Looking for Adoption Registers?

[uksearch]

I posted this originally on the Manchester Forum, but probably some of you will not have seen it there.Please note there are four other centres where these records can be viewed. I spent three hours today having a skirt around them today. Another email from GMCRO explaining what is in these records will be posted shortly.

UK

From Greater Manchester County Record Office:

New family history records available!

Following the closure of the Family Records Centre in London on 15th March, we are delighted to announce that Greater Manchester County Record Office will be making several important family history resources available in the North West for the first time.

The Record Office is one of just five centres to offer this new service, the others being in Birmingham, Bridgend, Plymouth and at the National Archives in London.

The Record Office now offers the full range of General Register Office indexes on microfiche, including:

Birth, Marriage and Death indexes from 1837 to 2006

Provisional Data for Births and Deaths for 2007

This is provisional, unchecked data, available for consultation prior to the release of the official indexes. Provisional data is released for Births and Deaths only, not Marriages.

Civil Partnerships Index 2005 to 2007

Overseas Index

Births, Deaths & Marriages from 1761 to 2006

Adopted Children Index 1927 to 2007

These resources (all on microfiche) will be available for consultation in the Record Office searchroom from 1 April 2008. A fiche viewer can be booked in advance by telephoning the searchroom on 0161 832 5284, but some machines are also available on a first-come,first-served basis.

[Mona]

Information I received regarding what is in the adopted childrens register

At 21:47 01/04/2008, you wrote:
I would like further information on the adopted children's index.
What is information is available, for instance,
I am looking for the adoption of a female child in the early 1940s.
The only information I have is the full name and birth date of the
birth mother.


Thank you for your e-mail.

There is no way to make a link, using the standard birth index and the national adoption index that we have just received, between a birth name (i.e. the original name of a child prior to adoption) and an adoption name (i.e. the child’s name following the adoption). The National Adoption Index was deliberately produced not to show the area an adoption took place, only the name following adoption, the birth year and a year of adoption. This is due to the extremely sensitive nature of adoption.

The Index changes in format over time. From 1927 to 1946 the index is an alphabetical index under the child’s adoptive name and shows the Date of Entry (Adoption), number & volume. The Index from 1947 to 1951is as above, but also shows the child’s year of birth.

A search could be made of the GRO Index of Births. Search under the surname of the mother and note any child's birth registration that shows the same mother's surname as the child’s surname (which would indicate that the mother was not married at the time of the birth). If the mother was married, look under her married name and look for a birth registration where the mother’s surname and maiden name match the details that you have. You will not be able to confirm which is the correct certificate until you give the GRO details to the relevant Register Office (presumably Manchester Register Office in this case) and request that you only want the certificate if the mother's name is.........

However, this will not help in knowing the child’s adoptive name.

There is a contact register that family and friends of adopted people can join, to try to make contact with an adopted person. If an adopted person wishes to make contact with their birth family, they join the contact register and they will receive any contact details available for the birth family, if these have been entered on the contact register by relative(s). It is not possible for the relative(s) to see details relating to the adopted person it remains the adopted person’s decision whether to seek contact. See www.gro.gov.uk for details on the contact register.

I hope this will prove useful to you.

******
Senior Archival Assistant

[uksearch]

Just to add to the email above:
From 1952 it is an annual index which gives the year of adoption and the year of birth.
From 1970 to 2007 it is indexed by the year of birth and does not tell you the year of adoption. Forename do not appear until the individual is 18 years old...so anyone born after 1989 is only registered as SMITH.

UK

[uksearch]

Any one wishing to look at the Adoption Register and take further action should consult the three GRO publications dealing with this subject. They are:

ARC 99 Information For Adopted People And Their Relatives (Green Book).
ARC100 Access To Birth Records (Yellow Book).
ARC 110 The Adoption Contact Register (Red Book).

UK