Tracing biological mother.

Tropez

If one were never officially adopted, but instead given over to "legal guardians" to be raised from the age of ~1 year old and knew very little about their birth mother, what would be the best way to go about trying to trace their biological mother?

Fire_Fox

I did some genealogy (working backwards instead of forwards!) many years ago, but technology has moved on substantially since then!

Start with the full birth certificate, do you have that? Then gain access to the indexes of births, marriages and deaths - GRO, online, any larger library - and work forwards from the date of birth, looking for future marriages (surname of husband listed, cross reference to get his first name), names of half siblings and their place of birth (mother's maiden name is listed to help ID). Use registers of voters, telephone directories and indexes of local newspapers - local and city libraries - the like to look for references to members of the family in the target area, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networking sites for the younger generation.

Loanranger

You could contact NORCAP for their advice.
http://www.norcap.org.uk/

I'm a birth mother and I know NORCAP to be reputable and have been around since the 1980s.

Good luck with your search.

Tropez

Fire_Fox wrote: »

I did some genealogy (working backwards instead of forwards!) many years ago, but technology has moved on substantially since then!

Start with the full birth certificate, do you have that? Then gain access to the indexes of births, marriages and deaths - GRO, online, any larger library - and work forwards from the date of birth, looking for future marriages (surname of husband listed, cross reference to get his first name), names of half siblings and their place of birth (mother's maiden name is listed to help ID). Use registers of voters, telephone directories and indexes of local newspapers - local and city libraries - the like to look for references to members of the family in the target area, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networking sites for the younger generation.

Thanks for the advice.

Unfortunately, I wouldn't know where the target area is, which presents a small problem.

Loanranger wrote: »

You could contact NORCAP for their advice.
http://www.norcap.org.uk/

I'm a birth mother and I know NORCAP to be reputable and have been around since the 1980s.

Good luck with your search.

Thanks, I'll take a look at the site.

Fire_Fox

Tropez wrote: »

Thanks for the advice.

Unfortunately, I wouldn't know where the target area is, which presents a small problem.

Thanks, I'll take a look at the site.

Sorry I haven't been clear, it all makes more sense once you start the process. The indexes are divided into births, marriages and deaths, then are/ were divided by quarter year. Every listing will have surname alphabetically, then first name alphabetically, registration district (place) and a unique code for each entry. The births also list mother's maiden name and the marriages have the surname of the partner. These indexes are free to access, you have to pay for certificates and you cannot just order any that takes your fancy.

Initial target area is that of the address on the birth certificate. You are looking for marriages and subsequent births registered in that district unless you have information to the contrary. If you don't find any likely candidates you can consider people with the same name registered in another part of the country.

The rarer the name the quicker and easier this whole process is. As long as the mother married it's relatively easy to identify half siblings because there are both parents surnames in each listing. You may find the first two children born in one area and a later child born elsewhere, or you might find a second marriage for the mother in another district. If the surname is very unusual or any children are named after their grandparents you might be able to identify grandparents' deaths.

New target area is then the registration district of the last birth, marriage or death you have identified. Use this and any names you have found to search the voters roll, indexes local newspapers etc. You may find announcements of births, marriages or deaths in the paper that will confirm the family relationships you have already established.

TonyMMM

I do genealogy work and have done a job like this for someone recently, and succeeded. It isn't easy and needs a bit of luck .

How long ago did this take place ?
Was a formal adoption ever done ?
Does the person use their "birth" name, or were they renamed as part of the adopton/guardianship ?
Are the guardian parents still alive (or any other family members who may have information). ?

Mojisola

Tropez wrote: »

If one were never officially adopted, but instead given over to "legal guardians" to be raised from the age of ~1 year old and knew very little about their birth mother, what would be the best way to go about trying to trace their biological mother?

If there was no legal adoption then the birth mother's name will be on this person's birth certificate. Start by getting that.

RAS

If this person knows their birth name, and their date of birth, they or anyone else can look it up in the "St Catherine's Index" of births, deaths and marriages. The Library over the road have a copy of the index to about 1990 which is available to the public.

That will list the details of the mother and possibly the father.

There are a number of ways to progress from there; I would start by checking the electoral roll for that year and others either side in case the mother and her family were living at the address given, so that you could identify other relatives. Tracing a single woman wih no information on relatives can be difficult.

Then work forward from the date of birth to see if she married anyone.

Then check for children of that marriage.

Tropez

TonyMMM wrote: »

I do genealogy work and have done a job like this for someone recently, and succeeded. It isn't easy and needs a bit of luck .

How long ago did this take place ?
Was a formal adoption ever done ?
Does the person use their "birth" name, or were they renamed as part of the adopton/guardianship ?
Are the guardian parents still alive (or any other family members who may have information). ?

It took place in either 1984 or 1985, I believe the former.

No formal adoption ever took place.

The child was renamed around 1994/1995 to take the surname of their legal guardians. The courts attempted to trace the mother at this point and failed.

One guardian is still alive, however, little is known of what became of the mother. The mother was living with the people who became the child's guardians, only for the mother to abandon the child one night and leave. No contact, save for a note that said the mother would not be returning was ever received again. The only known relative of the mother (her grandmother) passed away sometime in the mid-90s.

TonyMMM

Tropez wrote: »

The child was renamed around 1994/1995 to take the surname of their legal guardians.

Do they know their own birth name, and do they have a copy of their original birth certificate ?

If courts were involved, there will be some official paperwork somewhere... I would start with the adoption officer at the local authority for the area they were living in at that time.

If a guardian is still alive, then presumably the name of the birth mother is known .... did she leave any paperwork behind ?

The chance of success then may depend on how unusual the mother's name is ..... and of course there is the possibility she is no longer alive. Anyone considering contacting tracing birth families should really discuss these issues with an adoption counsellor before embarking on the process.

The Norcap website (previously recommended) is a good place to start for more info.

Tropez

TonyMMM wrote: »

Do they know their birth name, and do they have a copy of their original birth certificate ?

The Norcap website (previously recommended) is a good place to start.

Yes, they know their birth name but do not have a copy at present of the birth certificate.

I may be wrong, but unfortunately, it looks like for a link to be established on the NORCAP site it would require the birth mother to be registered on there? As the birth mother could have easily contacted the child at any point in the child's life up to the age of 23 it seems unlikely that she would have registered on there.