Genealogy Chat

This is a hopeless case but one of my friends is trying to trace her half brother. The problem is her father won't tell her anything. The only info she has is he was born 1963 and she knows where her Father and the baby's Mother were living when he was conceived. (They were both young so she was probably sent away to a mother and baby unit)

I really can't think of any way she could find him without a birthdate or name for him or his Mother. So can anyone think of anything?

If she has an address, then the mother's name might be found on an electoral roll at the nearest library.

Rose

Hi Janet

It's not completely hopeless :-) there are a few things your friend can do. However, you do need to know the surname of the birth mother.

As Rose suggested if you knew where the birth mum lived at the time... you could do a search at the local library and provided she was living at home with her family it will reveal her family name (I am assuming b/mum was under 21 and was too young to appear on the E/roll at that time).

Have you searched the birth index in your father's surname? If he gave his permission at the time, then the child would be registered in both the mother and father's names and will have the same GRO reference numbers. You can order the birth certificate from the GRO website. Should GRO enquire why you want the cert just tell them you need it in order to join The Adoption Contact Register (ACR)... which is true.

There are two parts to the ACR. Part 1 is for the adoptee and Part 2 for birth family members. For a small fee she can join part 2. Should her brother join part 1 the two files are married and the adoptee is notified that a birth family member wishes contact. It is up to the adoptee to initiate contact.

Secondly, since December 2005 birth family members now have a legal right to apply for contact with an adopted person through an Adoption Support Agency. There is a fee for this and and can cost up to 1000 pounds as it involves searches and accessing the adoption file... with no guarantee of a successful outcome.

A couple of good websites to read up on is the GRO website and click into adoptions. Plus www.adoptionsearchreunion.org.uk this website gives great information on how to search and who to apply to should your friend decide to apply through an Adoption Support Agency.

Hope your friend has good luck with her search.

Cheers Gerry

Hiya, thanks for the answers. In case he was registered in both names I'll have a look through the indexes. There's only 861 kids with the fathers surname born that year lol. But of course 430 of those will be female and I should be able to discount all those who aren't within London or at least the south east. Wouldn't it be fantastic if the Mother stayed in the area for the birth.

I just hope the Mothers parents had the sense to think it would be better to have the fathers name on the certiificate. (I don't think either of the childs parents were given a choice as to what would happen to the baby as they were both 15 at the conception)

I''ve only found birth family for adoptees in the past and that is so much easier!

Don't be so negative! - some of the births will be eliminated by deaths. Also, even if the mother was sent to mother & baby unit it is normally their home address is registered on the birth, not the unit's address.

Do you know if they were Catholic, could help narrow down the search for an area?

They weren't anything that I know of. I've found out it could be 1964 as all we know is the father was 16 when the baby was born. If the father's name went on the certificate I have got something like 500 births of males to eliminate because of the surname concerned. Thank goodness it isn't Smith!

If you have a last known address, you could try a street search on friends reunited and see if a neighbour is listed who could give you more details.
Good luck,
Liz

So you know if the baby was adopted?

Rose

We don't have an address just the area of London that the parents were living. The parents were kids themselves and just struck unlucky. I'm sure that the parents of the Father would have made him do his "duty" if the girl had kept the baby. (I had the pleasure of meeting them once, very stiff upper lip, cold fish)
The Father was an only child so there aren't any uncles or aunts to question.

If that young then a likely chance the b/m would have been sent outside the area for the birth and not on the door step,so that widens the area even more,,,,,,if the child was adopted and has now found the b/m theres a chance the b/f maybe looked for in due course.?

If the parents of the father are no longer alive, their will might mention the child.

Rose

I think Liz is on the right track with friendsreunited. Do you know where they went to school? perhaps you could make some discreet enquiries who the father went out with.

Gerry

Not sure if this was the case in the 1960s, but in early 1980 to have the father named on a birth record if they weren't married he would actually have to be present at the registration. Is that likely under the circumstances, especially if the child was given up for adoption?

There's only one child born in area and I can discount him. I doubt the grandparents would have mentioned the child in a will. As far as I can make out they didn't approve of their son. He didn't meet their expectations and was a failure in their eyes.

My understanding is that fathers had to either present or give written permission. Mac you're probably right if the young mum was sent to a mother and baby home, it's unlikely the fathers name will be on the birth cert.

Joan.



Yes that would have been the case and still is with fostering,as a natural parent still has court granted visiting rights ,a child allowed to be adopted follows a different process.

But more often and back in the 60s more often than not the young mum gave birth away from the area of home and had no choice as the legal age was 21 and a parent could then as now make any decision.