Genealogy Chat

Hi Everyone

I hope you can help me with this query.

My friend was born in March 1955,her mother met an English service man (army) in Plymouth Uk .
She became pregnant and my friend was the result,she was adopted buy her mothers husband when she was three yrs old .
Her real father paid maintenance for her up to the age of three so he was known to the family,her mother has since died without my friend knowing his full name we only know his surname.

She is now looking for her real father ,is there anyone who can help with this ...I do have her birth cert in her birth name as registered but she did go by her adopted name.

Who do we call and wright to for details of her real father

I can give full details by Pm if you can help with this .

Thank You
Suex

is he named on her birth cert?
do you have any proof of maintainance? Any maintaainance order would have his full name on, so i guess that a no

Hi Penny

No he is not named on the birth cert ,he did pay maintenance until she was three,where do I find the Maintenance order and what do we have to do to access it..

Her mother is dead and she has no other info on her father and all other members of the family do not know anything about him.

He was station in Plymouth in 1954 when my friend was conceived.
Sue

It sounds like the maintenance stopped when the adoption took place (which it would do when her father was no longer legally responsible for her), in which case details of the maintenance and therefore her father might be on her adoption file (assuming the family were up front about the fact he was paying maintenance!).

Has she applied for access to her adoption file? If not, that might be the best thing to do.

I think a maintenance order when the parents were not married would probably have been done through affiliation proceedings in a magistrates court, but I have no idea if you would be able to access those records, assuming they exist.

Hi Donna
Thank You for your reply

Where do we apply for the Adoption File please.

We all live in Australia and do not have a clue where to start looking for that,my friend came from Plymouth back then.

I have traced her family on one side of her family but can go no further with her biological father.

Any help you can give us will be great.

Again thank you for taking to time to answer me.
Suex

If a UK resident you would have to apply to see the papers, meeting with an adoption adviser. So not sure how you would go about this from abroad. It might be an idea to contact the Australian equivalent of Social Services for advice as she can't be the only person in this position.

You could also contact NORCAP. This is a UK charity whose function is to support and help people regarding all aspects of adoption.

www.norcap.org.uk/

[email protected]

Jan

Your best bet might be to try emailing Plymouth City Council in the first instance and see what they suggest. You can email them at [email protected] and can also have a look at http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/homepage/socialcareandhealth/childrenssocialcare/adoptionandfostering/adoption/adoptedadults/tracingbirthrelatives1.htm

Ordinarily your friend would have to have some kind of counselling and then they would go through her file with her - I don't know whether they would want her to have that in Australia and would send her file over there? Best get in touch with them and see what they say.

Good luck. :-)

Hi Jan and Donna

Thank You all for your suggestions and we will act on them.

Many Thanks

Suexx

Magistrate Court Record Books are available to see at local archives as long as they are more than 30 years ago.

I found the maintenance order that was granted to my grandmother when my grandfather deserted her and their children in the 1920's.

If you are in Australia you would probably need to get someone to go to the local archives for you as I don't think they will do the look-up for you.

Kath. x

Hi Kath

Thank You for that information,her adoption was more than thirty years ago ...it was in 1958,she was three years old .

The maintenance order is what we are after really to find her fathers complete name as all we have at the moment is his surname

Thank You for your help.

Suex

Hi Susan,
I don't know it would of use to you from 1955 onwards, but I obtained a Filiation and maintenance order from the national archives , A2A, but my ancestors was for 1820
Its worth a try, put in her mothers name, the date of birth of the daughter and her name from her birth certificate and the fathers surname, it worked for me so give it a try, its free to look and they charge a few pounds for a copy.
Good luck.

Might be different rules for Scotland, but I know someone adopted there in 1949, by his mother's husband. ( He married the Mum after the child's birth and was not the father)
The adoptee wanted to know details of the adoption and an authorised person was able to access the file in Edinburgh because it was hundreds of miles away and write down details, but was not allowed to directly copy ( as in photo-copy, I guess)
Counselling was not given, but I believe it might have been offered?

The natural father was named there, as he too had been paying towards the child, although he was not named on the birth certificate.

I hope you get a similar result.

Gwyn

Hi. Just wondering if she may have been baptised. I have a boy in my family tree who was illegiatmate and was baptised with both his mother and bio father present. It might be worth a try. Best wishes Debbie.

If birth father wasn't named on birth cert, and child was adopted by a step father, there is unlikely to be file to access.

Although not required by law because there was no legal proof on the birth certificate,but if an affiliaction order was made by a court for maintenance then this would stop when all responsibilty was taken over by the stepfather,,,,,,if such an order was in place there is a chance that the biological father **informal** agreement to the adoption,,,,,if this was the case then his release from payment to the child will be in the file....this applies to England/Wales.

Norcap cant obtain an full adoption file as such.only what the change if any name become.