Genealogy Chat

Does anyone have any advice or tips on the best way to try and trace someone who was 'adopted' but unofficially, so there are quite likely no records existing. Only information to go on, is where they were born, believed to have been a private nursing home. Would they have to have kept records of any kind, that may have information? I would welcome any ideas, thanks

It would depend which nursing home it was, officially they had to keep records of any adoptions from the home, whether they were done through official channels or not. However the difficulty then is tracing the archives where the records of the home are kept. Have you any idea which county it might have been in? What I can suggest is writing to the social service of that county and asking where the records of that nursing home are now lodged, although it will be a long shot. For anyone who was adopted via George Simon Nursing Home in Surrey, I know where the records are and can furnish details if required. Good luck xx

Thank you Shani, all I have is the address of where the person was born, believed to be a private nursing home, it was in 283 Dover Road, Folkestone, Kent, the child was described as 'given away' to the adopting mother, no further details were disclosed by the mother when she told about the child, so there is very little to go on, except for knowing his date of birth and name, this was back in the 1930s, so it will be a long shot trying to find records of the nursing home, but it is an idea, thank you for that

Not a problem at all, if it helps, unofficial adoptions from private nursing homes continued into the 1970s. You could try the records office in Kent, social service and any archive holdings in the area.