Half Sister from Dads side

[muny321]

I have a half sister from my dad's first marriage. I've known about her for ages, for some reason it's only occurred to me to try and find her. My dad still has her birth certificate and, from what what I can understand from dad's first divorce papers, I think she was put into the system. I'm lost on where to start and could do with some help!

Thanks

[Ruskie]

Don’t mention names of anyone still living, but in which country and what year was she born?

[Ayashi]

Rootschat deals primarily with researching family history (so, our bygone ancestors) rather than anything to do with living relatives. We can make suggestions but for most of us this is out of our area of expertise.

The Salvation Army is supposedly experienced in this kind of thing, might be worth an enquiry?

When you say into the system, does it seem that she was adopted? If yes, would it be likely that her name was changed? (that is to say, if she was an infant it would be likely, if an older child perhaps not)

You could try using birth, marriage and death records to see if you can find a marriage under her birth name (assuming she is old enough). Alternatively, see if her mother had a second marriage.

You could try looking up her name, or the name of a known relative of hers, on social media.

[Jackiemh]

It may be worth talking to your Dad's siblings or cousins, if you can, as they may be aware of what happened to your half-sister.
Jackie

[muny321]

So a bit more detail:

1) Dads first marriage was in  1970's
2) Half Sister was born in 1970's, Glasgow, Scotland (I have the exact birthdate not sure if I can mention it here)
3) Divorced 1970's - It states on the divorce certificate that her care was "committed to the Minuters Strathclyde Regional Council in term of section 10". Based on this I have assumed she was either put up for adoption or was put into foster care.

I don't think my dad knows that me and my other 2 siblings are aware of his first marriage and child. Our relationship isn't the best so asking him wouldn't get anywhere and the rest of his family are all in India so highly unlikely they will know anything.

[aghadowey]

The Salvation Army is supposedly experienced in this kind of thing, might be worth an enquiry?

The Salvation Army do not trace missing family members who were adopted-
We are not able to become involved in searches for biological family, where adoption away from birth family has taken place, due to current UK legislation.
https://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/about-family-tracing

[Ayashi]

The Salvation Army is supposedly experienced in this kind of thing, might be worth an enquiry?

The Salvation Army do not trace missing family members who were adopted-
We are not able to become involved in searches for biological family, where adoption away from birth family has taken place, due to current UK legislation.
https://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/about-family-tracing

Ah, well, I did say not my area of expertise! 

Really, the search is going to be easier if she wasn't adopted... Without knowing more about the details we don't know if she was adopted or if her birth mother/family reclaimed her later.

[Ruskie]

The Salvation Army is supposedly experienced in this kind of thing, might be worth an enquiry?

The Salvation Army do not trace missing family members who were adopted-
We are not able to become involved in searches for biological family, where adoption away from birth family has taken place, due to current UK legislation.
https://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/about-family-tracing

Ah, well, I did say not my area of expertise! 

Really, the search is going to be easier if she wasn't adopted... Without knowing more about the details we don't know if she was adopted or if her birth mother/family reclaimed her later.

Yes, if mother remarried, daughter could have taken the surname of her new stepfather.

Have you thought about contacting the Strathclude authorities? Doubtful they would give you any details, even if they have the records, due to privacy concerns. I wonder if they would be willing to give you vague rather than specific information?

It still might be worth asking your father the questions - if you are not on good terms anyway, maybe you have nothing to lose.  Only you can make that decision.

You obviously know the name of the first wife - have you tried looking for her? Social media? A general internet search sometimes throws up useful results, though probably not useful if she remarried and changed her name.

DNA testing is also worth condidering. If your half sister was adopted and knows that she was, she may have taken a DNA test.

[TerriG]

Hi
Have you seen your half sister's birth certificate?  If so, obviously you'll have her name given at birth which you could use to search social media.  If you don't have a name, depending on the surnames involved, you might be able to find it with a search on Scotland's People.  Her parents divorced when she was 2, so I doubt that her first name would have been changed if she had been adopted.  As Ruskie suggested, a search for her mother is worth a try.
Terri