Genealogy Chat

Nudge

nudge

Nudge

MM,

A good question about rights of access once the 75 year protection period has expired.

In truth I do not know the answer. I suspect however that should anyone wish to access a record they may be allowed to do so under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

I am glad to note that you have no intention of trying to access the lady's adoption records whilst she is still alive and I hope that your consideration and restraint is an example followed by others.

The wife of my husband's cousin was adopted almost at birth, she has always known that. Her husbands family are keen on family history and I've provided them all with what I've found so far. This lady expressed an interest in getting her birth and adoption records, so I furnished her with the information to do so, but she thought about it and decided not to.

Is that the end of it? You say adoption records are protected for 75 years (this lady is in her 80s), so does that mean that at some point I would be able to access her records? I have no intention of doing so while she is still alive, that would be insensitive.

Meg

A useful post to nudge....i think someone mentioned adoptions earlier

Hi Sheila,

Yes I am still alive and kicking and a fully paid up member of GR.

HI Jonsey;

Are you still around on this site ? :O)

Yes Jonesey - it is rather - but I am not giving up and with the help of kind people on here I may be able to go further - Hopefully might find the other brother - at least we found one (just so happens he lives in Australia!!! but we are in constant contact and hopefully he will come over soon and meet Dad and us) thanks for the info anyway - SAL

Island,

The problem with family stories is that they frequently get distorted as the years roll by. 100 years is a very long time. Like most people there were family stories that I heard. In most cases there was a grain of truth in them but equally through research I have discovered that either I or the person who passed the story on to me had misinterpreted some of the facts.

Rather than being adopted in is it possible that at some stage in their lives the children were adopted out of the family instead. Have you managed to follow your great uncle and his wife or indeed the children themselves forward in time to see what became of them?

Sally,

What a sad tale. I don't know the answer to the dilema and confess that I did not know about the passport application system which has been mentioned. The problem with that of course being that not too many people would be travelling abroad at that time in any case.

Like I mentioned in my original post there were many reasons why children were either put/taken into care and subsequently adopted. Maybe in this case there was illness in the family, perhaps of the mother which is why the eldest daughter remained in the household for a while after her brothers ended up in childrens homes. It sounds as if this all happened during wartime so as you say who knows what happened then. Normal life if there is such a thing certainly ceased for many.

Good luck with your research.

If the person was adopted after 1934 would the same apply for passport applica tions do you think???? The person I am tracing was adopted after 1939 (don't know the date) - when my dad was adopted he was nearly 3 as he was in the Childrens Society Home from a year and half old. I still don't understand really why he was adopted - he was the eldest boy and took his grandfathers name!!! His sister the eldest was kept but apparently went to a friends house down the road from where they lived. The third one we can't find and the forth was kept till he was 4 then sent to a childrens home near Chester (they all lived in London) and then the 5th which I am trying to find was adopted!!!????? Who knows what went on in those days!!

In the last series of the Family History programmes which run on BBC 4 from timt to time (listeners are asked to submit questions) one of the Questions was "how do I find out who my father was when I am illigitimate and adopted before 1927 ?"

This was put to the guest research specilist and he actually found him !

His advice was to check the passport applications-I think he said that applications for passports before 1934 for adopted children had to give full details of the childs parentage.
I gather this was how he found this particular lady's father's name.

Hi Jonesey - thanks for the nudge Jan.
Is there any way I could trace an adopted person do you think without having to spend thousands of pounds!!!!!!!?????? I am sure I remember years ago when I went to St Catherines House there was a register of all the adoption which we could look at - obviously you'd have to go through thousands of names but luckily cause I had my dads adoption certificate I knew who his biological parents were and found the entry. Unfortunately a sister of his was also adopted - I know where her file is and have been in touch with the people who have it but all I was told was I could write a letter to her and they would put it in her file if she ever requested to see the file - so would be very surprised if I get anywhere like that (although I have written a letter). Any other ideas please - SAL

Hi Island,

I doubt that it was normal practice but I would think that there were almost certainly instances where that did happen.

n for Sally

The dates vary slightly throuout the UK. The relevant UK acts are:
Adoption of Children Act, 1926
Adoption of Children Act (Northern Ireland), 1929
Adoption of Children (Scotland) Act, 1930

Thank you for your replies. I agree, it must help if the child is aware of the true situation. It came as a great shock to my mother when she found out. She was in her forties by then, and her real mother, her 'pretend' parents, ie her grandparents, and the brothers, who were in fact her uncles, had all died some years before. It changed the way she viewed her childhood (and actually gave a reason for the way her 'parents' had acted as they did towards her). But not easy to deal with out of the blue.

But, to return to my original point, it doesn't seem likely that there was a formal adoption does it? My mother's birth was registered in her mother's maiden name (she'd never needed to see a long version of her birth certificate!) and so it didn't need to be changed when she was brought up by her grandparents.

Sue
Regards Sue

A member of my staff was in exactly the same situation, uncle Jonesey, but even at the age of 7 the child knew the exact situation and the circumstances surrounding it. She was a very balanced child and her mother lived in the same house. SO important for the child to know her origins I feel.
thanks again,
love
Jill

My cousin's wife had a baby son before she married him.

The boy was raised by his maternal grandparents. He never lived with his mother after she married.

There was no 'legal' arrangement, they just did it.

He's in his mid 40's now; I assume he knows the truth. I haven't seen him in years.