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Hi , The Edwards family are looking for twins born 13 April 1954 at Withington hospital Manchester. They were adopted at birth, Ann and Peter Edwards. They will soon be celebrating their 60th birthday. Can anyone help find them. Council records have drawn a blank, as have National stastistics. I think we need people power here.
Thanks Yetty

Yetty, not sure what you mean by 'national statistics'?

First thing to do is check if anyone has them in their tree on here - a long shot but worth a try. (Use search box above).

The next thing to do is for a family member to put their details on the National Adoption Contact Register - if the twins are looking for their birth family, or decide to do so in the future, then they might well register on there.

It's also worth seeing if someone's contact details can be attached to their adoption files - ask social services for advice.

Jan

Thanks for your reply,
Manchester Council say they cannot find any records of the adoption, though it does say 'adopted' on their birth cert. We do not know if they were separated or adopted together, only learnt of their existence whilst doing our family tree. Will try the adoption register, but I think that might have shown up when the council were searching for their record. But don't know how thorough their search was.. Thanks for your interest.
Yetty

Do you have family knowledge they were adopted at birth - have you asked the mother? It's just they could have been adopted a bit later and in a different area, hence Manchester claim to have no knowledge. They would only have a record if the babies were adopted from their area, and I don't think they are thorough enough to check the adoption contact register.

Not sure if i'm making this clear, but say the mother was actually from Stockport and just happened to have the babies when visiting relatives near Withington - their adoption would probably be arranged by Stockport social services (or an adoption agency). Also, the actual adoption hearing is normally held in the area court the adoptive parents live rather than the birth mother.

Try contacting Barnardos or Caritas (was Catholic Caring Society) as both organisations were actively placing children for adoption back in 1954. There must be an adoption file somewhere, but only the adopted person can access this.

Hi Flip, thanks for reading my post. We know the twins were adopted at birth as it was kept secret from the their elder brother, he was 9 at the time. The mother is no longer living, we were told of the twins birth by a cousin who had kept the secret for many years. The birth cert. states 'adopted ' on it. They were registered on the day they were born, so the decision had clearly been made then. I have applied to the council again, maybe they will look harder this time , who knows.

Thanks Yetty

A birth being registered on the day of the birth is no indication that an adoption was planned, My son was registered on the day he was born and we never had him adopted or had any intention of having him adopted,

Some registrars used to visit hospitals on a regular basis in order to register new born children as was the case with my son,

Also If they where taken at birth thats also no indication that the adoption would have been immediate they could have been placed in care or fostered and adopted at a later date.

Also the word adopted written in the margin on the birth certificates is NOT written by the registrar who registered the birth on the day the birth was registered,

The word adoption is added by the "GRO" once they have recieved an order from the courts which is the "authority" for the GRO to issue a new short certificate "adoption cert" with the adoptive parents details

Added,...Children are often "given up" for adoption at birth, But no legal adoption can take place at birth, The process of legal adoption cannot even begin until after a successful birth has taken place.

secrets and stories told are not "Facts" they are hearsay untill proved to be a fact,
even with the best of intention memories fade and "Facts" become less clear when repeated over time and this was half a century ago.


Roy

Below is the response from the GRO to a Freedom of Information request that was made to the General Register Office in 2009

When an adoption has been granted by a court in England and Wales, the
court issues an order which is the authority for an entry to be made in
the Adopted Children Register held at the General Register Office.
Adoption certificates are then produced from this register under the
child's new details. The adoption certificate replaces the original birth
certificate for legal and administrative purposes.

The original birth record is not removed following an adoption, however,
the entry in the birth register is annotated with the word "adopted" in
the margin and all subsequent copies of the entry will show the
annotation.

It is possible to obtain copies of adoption certificates from the General
Register Office when sufficient particulars about the adoption are
supplied to enable the entry in the Adopted Children Register to be
correctly identified.

The information contained on an adoption certificate is as follows -

* The name of the adopted person, the date and location of their
birth and the sex of the child
* The name, address and occupation of the adopter(s)
* The date of the adoption order plus description of the court who
made the order
* Signature of the officer at GRO deputed by the Registrar General to
attest the entry



Austin Hayes
GRO Adoptions Manager

Hope that helps to clarify the situation with regard to the process of adoption and birth/adoption certs

Roy

Only the adoptees are allowed access to their adoption files.

I echo PP's remarks about registration.

My son was registered in hospital by the visiting Registrar, on the day following his birth.

Registrars didn't 'do the rounds' on Sundays.

If you are actually related, put your details on the national adoption register.

It either - or both - of the twins is aware of having been adopted, and has any interest in looking for birth family, he/she/they may have done the same

Why have you assumed that the adoption(s) took place in the same area as the birth(s)?

And the Council officials in Manchester would have no earthly reason to look at the NACR..............

You haven't indicated that you have looked for them on GR............................

Thanks for all of your 'input' some of it has been very helpful.
I have searched on GR, and also Ancestry Family search, there are also posts on ' looking for 'sites.
I do realise that I cannot look at the adoption records, but I was thinking that the more info that is put out there, the more chance we have of finding our family.

Thanks Yetty

Try posting on missing-you.net as well if you are trying to get web coverage the more sites the merrier:

http://www.missing-you.net/