Help Required please

[carolp]

The question I am looking to answer is the following, "How was it possible for a young, 25 year old, single woman to adopt a baby in 1942. The adoptive mother lived in East London, and the child was born in Croydon, not a million miles away I know. I realise this was during the war, so rules and regulations maybe we're relaxed!?

Any ideas please?

Many thanks,

Carol

[AntonyMMM]

it would be unusual, but allowable under the 1926 Adoption Act.

Do you have a copy of the entry from the Adopted Children Register showing that this was a legal adoption made through the courts showing only the single adopting parent?

[Lesley Robertson]

Was she known to the birth mother or her family? A distant cousin, perhaps, or a neighbor of one of them? Do you know what happened to the birth mother?

Don’t forget that London was getting bombed then, and houses and civilians were being lost.... CWGC lists a lot of civilian losses.

[carolp]

it would be unusual, but allowable under the 1926 Adoption Act.

Do you have a copy of the entry from the Adopted Children Register showing that this was a legal adoption made through the courts showing only the single adopting parent?

Hi Antony,

All I have is the birth certificate from the GRO, giving the details one would expect to see, and then at the end of the certificate is says "Adopted", written exactly as I have written it, in inverted commas! The range thing though and I can't mention names because the person is still alive, it is her sister who has asked me to get the birth certificate, only because no realised their parents didn't marry until 1948, so the person whose birth certificate I have,does not know she is adopted!

The Mother's address at the time of registering the child is different from the address of the informant, who are both the same people! And to complicate matters more, the address given for the informant was a boys children home, and the adoptee is a girl!

Can I ask another question of you please, knowing this person is 77 years old, would you advise her family telling her?

Many questions, but that is the nature of family history research.

Look forward to hearing back from you.

Regards and thanks for your help and support.

Carol

[AntonyMMM]

How did you know the birth name of the person to be able to order a copy of the birth certificate - was it not changed at adoption ? And without the ACR record - how do you know she was adopted by a single 25 year old woman ?

If the name wasn't changed - it sounds like it might have been an adoption within the family - but without a copy of the ACR record detailing the adoptive parents you don't know exactly what happened and shouldn't guess or make any assumptions. In some circumstances for example it is possible for a birth parent to be one of the adoptive parents.

Would I be telling them - absolutely not - unless this person has asked you to investigate their birth AND you are completely certain of what happened, and why. Nor should you be discussing it with her sister.

[carolp]

How did you know the birth name of the person to be able to order a copy of the birth certificate - was it not changed at adoption ? And without the ACR record - how do you know she was adopted by a single 25 year old woman ?

If the name wasn't changed - it sounds like it might have been an adoption within the family - but without a copy of the ACR record detailing the adoptive parents you don't know exactly what happened and shouldn't guess or make any assumptions. In some circumstances for example it is possible for a birth parent to be one of the adoptive parents.

Would I be telling them - absolutely not - unless this person has asked you to investigate their birth AND you are completely certain of what happened, and why. Nor should you be discussing it with her sister.

Hi Antony,

It was her sister who asked me to get her birth certificate, she gave me all the details because I had an account with the GRO. How does one go about getting the ACR record? I am not doing anything that my friend had not asked me to do, I would never do that.i am just trying to be supportive.
Thanks,
Carol

[AntonyMMM]

So is the 25yr old single woman actually the person shown as the birth mother on the certificate you have, and not an adoptive parent as you first said in your opening question ?

[carolp]

So is the 25yr old single woman actually the person shown as the birth mother on the certificate you have, and not an adoptive parent as you first said in your opening question ?

The 25 year old woman who is down as the mother of the child, is now deceased. The child was obviously registered with a name, but at the end of the birth certificate, the registrar wrote "adopted" it is a difficult situation, and no way was her sister going to say anything until she had got her head around any facts she may have obtained, and then may never say anything. Strangely enough, it was the child with the birth certificate that said "adopted" that asked her sister to get her birth certificate, and "their" parents marriage certificate, only because, she wondered who her father was. I was surprised when I was asked to help the family, that this sister had never seen her original certificate, and was told, she only ever had a short certificate! It is now not up to me to say or do anything else, but I hoped that as in the past this forum has been so helpful in prying other queries out, I would see if again they could help me. I am grateful for your suggestions, and that is all this is at this moment in time , as you see, this is not my family situation which I am thankful for!
Carol

[AntonyMMM]

So you are looking at the details of the birth - not the adoption - so there is no evidence that this 25yr old woman adopted the child - in fact the exact opposite, she was the birth mother.

BUT - adopted children usually have their names changed and most wouldn't know their birth name, and neither would her sister, so couldn't easily (without further research) order a copy of their birth certificate.

If her sister gave you the details - are you certain this is the right record, and not some other person born with the same name who was adopted ?

As a former registrar, can I advise you to be very careful about how you proceed if you don't fully understand the records and the processes involved in adoptions. I have recently been consulted in a case where an experienced researcher wrongly told a person they were adopted (they weren't - it was actually a re-registration) and that case is now subject to complex legal proceedings that may involve a substantial compensation claim.

If you want to contact me via private message I would be happy to give more specific advice.

[carolp]

So you are looking at the details of the birth - not the adoption - so there is no evidence that this 25yr old woman adopted the child - in fact the exact opposite, she was the birth mother.

BUT - adopted children usually have their names changed and most wouldn't know their birth name, and neither would her sister, so couldn't easily (without further research) order a copy of their birth certificate.

If her sister gave you the details - are you certain this is the right record, and not some other person born with the same name who was adopted ?

As a former registrar, can I advise you to be very careful about how you proceed if you don't fully understand the records and the processes involved in adoptions. I have recently been consulted in a case where an experienced researcher wrongly told a person they were adopted (they weren't - it was actually a re-registration) and that case is now subject to complex legal proceedings that may involve a substantial compensation claim.

If you want to contact me via private message I would be happy to give more specific advice.

Hi Antony,

Can you tell me how can contact you via a private message please.

Thanks

Carol