The entry is annotated in the margin with the word "adopted" and signed by the superintendent registrar. No other changes are made, and the new name is not added to the entry.

A new entry is made in the Adopted Children Register, held by GRO, which shows the child in their new name and with their adoptive parents. A certificate from that is issued which effectively becomes the adopted person's birth certificate for official purposes.

The two entries are not linked together or cross referenced to each other on the documents themselves ( there is a record of the link kept, but not that an unauthorised person can access ).

[Flemming]

Hello Antony, ref the record of the link, can this be accessed by adoption intermediaries, for example ones registered by OFSTED?

[AntonyMMM]

Hello Antony, ref the record of the link, can this be accessed by adoption intermediaries, for example ones registered by OFSTED?

For the adopted person (and in some cases now their relatives) there is a statutory process for them to access their own adoption records and birth register entry. 

Tracing an adoption forward is much more complex - an authorised intermediary would be able to advise on what the processes are.

[Flemming]

OK, thanks. GRO lists some intermediaries and presume this is what they do.

On another point, do you know about the adoption index held in nominated libraries? I've looked at fiche from the 1960s and found adopted name and date of adoption, nothing more. In earlier decades, however, going back to the 1930s for example, I was able to see more information than this, although I'm having a senior moment and can't recall what that extra information was. I do recall that the method of indexing changed around 1949.

Thanks for any light you can shed.

[dave1948]

Hi guys,

Thanks for your replies and help. In my personal case, I adopted 2 of my children in 1970's, thereby changing their surnames. FreeBMD shows a rather different number to the normal page number with  '/S' after each. I believe that refers to Sep Quarter.

The ones I am looking at in 1934 still has the ordinary number and no reference to 'adopted' or other changes to it.

(Please delete if I am not allowed the following, but it may help.) The children I am looking at are a brother and sister born SepQ 1934 in Plymouth, 5b 325 & 5b 326. 

Could they still have been adopted with a different legal (as for purpose of Marriage) name without a reference change?

Many thanks,  Dave.

[Flemming]

Hello Dave, my understanding is that the birth registration stays in the original name, and isn't amended to reflect an adopted name. As an example, we are looking for someone whose birth certificate is in their birth name, with 'adopted' written on it, and it's their birth name that's in the indexes. We've no way of knowing the name they may have been given after adoption. The only way to trace the person in question is via an adoption intermediary.

Conversely, if you know the adopted name, you can check this on the adoption register fiches in certain libraries (Plymouth being one of them, coincidentally enough) to see when the person was adopted, but not their birth name.