Genealogy Chat

Morning all, over the years I have been trying to find my grandmothers death record with little success.
In a nutshell, my late father was placed into the care of the crusade of rescue in london, now the childrens society, when he was around 3 years of age.
His mother had been abandoned for the second time and she handed him over.
I have had copies of letters that my dad wrote while he was younger sent to me by the catholic childrens society, and what I would see as limited information regarding his mother.
In my attempt to find my grandmothers death details I have narrowed down to one I feel could be her given what my father had been told about his mother, namely that she was in a wheelchair, he never had any contact with his mother, this was what he had been told by family.
Whether his mother was in a wheelchair due to a disability she had throughout her life is not known, but I recently asked the catholic childrens society if there was any record on my dads case sheets of his mother having a disabilty at the time of him being placed in care.
Their response was " We have checked back through the records but I'm affraid I cannot answer your questions, it is possible that she may have had a disability later in life but we had no contact with her at that time so there is no record of this "

Am i being paranoid thinking theyre not revealing information that could back up my thoughts?
Do you think I need to make things formal with a formal request? and how would I go about it ?
Thanks
Bill.

Bill, quite recently I was involved in trying to help a 76 y.o. find out about her mother. The lady was born in 1935 but wasn't adopted until she was 4. The catholic church was involved but this is the letter which was sent onto her a month or so ago. Whilst some of it isn't applicable to your enquiry it might give you an insight into how someone else's enquiry was dealt with.
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Schedule 2 Adoption and Children Act 2002 – Access to Birth Records Information

Thank you for your recent enquiry about your adoption records. Unfortunately, we do not have any record of our agency being involved with her having arranged your adoption.

However, there are still some avenues you can go through. If you have not already done so, you can apply for access to your original birth certificate, which will contain your original birth name and your birth mother’s name, as well as an address where she lived and where she was born. (Please be aware that her address could turn out to be a Mother and Baby home). To obtain an application form for this, write to The General Register Office, (Adoption Section) Smedley Hydro, Trafalgar Road, Southport, Merseyside, PR8 2HH or telephone 01514714830. The process will include you seeing a social worker who will then give you the details you need to get your birth certificate. You have a choice on your application form about who you select, but you’re most likely option will be your local Social Services Department. There is usually a delay of some months from when you apply to when you meet with a social worker.

The information your social worker will give you will include the name of the court that legalised your adoption. Your social worker may then apply to the Court to see if they have a record of which agency arranged the adoption. If that agency still exists, you can then apply to them for access to your adoption file. If it was a private adoption, then your only option is if the Court would be prepared to share what limited information they have on your records.

The General Register Office, After Adoption, and NORCAP, are organisations who can guide you on your search. Even if at the end of the day, you only obtain your original birth certificate and not fuller adoption records, it may be possible to find out more from the information on your birth certificate, though this is more likely if your birth mother has an unusual name.
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don't know if this is of any help or insight into another person's wish to find out about their adoption. -jl

Hello Janet, many thanks for your in depth reply, very much appreciated.
I have dads birth certificate with his parents details, what i am wondering is whether i am entitled to a full copy of my dads case papers ? I have received what I feel snippets when I have asked a question, so the catholic childrens society do have his file, when i asked the question about whether his mother had a disability their reply was " We have checked back through the records but I'm affraid I cannot answer your questions "
Are they saying that meaning (a) there is no record of his mother having a disability, or (b) they are not revealing for confidentiality reasons ?
I'm really between the devil and the deep blue sea on this.
Thanks again Janet.
Regards,
Bill.

Thanks John, my father was not actually adopted, he was in a catholic home, it was under the crusade of rescue, which is now the catholic childrens society, thanks again.
Bill.

Just a further point Bill was that this lady was in a catholic home for the first four years of her life and really this is what she is trying to find out. She has come up against a brick wall but is trying the above as another means of finding the background /case notes to her life/mother but she hasn't found which home it is as yet. I just wanted you to know that it isn't just you who is having a problem. Hope someone on here can offer some better information-j

Thank you all so much for your contributions, appreciated.
Janet, have you contacted the catholic childrens society ?
www.cathchild.org.uk
Catholic Children's Society (Westminster)
73 St Charles Square, London W10 6EJ

I contacted the above and was given information about my late fathers time in st josephs boys home in enfield.
Also worth bearing in mind, there were some for only females, nazareth house in isleworth, this has closed down, my dads sister who was also placed into care was at nazareth house, i found out information about her by contacting the archivist at nazareth house hammersmith.
In both cases I had to provide copies of death certificates.

Thank you all again.

Bill.

Thanks Bill for that extra information, I will pass it onto the lady's daughter as she is trying every avenue to resolve her mother's life time void of the first four years.

I really wish you well in your search-Janet

Bill.
I recently recieved info about my grandmother & 2 of her siblings who were in the care of the Children´s Society (at that time, the Waifs & Strays Society)
I had to provide photocopies of all the relevent bmd certs to prove the relationship, but don´t think there´s a closure limit of 100 years on info if all the parties are dead. Mine were in care around 1910-1915.
I had to wait about 6 months for the info, but there was no charge, just a request for a donation.

Just reading your message, its great news that you have the records.

Dear `wisechild` I honestly dont know where the 100 year business comes from (probably part of the legislation), because i was going to be granted my grand fathers adoption records but unforunatly they no longer exist.

I know of many people who have been granted access to the files because of the timescale even though it may not be 100 years as long as all parties have passed away.

but im really happy for you, all that letter writing and hope has given you a result :-D

The above was to `wisechild` and bill i wish you good luck, sorry if i have confused anybody lol