Genealogy Chat

hi
would someone born in 1962 and adopted have their birth registerd twice ? once in original name and then again in adopted name ?
thanks

I think how it works is, the original name will be on the Birth Index but the new (adoptive) name is put on a different register and I'm not sure if it is accessible to the public or not.

I can find myself in my birth name on the birth index but not in my adoptive name because my adoptive name is put on a separate index - I think it is what's known as a "closed" register so probably isn't accesible to the public.

Hope that helps.

thanks kate that is a great help. my friend thinks she might have been adopted but her parents have died and she has never needed to see her birth cert. she is about to get married aged 46 and needs a passport for her honeymoon so birth cert is needed but when she has applied for one they are saying they cant find a birth for that year with that name to the parents named. she has no idea what to do now. she is an only child and she has her parents marriage cert and they had been married 8 years before she was born and they were aged 28 when they married.
any ideas anyone ?
if i dont get back to you i am off to bed but will catch up tomorrow
thanks

Can confirm what Kate said above.

However, its worth trawling through the quarterly birth records carefully, for the year she was born, in case there was a small typo error in details of record.

If she applied for a certificate and she HAD been adopted then she would have been sent the certificate with her "adopted" name - and the birth certificate would be endorsed "adopted".

So, for example, if a child is born and registered by birth parent(s) as George Smith, but he is later adopted by a family called Jones - he may keep his first name and become George Jones - with the date of his birth correct and the word adopted alongside the details.

The Jones family may also change his first name to, say Ronald, so he then gets a birth cert. saying Ronald Jones, correct date of birth, with the word adopted on it. He will never know that he was originally called George Smith, unless he applies for his ORIGINAL birth certificate, giving his "adopted" certificate details.

Hi Carter

When a child is born they are registered in the birth register in their birth name.

After an adoption has been granted in the court the child is then placed on the Adopted Children Register in their adoptive name. This register is not for public view, however, the index to it is available at some main libraries in England and Wales.

Should your friend be adopted she can apply for her full (or short) Adoption Certificate online through the GRO website using a credit card. She will know enough information to complete the form.

In order to apply for her original birth certificate she would have to know her birth name. Go to www.gro.gov.uk and click into adoptions it will tell you exactly what to do as your friend was born prior to 1975.

Also another good website is www.adoptionsearchreunion.org.uk

Hope this helps.

Cheers Gerry

thanks everyone i will pass this on to her you have all been really helpful
linda x

Also, if your friend needs her birth certificate for a passport, I have a feeling that because she has been adopted the person who existed in her original name on her original birth certificate legally ceased to exist when she was formally adopted.

For instance (not using my real names here) had I been born Kate Smith and then adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Brown, the adoption certificate issued in the name of Kate Brown would replace Kate Smith's birth certificate. (Or at least that's how I understand it.) Unfortunately I was only born in 1984 and the records on Ancestry for that time period don't have images.

Kate

You cannot cease to exist :-) you 'simply' had a name change.

Your birth will be recorded in the births in your birth name and your adoption will be listed in the Adopted Children Register in your adoptive name.

According to the GRO website the short adoption certificate (which looks like a regular short birth certificate) is sufficient to get a passport. It makes no mention of adoption.

A full adoption certificate gives names and address of adoptive parents. The date of the adoption order and the name of the court where the adoption was granted.

Cheers Gerry

hi read ur post my husband was born 1962 and adopted out he had to go get a copy of his original b/cert in edinburgh then we had to go next door to it to the archives where he had to sign for his adoption papers to be opened but the papers have to stay there and are not open to the public but they are more than willing to copy the full lot for u free of charge hope this helps

Hi Carter,

Just another thought as in my case.

My mum is Scottish and my dad is French and they were married and settled down in Scotland where all of their children were born.
However looking through Scotland`s People shows all of my family with two exceptions............My father and myself as he was French born and after their marriage my parents went to France where I was born, then mum got homesick and they returned to Scotland where they stayed.
So I was not adopted, just born in another country!

Frank