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Hi there, firstly I must apologise if this message has already been posted-I tried to post it yesterday but I can find no trace of it on the message boards-hence I am now attempting to post again!
My hubby was adopted in 1948- he would love to find info about his birth mother but doesn't want to do the research himself-I thought I'd surprise him and try to find her-however I have hit a brick wall! I found his original birth registration & obtained his birth cert which gave me his mother's name and the address she was living at that time (which is in our home town) but I believe she was from another area! All I have to go on is her maiden name (Christian names and surname)! My hubby was told by his adoptive parents that his mother was 18 when he was born which would mean she was born in 1930! Having searched registration records of births between 1927 & 1932 (which I thought were reasonable guestImations of her birth year) I have found several possible 'Hot Matches'-but I don't know what to do now, as I have no idea where she was from, All of my husbands parents/Aunts/Uncles are no longer living so I can't take the obvious route of asking an older relation for info-so I'm at a loss what to do next! Does anybody have any suggestions, please? Thank you for taking the time to read my post!

Well you can't persue his adoption papers only he has access to them .

How did he get his birth name ?

His adoption file should give details of his mum and why she gave him up for adoption .

Afraid just having her name won't guarantee you find the right girl or her family. It's a very delicate path to tread

His adoptive mother told me his original surname years ago "in case he ever wants to know"- she also told me that he had already been given a Christian name so they added a second Christian name which is the name he is known by-so I knew what to look for & obviously knew his DOB-that was the easy bit! Yes I realise it's delicate and I'm of a mind to give up-he would never agree to having counselling which I understand is a requirement for anybody adopted prior to 1975-I just wondered if I was missing something obvious-thanks for your comments!

Welcome to the message boards Pauline

Its highly likely that the birth took place many miles from where your husbands mother lived. I'm adopted and my birth mother was moved from near Aberdeen to London. Another friend I helped recently was born about 60 miles from where her birth mother lived. There was a huge stigma about birth outside wedlock and families went to great lengths to hush it up.

Andy

Yes that's my thoughts too-I remember his adoptive mother saying that her mother (hubby's adoptive grandmother) had "sorted it all out" so presumably she knew somebody who knew somebody etc etc - another strange thing-my mother-in-law kept a diary all of her life-I have some of her old diaries BUT the earliest one I have is 1948-all of the pages before his birth month in 1948 have been torn out-the first entry says what a lovely baby he is and so on and so forth! They obviously destroyed the pages deliberately-later entries talk of the court hearing and state "at last he is all ours"
Frustrating to be so near but so far away! Thanks for your comments!

Pauline - I sympathise and wish you luck! But I fear you are battling against the wind/tide!

My husband's grandmother was allegedly adopted sometime between her birth in 1902 and the 1911 census - obviously not formally. In that census she was shown as born in Barry and has a name not connected with her "adoptive" mother. In trying to unravel things I have found her adoptive mother to have gone to such means to disguise an estrangement from her husband and a child with her brother-in-law (after my husband's grandmother) that I now suspect she was actually her birth mother and that if the child was registered it was not in any name that was carried forward or maybe not even in the district named in the census.

What I am trying to say - most gauchely - is as per Andy's post - there was a huge stigma.

Good luck

Jude

Hi Pauline,

If Hubby isn't interested in the research side, would he be willing to apply for his file?

The counselling probably isn't what he thinks, more like a discussion about the best way forward, they will also act on your behalf to contact relatives.

Kind regards
Amanda

Thank you everyone for your comments-I think I'm going to have to have a chat to hubby and find out if he wants to take the next step-doesn't look like I can do any more on this, Cheers, Pauline

The birth certs for adopted folk that I Have seen have had the birth mothers usual address as well as the address where the birth took place. Perhaps suggests that the registrar didn't recognise it as a mother and baby home.

Andy

I've asked the question locally, Andrew and it appears to have been a jeweller/pawn broker shop, presume there were living quarters attached! Can't find any evidence that it was a mother & baby home, but thanks for the comment!