Genealogy Chat

If you are looking for someone who was adopted - how was their name registered at birth?
Did the birth mother register the child by a name chosen by them which would have subsequently got changed?
Anyone know?

Cheers

Suzie

I suppose it depends on circumstances.
I only know one person.She was registered in the normal way by her mother.
There is no indication on the Gro index that she was adopted but it is on the cert. itself.

Babies can't be adopted straight from birth. (It might be 3 months but not 100% sure). The birth is registered as normal then the entry amended as Satnav says.
jan

a birth mother ( or her representative) would register the birth - mayor may not give a forename. Maybe register as ''female Bloggs''

When the baby is formally adopted THEN usually it s given a new name which is placed on the adoption register, not the birth register.

To the best of my knowledge the original entry isn't ammended at all, and will remain for all eternity.

its only when you recieve the cert that it will say 'adopted' on the far right. There is usually no indication in the indexes

hi,the above would have only happend after 1927 when formal adoption started,before that you could give your child away without paper work.x
ps im not the suzanne that started this thread im the other one(it can be confusing)x

Many thanks for the responses everyone.

Suzie :-)

My Mother's birth certificate has no indication that she was later adopted. (1946)

There were different criteria on the birth records according the when the adoptions took place, I know of two adoptions where if you look at the GRO birth record there is a small s against the page nos . Anyone applying for the birth would only get issued a small cert ie no parents names would show.
A full cert though is in the childs folder and would only be open to that child when they applied for access

My dad, born 1926, was adopted in 1942, aged 16.
He is registered in his birth name in 1926. At the bottom of this page his (birth) surname is handwritten, with a reference number against it.

He is then registered under his adoptive name in 1942.
again, at the bottom of the page, his (adoptive) is handwritten, and another reference number written against it.

The 1926 ref number refers to the 1942 adoption, and the 1942 ref refers to the 1926 birth.

Dad only ever had a short birth certificate.

I have since acquired his adoption certificate, and am amazed that at no point did his adoptive father sign anything. In fact,at the time of his adoption, the certificate shows the addresses of both my gran (who registered the adoption)and dad's 'adoptive' father - whom gran had apparently just married -and they're living in different counties.

Oh - and I have never found a marriage for them - but they did live together for a couple of years just before his death - but gran never went to his funeral!!

She was a lovely lady though!!

I was adopted in March 1943 (born November 1942) and my birth was registered in Wolverhampton by my biological mother Doris Hall.
My surname was subsequently changed to March (my adopted parents) which appears on my birth certificate. My biological mother for some time lived in Kirkby-in-Ashfield where I resided for over 20 years. I was informed by a family friend that my biological mother had further children who would have been my half siblings. I was never able to contact them and would like to know how one goes about tracing them if possible.
I unfortunately do not know the married name of my biological mother so not sure what my next step would be.

Hi Suzie,
I was adopted in 1943 and my birth was registered using my mother's surname. This was subsequently changed and I was given the name of my adopted parents which appears on my birth certificate.
I can tell you it is practically impossible to trace the birth mother as I have had no success although the law was changed sometime ago whereby anyone adopted after 1976 is able to contact his or her birth parents with less red tape involved.
Wishing you every success.
Geoffrey

When the records were kept at Somerset House then later St Catherines House in London I discovered the two separate sections regarding children that were adopted.The main thing I found was that the medical number which people are given at birth never alters making it easier to cross reference.
Hazel

My sis in law adopted 2 children in 1965 and 1967 She had them from 6 weeks old but they were 6 months old before the adoption went through.

I think this is to give the mother time to change her mind and sis in law was nervous this might happen. On GRO birth indexes both childrens births have the ref number crossed out and a hand written ref no put in the margin

One child looked for his mother with adopted parents blessing when he was 17. Sadly she didnt want any contact with him