General Chat

I am looking for a boy who was adopted in 1932 having been born in 1926. He was killed in Palestine in 1947. Is there anyway we could find out his previous surname & where he came from. I have the adoption certificate .

Usually people have the birth name and are looking for the adopted name, so this is different. I'm not sure there is anything you can do as if the adopted person is dead then I don't think anyone else will be allowed to access his adoption file which will give his name, date of birth and possibly his mother's name and address at the time.

You could give your local social services a ring and ask them if there is anything you can possibly do, but I don't hold out much hope.

EDIT - if he was adopted at the age of 6 then it is likely that he may have kept his forename as he would have been used to it by then, but nothing is certain.

Kath. x

There MIGHT have been an amended birth certificate, but such does not give a link to the original (nor vice versa).

That's assuming it was a legal adoption, which it still might not have been.

If an adoption certificate exists then I think it probably WAS a legal adoption.

Kath. x

Thanls KathleeNell & SylviainCanada I will approach Social Services (with some trepidation when get time.

My dad was adopted in 1946 aged 16, by his mum's new husband.
Dad was illegitimate, and there was no father's name mentioned.
When I put his adopted name into free BMD, and the date span of 1926 (the year he was born) and 1942 (the year he was adopted, it comes up with two entries.
The earlier one has his adoptive name at the bottom.
So, say dad's name was Tim, he was born in Leeds, his mum's maiden name was Smith, and she married a Jones, at the bottom it says Jones Tim Smith Leeds, then see - in his case J40 - which is his second registration under his adoptive name.


So, if you put in the person's adoptive name and a date range that covers both his birth and adoption dates, and you come up with two with the same forename in the correct years - you may come up with his birth name!
However, it may prove tricky if it was a popular name.

Maggie - I think that would only work if the boy was adopted by a step father. In this case I think it is more likely that the boy was adopted out of the family.

Kath. x

That's true - but it may be worth trying :-D

Thanks Maggiewinchester

Tried what you suggested with free BMD but with no luck. According to rellies. he was just brought home to the family one day & they were told 'this is your new Brother'.

Thanks for your help.
Phyll

I wonder if he was a relative's child?
It was not unusual for a child to be absorbed into the wider family circle.

He was born before formal adoption, but it sounds as if paperwork was completed later and formal adoption went through the courts.
The law has changed regarding accessing adoption papers, but I think it may only be any offspring who can apply for their deceased parent's.