Adoption records

[PAK]

I've read the rules about (possibly) living people so won't post any identifying details.

However, I recently got in touch with a long lost cousin for the first time in about 65 years. Now I have found (via Freebmd) that she had a brother that she never knew, born in 1946 some miles away from her own birthplace. As usual, that gives his birth registration district and the quarter of the year. I have bought a copy of the birth certificate and sent it to her.  The mother's details make it indisputably ours, even though the father's forename is slightly incorrect on the certificate. They separated around that time, so it may be that she deliberately declared an error.

That has been emotional enough for my cousin, and to a lesser extent for me, too. But now we are wondering what happened to him. Freebmd and other websites show no death record of him in the same area and an enquiry to the helpful registry office has not revealed any appropriate death record in the next couple of years.

That seems to leave adoption as a possibility, or of course a simple error at the registry office but they are few and far between.

If anyone has any bright ideas they are most welcome, but in particular I am looking for advice on how to trace adoptions.

[CaroleW]

Is his birth cert annotated “adopted”

Depending on how common his name is - have you looked for a marriage?

You can look for deaths up to 2020 yourself on the GRO website which gives the birthyear  but not full birthdate.   https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/Login.asp

Have you tried Googling him? 

Social media?

Electoral Registers - but a lot of people have opted out of the public register.  www.192.com

[majm]

Some further suggestions to add to CaroleWs ...

  Could he have been raised within his Dads family, or extended family .... 
  Have you approached a living relative who has been doing their family history and should be able to see the dilemma  and may support or offer a way to help
  is it possible the lad was sent to any of the British Dominions as part of child emigration plans - quite a number of threads and databases mentioned at RChat.  British Families often were unaware they were reliquinishing their child/children

JM

[PAK]

Thanks for such prompt replies. To take each suggestion in turn :
# No the birth certificate has no annotation
# yes I have looked for a marriage but there is nothing obvious, although of course he may have married well away from his birthplace
# I looked on the link to the gro website but the menu options seem to relate to reporting rather than searching unless you can point me to an option I may have missed.
# google, social media, 192.com - yes to all of them. The name is not common (e.g. it's not John Smith) but not highly distinctive either, so there are a dozen or so on 192.com, only one in the area where he was born but about 40 years too young.

His parents are both deceased and contact with his father's family was limited only to his partner and that some years ago. I'll have a look to see if I can identify his parents and any siblings, nieces, nephews but am far from sure it would be productive. Nevertheless, thanks for that idea.

I have found only this afternoon, a possible reference to someone born in 1946 but died in Australia in 1972. I'll see what else I can find about him.

Keep those ideas rolling!

[CaroleW]

Re GRO

Are you registered with them - it's free.  Create a user name & password

The link I gave is a login link.  When logged in - it will invite you to search for births or deaths.  Select deaths

If you put a year in - you can opt to search for a maximum of 2 years either side.  (eg) search year 2018 - select 2 yrs & search will be 2016-2020

If you use the GRO site - start with 2018 + 2 and work backwards

[CaroleW]

If you have Ancestry access they have outgoing passenger lists up to 1960 but if he did emigrate - it may have been as an adult rather than a child