reading a certificate help required please

[Alicat]

I received a birth certificate today and it has mothers maiden name as expected, no fathers name as hoped but has "adopted" written to the side. So what I'm wondering is; is the mothers name the real mother or the adoptive mother? I'd hoped to uncover a family secret and just found more questions instead

thanks for any help!

[Alicat]

or would it say adopted if her father the mothers partner adopted her as his?

[David Annis]

Unless I'm wrong, if it is a birth certificate then the mother, stated as the birth mother, can be no other than the childs mother.
As for the adopted, it looks as if it was some kind of after thought.
What is the date of this birth, as I'm sure it would not be put on a birth certificate if it was fairly modern.
It suggests that the child was taken away from the mother at birth.
Cheers
Dave.

[Peter Goodey]

This sounds like a standard certificate where the child was adopted. The mother's name is the birth mother. The annotation "Adopted" is added by the Registrar General when he receives a copy of the adoption order from the court. He also issues an adoption certificate under the child's adoptive name.

There's nothing that looks like a date beside the word "Adopted" is there?

[Alicat]

thanks! it's 1950s btw. I knew the child wasn't Mr Ks because it states it in his will but when I saw adopted I though god maybe she wasn't Mrs K's real child either. So it'd make sense that she was her daughter and her husband adopted her as his own.

[Peter Goodey]

So it'd make sense that she was her daughter and her husband adopted her as his own.

Not sure about that. Formal adoption of one's wife's daughter? Is that necessary? Anyone got any insights?

Simple to check. You need to check the GRO adoption indexes and you should find evidence of a corresponding adoption certificate.

[Pam Downes]

Not sure about that. Formal adoption of one's wife's daughter? Is that necessary? Anyone got any insights?

Simple to check. You need to check the GRO adoption indexes and you should find evidence of a corresponding adoption certificate.

I'm sure it's all to do with various legal stuff.
If the daughter is the natural child of the mother and another man, then for the daughter to be regarded as a legitimate heir of her mother's new husband, or for the new husband to be regarded as a next-of-kin, etc, then I think the new husband has to formally adopt the child.
I know a relative formally adopted his wife's child from her first marriage.

I would assume that it also works 'in reverse' whereby a second wife can formally adopt a child from her husband's first marriage.

ETA: It would seem that the correct term is 'Step adoption'. Googling brings up several links.

Pam

[Peter Goodey]

Not sure about all of that. I have a feeling that the law about inheritance and adoption changed sometime since 1926 and for many laws adopted children were disadvantaged in that respect. In any case, a will would sort that out.

In any case, I think my advice above still holds. The questioner should search the GRO Adoption indexes and obtain an adoption certificate.