Access to adoption records

Have no experience of this Grayling or how Davina and Nicky manage this. However I do wish you every success in your search . I was not adopted, have a brother and a sister and would hate to be without them .
Good luck ! 💐

Because you have to use intermediaries who have access to the adoption records and will counsel both parties before putting anyone in touch.
I have direct experience of this, both the parents and children need protecting.
It is important it is done properly.

I do totally understand that and got in touch with "Birthlink" a company who could act on my behalf but as I do not know my brother's name just his date of birth and he was born in the same instituiton they are not able to help. I have, with the help of our local records, been able to trace my birth mother and am in touch with my half-brother and now through Ancestry am in contact with a cousin (our mothers were sisters) who was adopted like myself and we will continue to do some research together.

Try www.gov.uk/adoption-records/the-adoption-contact-register, that should be able to give you information as to how to search.
Good Luck

Try Ancestry.com, I was unable to trace my biological father through records and it was in part because my birth mother named someone else as the father. I've since traced loads of biological family and have taken the view that if they are on Ancestry they will probably be happy to be contacted - at least that's my experience so far!

Hi, Gosh your story mirrors my own.
When I started my journey to find my birth family, I wrote to the address of my biological mother at the time of my birth.
To cut a long story short, I eventually got a phone call from a brother who filled me in about what he knew.
My mother was dead, but she had given birth to four children, three boys and me. She kept two, and gave two up for adoption.
I was eventually able to trace my adopted brother with the help of Birthlink. They found him through my mother's surname. I was able to have a lovely relationship with him for over ten years until he died last year.
My other brothers are also dead.
Like you, I have used Ancestry and together with a relative who does research, have also found out lots of information about my biological father's family too.
When they were researching for Long Lost Family some years ago, they approached me for my story as I was looking for my adopted brother at that time but they decided not to take it on.
I'm sorry that I'm not much help but please keep trying. I gave up for a while, but when I went back to it, everything suddenly fell into place.
Good luck 🤞

My MiL was adopted. Her birth parents were married. We have her adoption papers from a solicitor, so I have been able to trace her birth family. We don't know how MiL knew how to contact her birth mother but we have a letter from before MiL's wedding saying that her birth mother did not want any further contact with her and didn't want her other child to know about her and enclosing her birth father's WW1 medals. Very odd

I am reading "Finding Margaret " by Andrew Pierce just now. You might find it interesting as he has had so many problems trying to trace his parents. He found his birth mother but she refused to tell him anything. I'm nearly at the end of the book and he's in Ireland trying to get info on his father. It's a very interesting book and just recently published.

It certainly does Shawlands2000! I will send you a PM later on today as have to head out but will say my birth mother also had four children after she married three boys and one girl. This all took place in the late 1940's and life was pretty hard then. I was adopted by a childless couple within a large family and have regarded myself (and was by them all) as a member of the family. My current research was regarding my full brother born 2yrs after me and also adopted and I have used Ancestry as a tool to do this.

Have you taken a DNA test with ancestry? I am in Australia and my story is similar to yours. My birth mother had three children who were all adopted, I was the eldest born in 1947. I was unaware of the others until I was almost 60 when my younger brother contacted me. He had my name on his birth certificate and used electoral rolls to trace me. We both took DNA tests and were able to find out many details from relatives who were listed on ancestry, finally we were able to put all the pieces together. I’m unsure of regulations in Scotland but we had freedom of information for adoptees brought into law in the 1990’s. Hope you have some success with your search.

Hello there
Perhaps doing Your DNA and using ancestry would help🙂🩷

Do get a DNA test from Ancestry .
You put the results on a database. Not sure how it's done so I've added a link here.
I know someone who did this. A half brother also had his name on it and contacted her.
She found other half siblings and her father. Neither knew his name.
I think Ancestry has an offer on at the moment to buy a test.
Good luck.

www.ancestry.co.uk/dna/legal/faq

Thank you Mollygirl for that information. It explains a lot as I didn't know the situation in England and that obviously explains how Davina and Nikky can carry out their searches. I now know (thanks to Gransnet) I feel I can progress further in my quest to find my brother.

I was adopted in 1963. My birth mother passed away two weeks after my birth and my birth father couldnt cope with a new born (premature) baby. I made contact with Barnardo’s as I had been placed in Babies Castle Children's Home once I was discharged from hospital. They had my birth records, they arranged for me to meet a lady who brought all my birth information, my mothers death certificate and the names of my five siblings. One had passed away. (Sister) one didn’t want to have contact with me (half sister) also a half brother who felt the same way. I met my brother and his family, children and grandchildren. He then took me to meet an Aunt, my dads sister, and her children. Aunt had asked to adopt me and visited me in hospital but because her husband was stationed in Germany they wouldn’t allow her to take me over seas.

My dh spent the day at the national register in Edinburgh once he had his birth mother name and date of birth and traced cousins etc

i've seen people posting on MN with obscure family queries and it's amazing how much information can be pieced together.
there are some real enthusiasts on there. and others who just happen to recognise a date and place of birth.

Knittypamela

I am reading "Finding Margaret " by Andrew Pierce just now. You might find it interesting as he has had so many problems trying to trace his parents. He found his birth mother but she refused to tell him anything. I'm nearly at the end of the book and he's in Ireland trying to get info on his father. It's a very interesting book and just recently published.

I have read theserialisation of this book and listened to him discussing this on TV. He seems a lovely guy.

Another book you might like is Finding Tipperary Mary. Absolutely incredible story.

I was adopted in 1958
I join got in touch with social services who put me in touch with my birth mother but she didn't want to know, 6 months later she wanted to get her n touch.
We met but she didn't feel any connection
I did ancestry.com in 2018 and found my birth dad in America. I had no idea of his name etc. we have had a real good relationship, he didn't even know I existed.
I wish you all the luck you need xx

On a similar vein, I tried to find out about "The Red House" apparently a children's home somewhere in Surrey I was sent to in the mid 1950's. Family said my mum was ill and couldn't look after me, but that just wasn't true as I had my dad and an older sister who didn't go with me, plus we lived with maternal grandparents and an aunt and her 4 children so no reason to send me away. I have the feeling they might have tried to get me adopted (no idea why as I was around 3 or 4 at the time). Have never been able to find the place and given up now. I'm 70. Good luck Grayling1. I hope you get some answers.

Cateq

My dh spent the day at the national register in Edinburgh once he had his birth mother name and date of birth and traced cousins etc

you can do the same on Scotland People online but it does cost for each certificate you look at .

I found my birth mother 20 years ago after requesting my original birth certificate. I had to have counselling, and an intermediary contacted my mother. We never met but wrote to each other. She’d gone on to have 5 more children. Eventually it petered out and we didn’t keep in contact.

But fast forward to last year, I had an email from father Hudson homes, who help trace people. My brother was looking for me. He’d gone round in circles and was having no luck, when someone suggested father Hudson homes.
They found me, by using data bases that are not available to the general public.
this maybe something you could try.
Meeting my brother has been amazing, he is such a lovely man.
Hope you are successful. X

i think workhouses were sometimes called the red house, esp from 1920s onwards, or buildings that had been part of them, to take away some of the stigma.
some were incorporated into the nhs in 1948 and it was a form of re-branding, not to deter people from accessing services there.
i have come across this in a couple of different localities.

I also found my birth mother after requesting my original birth certificate about 20 years ago. All her information was on there, luckily she had an unusual name.It was a disaster though and l wish l hadn't started the search.. Unbelievably she originally came from a village about 15 miles from where l live.
She had moved the US years ago, she met her husband when he was stationed here, she went on to have 3 other children.
I met my grandmother, uncle and, aunt here, all lovely people.
When she came over from the US, we had a day out together in Cambridge, it was surreal to be honest.
It turned out she was a racist and not a nice woman.
It took me years to recover from the damage she caused.
I hadn't thought of looking for my father through ancestry. Com. Probably too late now as I'm mid sixties.
I wish you better luck and much success.

There is more than one DNA testing company that connects you with DNA relatives. If they have chosen to submit DNA for assessment your brother, or other relatives, might not have chosen Ancestry.com. I think the professionals search through all of the different companies and that is how they are so successful.