Genealogy Chat

i have heard that the 'adopted children's index' has recently been moved to Kew.
Could anyone please tell me, if it still can be publicy viewed, and if so, what information can be viewed.
I would greatly appreciate any advise, anyone could give me in looking for an adopted sibling, because unfortunately social services haven't been any help at all?
many thanks,
pl

According the the GRO site, it "is not open to public inspection or search". There are varying criteria about if you are a relative of an adopted person, though.

There is an Adoption Contact Register, it seems - this link might help:

http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/adoptions/adoptioncontactregister/index.asp

thanks
i am registered with this site,

Find this rather confusing.

One could never look at anything which gave any cross reference showing a birth name and an adopted name together, but there was a set of books which showed the adopted names alone.

The birth name was shown in the ordinary birth registers with the word adopted written by the name, to show that the child now had a different name and set of parents. If you ordered a birth cert. in the birth name, then the word adopted was also written on this.

You could only get the birth cert. in the original birth name if you actually knew the birth name. So if you were an adopted child, and did not know your original name, you could not get the birth cert.

What I am asking is, have the books with the adopted names now been taken out of public view. They used to be in view as I looked in them years ago in St Catherine's House in London. It was a weird experience at the time, seeing my own 'new' name there, and also seeing the name of a friend whom I had known well at school and whom I did not know was adopted too. Also a lady, probably in her sixties, was rushing round distractedly saying that she could not find her entry in the births registers. I asked her if she had looked in the adopted child register, she looked and there she was. She had never known she was adopted. She had never needed a passport, nor been married, and her mother - who had just died - had told her that all their family 'papers' had been destroyed in the bombing in the war. It was very traumatic for her, finding out that way. She had only come in for a birth cert. which she needed for dealing with her mother's death. To find out that it was her adoptive mother at that time, was very distressing for her.

Eileen
birth name
born 1944
adopted 1946
reunited with birth family 1972

The books used to be at the FRC - I looked at them there-, but they have not been moved to Kew. It seems that they are no longer publicly available.

Hi Plankton

The Adopted Children Register (ACR) is not for public view as this links the birth and adoptive name.

However, the INDEX to the ACR is available for public view at

Greater Manchester County Record Office

Birmingham Central Library

Bridgend Reference and Information Library

Plymouth Central Library

City of Westminster Archives Centre

You can order Adoption Certificates online on the GRO website with the reference numbers given in the index.

The information on the index is very limited. It's shows only the name of the adopted child. It's listed in:

Adoptive name. Date of entry onto the ACR. Year of birth (not date of birth) No of entry and Vol no.

I'm not sure in what format the index is presented. The old ones at the FRC were in books then adoptions after 1969 were on put on computer.

In order to make a successful search of the index you will need to know the adoptive name (or part of it).

Good Luck with your search.

Cheers Gerry

thanks very much for the info,
i guess, i will need to visit the city of westminster, as i live in essex.