Genealogy Chat

Looking for his birth was what made me suspect. Either that or he was born overseas!

Just to stress, this was a general enquiry. I'd made contact with a 'sibling' through this site, and it concerned them that someone could suspect that he was adopted. They had promised their parents that he should never be told.

(It's not my place to contact/tell him or encourage him to follow up.)

With the need for a full BC for many official reasons now-a-days, it started me thinking about the format of the BC/adoption certificate issued after adoption.

Thank you everyone for the replies - quite an eyeopener to the uninitiated!

Adoptive names are not in the birth registers. They are in a seperate register.

This is sometimes thevery first clue that (a person who has never been told) begins to suspect maybe they were adopted .

Legitimised births ARE ( or can be ) - so if a child is born out of wedlock, and mother marries, she can then re-register child in her married name. There will then be two entries, which are connected by the GRO.

Detective- you look for your friend's birth in the registers- look in the name he has now- he wont be there.

My dad was adopted in 1942 aged 16 - so he knew!!
However, when I asked him for hs birth certificate, he only had a short one - and was able to get a passport with this.
Looking up his birth (assuming his mother wasn't married, despite her insistance that she was), I found his birth, and his 'new' name (ie adoptive name) was handwritten at the bottom of the page.

I'm also sure (it was a long time ago) he was registered under his adoptive name in 1942, with his birth surname written at the bottom ot the page.

Thank you Jane. It's good to hear that you were able to get a PP without a full BC. Presumably, that's what the person has managed to do before the rules about new applications changed.

Just to add , I am an adoptee and if I had not been told there was nothing on my short birth certificate or my passport , when I applied for it , that would indicate that this was the case. I also read a message very recently from a lady who had only just found out she was adopted - sadly she had discovered paperwork whilst clearing her parents home after their deaths. So sadly this does still happen in this day and age but i woulnt think it was the norm.

Thank you Andrew. That's greatly appreciated and satisfies my curiosity :-)

(Not about you, about the post adoption BC :-D :-D)

I was adopted. I have the 'short' BC with my adopted name, but I also have my original BC witrh my birthname and birth mothers name (no father). This has 'adopted' written in the margin. My original birth was registered in the normal way.

Andy

Right - thank you Potty. :-)

This site gives details of cert for adopted children:

http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/most_customers_want_to_know.asp#Adoptions

My understanding has been that adopted children usually have a "short" version of their BC which does not give any parents' details and that sometimes the first they know of their adoption was when they apply for a "Full" version which shows that they were adopted but gives no indication of the birth parents.

Oh well - if he truly doesn't know he was adopted, presumably he has never applied for a passport. Unless its one of those family secrets which everyone knows but never talks about? :-D

I don't think he would be issued with a new "birth" certificate. I think what you get is an adoption certificate - which presumably would indicate an adoption.

Kath. x

Reggie, my fault - I didn't write it properly and added to my reply to Kath

*Presumably a new BC was issued with his 'new' name (edit - on adoption) . Would that indicate that he wasn't the natural born son of his 'parents'*

The birth cert he used to apply for a passport would be the one with his current name.

If he was adopted, and didn't know it, he wouldn't know his birth name, and wouldn't therefore have the original birth cert

Or am I misunderstanding your post?

Thank's Kath - I don't know either!

Presumably a new BC was issued with his 'new' name. Would that indicate that he wasn't the natural born son of his 'parents'?

I was under the impression that the original birth certificate would have "adopted" written on it. However I have never researched anyone who was adopted so I could be wrong.

Kath. x

Someone was adopted in the 1950s. Would the BC he presumably has access to show that he was adopted?

This is a general query as a contact has said that the person in question has never been told he was adopted. I wondered if he were to apply for a passport that he'd realise?

I don't know this person; it just puzzled me how he wouldn't realise in this day and age.