Genealogy Chat

Where a child has been adopted does their name still appears in the BMD index under their birth name? I checked with a name of a friends baby that was adopted about 10 years ago and his birth name is there. however i've also tried to look up a girl that was adopted as an older child not as a baby, the adoption didn't work out and she was put back into care, her name doesn't appear on the index under her birth name, i don't know what her adopted name was. I'm looking on ancestry BMD by the way, i thought the 1984-2000 birth index was complete but maybe its not

As far as I know all births registered appear in the GRO indexes as they were registered - ie under birth name. Some children might appear as Male or Female if they weren't named at the time of registration. An adopted child is put on the adoptions register. This is not linked to the original birth cert in the general indexes. If you can't find someone, perhaps their birth name wasn't what you/they thought it was. nell

As a parent of adopted children this concerns me greatly. Can you access entries for birth or adoption on line - surely not. I live in Scotland and understood recent records after say 1920 something were confidential.

George.....I'm an adoptee and the only person who can gain access to the birth/adoption records is the actual adoptee themselves.... For instance say my name was Jane Dodd at birth but adopted name was Margaret Jones, then the birth record for Margaret Jones would have the reference number NRH/AR and at Register House you have to ask for them to go and retrieve it.... then that document only gives the details for Margaret Jones. That birth record cannot be traced to the original birth name unless you know it! Hope that clarifies it for you. Jill x

However you can obtain adoption certificates,if the details of the person are known,regardless of being related or not. In the case I can verify,a girl was adopted by her mothers husband who came along when she was 4 years old,so that she had someone to call father.

I knew you couldn't access the adoption records but i always thought it was possible to see the original birth records- its just not possible to tie up to new name unless you know- my query here is that the girl i was looking for isn't included in the birth records under her birth name

Paula Then either she wasn't registered in her birth name, or you haven't found it in the right area, or it never got to the GRO. If you know where it was registered, you can apply to the relevant local register office. nell

Its not actually a relative of mine it was a girl my mum fostered for a short time, she had been adopted age 9 and the adoption lasted until age 13, i was looking up not because i wanted to find out about her but i just wanted to know how things worked in the index