Genealogy Chat

Hey all,

I was born in 1978 out of wedlock and then adopted by the man that my Mum went on to marry when I was circa 2-4yrs old. The adoption process included a change to my name and I know my name(s) both before and after the adoption.

I have always known this, I have always known who my biological father is, and had regular contact with my grandparents on his side as I was growing up.

If I order a copy of my Birth certificate now, I get one that displays my name post-adoption.

I discovered yesterday that I am able to order a copy of my original pre-adoption birth certificate... I'm probably going to do this just for keep-sake, erm, sake.

But this got me thinking...

Over the years I've been told snippets of what was said during the adoption hearing... and on occassion what I have been told has contradicted things I've been told prior.

One thing that I was told, was that a request was made by one party that I should have no future contact with my paternal grandparents. Apparently in response, the "Judge"? interviewed both myself and my Grandmother and having concluded that there was considerable "love" between us, declared it a condition of the adoption that I was to have future contact with them.

During the adoption hearing would minutes have been taken and if so, is there anyway I can request a transcript of the hearing? I'd love to see it.

David

Have a look at the direct Gov site under 'Find your original birth or adoption record' for more info. The link below will take you to it.

http://tiny.cc/1192p

Hello David,

There would have been a file for your adoption. You will have to apply to post-adoption sevices and be allocated a social worker.
Do you know where the adoption took place as that helps.

Go to this website
http://www.afteradoption.org.uk/
and click on professionals

Hope this is of some help. If you need any more info, email me.

Good luck
Sue

Sorry but you are not entiled to any *internal* case notes set up for the hearing,but you may be ale to get a watered version which will on file should you want to apply.....but the process is different from a full adoption for non bio-logical parents....your original birth certificate will be in the legal surname used now, as it would have been altered as no full adoption took place by two unrelated parents.

@Amokavid - Yes this was in the UK. The only thing I have is the document I received earlier this year when I applied for a copy of my full birth certificate.

It's entitled, "Certified Copy Of An Entry".

It then goes on to show the Name, surname and address "of the adopters" and names the male and my Mum with her post-marriage (to him) surname.

It states the exact date of the adoption order and the name of the county court in which the adoption took place, followed by the date of entry which was a little later the same month.

It finishes with a declaration about it being a true copy of an entry in the Adopted Children Register maintained at the General Register Office etc.

I hadn't really thought about it before, but is there any point me contacting the particular County Court and asking them what records they would have that could be provided to me?


@InspectorGreenPenn - That is the site I found yesterday, which explains how I'd get my original birth certificate.... it's any minutes of the actual hearing I'm interested in sourcing now... if that's possible.


@Sue (Sylvia Z) - According to the DirectGov website, because my adoption was completed after 1975 (I was born 1978) I wouldn't need to be allocated a social worker. Apparently adoptions prior to 1975 would require an intermediary such as a social worker because the birth parents putting the child up for adoption would have been given the impression that their identity would never be revealed to the child.

Nevertheless, thank you for the link, I'll review that website for more info and if I may well email you for more info should I need to.


@Kay???? - I don't disbelieve you but.... if my original birth details would have been altered surely looking my own birth details up on Geneology type sites such as this, would show me in my name now. However doing so, my birth details come back in my original pre-adoption name(s).

This being the case, there's clearly an original record somewhere and I'm of the understanding that under UK law I'm entitled to request details of that original record (i.e. my original pre-adoption birth certificate).

If you know this to be incorrect, I'd be very pleased to hear more.



Thank you to all of you for taking the time to read and reply to this.

David

David, I am still not clear - do you have access to your adoption file? If not you need to do so. You never know what info it might contain after all.
jan

Not as much hurt as no contact though surely?

Hi David,,,,,,,lookup your orginal bit entry and apply for the certificate,,,or the local register office where your birth was registered,,,you will need full birth details with it being so recent....

I accept that adoptions can be a messy business.

I know people who have been in almost exactly the same position as me - with the exception that they only found out in their teens and have been denied, by their relatives who would know, any information as to who their biological parent(s) were.

But let me be clear that this isn't what is happening here.

I'm in no way unhappy with the fact that I was adopted by my Dad.

The man who married my mum and adopted me, is my Dad, he always will be, I love him to bits - that will never change.

I'm comfortable with how things played out. My paternal grandparents were (to me) the two most beautiful people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing and they're sadly... very sadly... missed now that they're no longer there for me.

I've known for years who my biological father is. I've met him on occasion too. I don't have any urge for reconciliation, but neither do I hold any grudges.

I'm just curious about what was said during the "hearing" (do you even call it that?)... over the years there's been some "he said / she said" tales of the hearing and I just figured it may be better to see for myself by (if possible) acquiring a copy of any transcript/minutes that may have been taken during the hearing.

@brummiejan - I have no adoption file... that is to say, I don't have it and I don't recall ever being given one by my parents. The only thing I have is the knowledge given to me over the years as to what happened and why, and my birth certificate as described above.

David

Your parents won't have your adoption file. This is accessible only to you and I think you go via social services - they will know what you have to do anyway. And to be honest they are the best people to advise what you can & cannot find out about the proceedings. There might not be anything on file but worth a shot wouldn't you say?
jan

Yes. Absolutely, it's worth a shot!

Thanks for your help.

Good Luck David, I will keep my fingers crossed.

Sorry to interupt the flow of fascinating life experiences etc with this relatively low value enquiry but:-
Could anyone help me with the following:-
I have copied some relations from anothers tree (with permission) and have the items on my clipboard.
I have created the relation squares on my tree in readiness to receive the copied content complete with first names
HOW do I then transfer the copied detail across to these squares on my Tree - Please help this Old Fuddy Duddy impress his kids!!
Regards
Ramon

Hi Ramon - it would have been better to have started a thread on your own on this board, but now that you have added to this....

Although the copy relative function works, the paste doesn't. You'll have to manually enter the data.

It might help up to sign in to GR in another window (not tab) then access the connections' tree. If you right click on the bottom black bar of the window, you can select 'show windows side by side' then drag them around the page so that you can see both your and the other tree at the same time - makes it easier to see what you are copying.

Right click the bottom bar and select 'undo show side by side' when you've finished.

We'd always advise to take other people's research as a guide only - no one is perfect and mistakes do creep in.