Genealogy Chat

I have a birth certificate for an adopted child born at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital, Winchester, Hampshire in 1961.

I came across an old, black and white postcard depicting the Bon Secours Nursing Home, Crawley Court, Winchester, Hants. This leads me to believe that there is a strong possibility that the birth mother spent time here around the period of the birth.

Reading online, I see that the Bon Secours order of nuns ran the home until the same year, 1961. I wonder if there is any chance that they might have records dating back to that time.

Any thoughts welcome, many thanks :-)

If you can't find a contact for the Bon Secours nuns within England, try the Portsmouth Catholic Diocese which Winchester seems to fall within.

There is a Contact link at the extreme top of their Home page
http://www.portsmouthdiocese.org.uk/

If the adopted child is still living, even if the records have survived, its possible the records regarding the adoption may only be released to the named 'child'.

You might get info relating only to the birth mother if you hold her E/POA as you'd be her legal attorney, but not necessarily otherwise. You could end up tangled not only with the confidentiality of adoption, but also with the Patient variety.

Why not try writing to them anyway? The first step is discovering if the records survive and where they are. As she has dementia, you could mention that it would help you to help her when she talks about/relives her experiences.

We will try writing as there is nothing to lose but even if we find nothing it does help to piece the story together

:-)

Nice contents from the past to its demise.

www.crawleyvillagehall.co.uk/wp-content/.../Crawley-Court-History.pd

Thank you very much, Kay :-) x