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Registration of birth and adoption

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David

David Report 9 Dec 2016 12:29

In about 1918 a child was born and then adopted and her name changed. Does anyone know what the normal procedure would have been ? Would the birth registration be modified or the birth reregistered in the new name?
At present I am unable to find a birth registration in either name ...........
I wonder whether at that time there was no required procedure at all?
Any advice would be very welcome
David

Potty

Potty Report 9 Dec 2016 12:47

Assuming this was in the UK, official adoption didn't exist until 1927. Before that it was more informal, so not sure whether the adoption would have been noted on the register, but the original birth should still have been registered as normal.

Would you like to give some details and I am sure somebody will try to help.

KathleenBell

KathleenBell Report 9 Dec 2016 14:10

As Potty says, at that time there was no formal adoption.

The birth should still have been registered but it is possible that if the mother gave birth in secret she could have given the child away and the birth may have been registered by the adoptive parents as if the child was their own.

Another possibility is that the mother was married but she registered the child in her maiden name (perhaps if her husband was away at war and was not the father of the baby).

If you want to give more details we can look to see if we can find anything.

Kath. x

David

David Report 9 Dec 2016 19:53

Thanks for your comments
I am pretty sure I have found the birth registration under an absurd combination of the adopted names and the name of the father - this was obviously an illegitimate birth!
One of those Eureka moments !
David

mgnv

mgnv Report 10 Dec 2016 11:33

"Assuming this was in the UK, official adoption didn't exist until 1927"
Potty is mistaken here - The Adoption of Children Act 1926 only applied to England and Wales, where it took effect on 1/1/1927. The rest of the UK is specifically excluded in this act.

The Adoption of Children (Scotland) Act, 1930 took effect in 1930, I think 1/10/1930 (but don't know).

There was presumably a similarly titled act for NI which took effect 1/1/1931.

Note the acts refer to the adoption of children, i.e., minors - which at that time meant those under 21, so a child born in 1918 could be legally adopted once the relevant country's legislation came into effect.