Finding lost adopted relatives

30-10-2014 11:49pm #1

Has anyone any advice in this regard please? My grandmother had a child out wedlock around the 1930s in the Sligo area. As far as I can the child was put up for adoption and nobody has any idea what happened after.

My great-grandmother made extensive attempts to find her but failed. All of this was well before the internet era so maybe there's a chance? Of course there's also a good chance that she has passed on. My grandmother passed away some years ago.

Would be grateful for any advice....

:edit: Didn't know there was an "Adoption" sub forum, could a mod move please?

Hermy · 31-10-2014 9:36am

What info if any do you already have?
Do you know her name?
Do you know her date and place of birth?
What agency (if any) was involved in the adoption?

I've done a few adoption traces for people born in the 70's but I expect this will be a much harder trace.
I'd suggest leaving this thread here and starting a similar thread in the Adoption forum as I think both forums may have advice to offer.

pinkypinky · 31-10-2014 10:24am

This may well be a difficult search. Pre-1953 (when legal adoption began) are much more challenging because there is no paperwork to find. Hermy's questions are excellent starter points.

01-11-2014 1:05am

Yeah I think there's not much chance of success to be honest. About the only information I have to hand is my grandmother's name!!!!! :rolleyes: Also my Dad's side of the family are rather odd in that they don't seem to know much about their relatives or even care.

As my grannie was born in Sligo I'm just guessing that it was done there and the only agency in Sligo seems to be St Attractas.

Hermy · 01-11-2014 9:39am

I wouldn't give up hope just yet. Do post in the Adoption forum as you will possibly get recommendations as to who to speak to - the likes of Barnardos or the Adoption Rights Alliance who may have expertise in this area which I certainly don't have.

As regards your Dad's side of the family could this perhaps have something to do with the adoption - where the secrecy surrounding it fed into everyone's psyche and thus secrecy became the order of the day - and that secrecy now manifests itself as apparent disinterest in the wider family unit. I could be completely wide of the mark in suggesting this but I have come across something similar in other family research I have done.

Coolnabacky1873 · 01-11-2014 4:09pm

It's a broad overview of the topic, but Episode 6 of the Genealogy Radio Show is an interview with Fiona Fitzsimons who has a lot of experience with this type of research. In the interview she mentions some of her publications where she provides a guide for people like yourself.
http://www.mixcloud.com/tag/the-genealogy-radio-show/

Qualitymark · 02-11-2014 11:39am

So this would be your aunt or uncle?

In the US, DNA is becoming popular for this - people reunite families by submitting their DNA to organisations set up to rejoin lost relatives. (I've only heard about this, and have no personal experience of it.) I don't know if this is done in Ireland; however, it's quite possible that your aunt or uncle may have been sold to Americans. Obviously, you have to treat this with as much caution as any other method of reuniting relatives.

I'm told that Barnardo's is very helpful in finding birth parents, by the way, so the same may be true for finding lost aunties. May I wish you the very best of luck in your quest, and a happy result.

dido2 · 05-11-2014 11:33pm

A starting point would be to do a search for a baby born in sligo with same surname as your grandmother, they most of the times were children of single mothers...

Qualitymarks mention of DNA testing would be a good option too, a lot of irish people are now doing the DNA test for Genealogy, you can get it done for about €75 and you can get matches all over the world, but lots of people who were adopted especially in America are doing it too in the hope that some day someone from their family do it aswell...

05-11-2014 11:49pm

Is there a DNA company that is most popular then? Or does it even matter?

dido2 · 08-11-2014 8:35pm

Hi Vanzan

There are 3 main companies that do DNA testing, Ancestry.com, FamilyTreeDNA and 23 and me.. Ancestry DNA test is only available in the US, and Family Tree is probably one the ones a lot of people use https://www.familytreedna.com/family-finder-compare.aspx? the family finder test will give you matches coming from both sides of the person who is tested it doesn't tell you if they are from your mother or fathers side but sometimes matches can be easily figured out with the people you match..

dido2 · 08-11-2014 8:37pm

What was your grandmothers name??

08-11-2014 10:26pm

Not sure if it's a good idea to post it publicly.

08-11-2014 10:34pm

Ah right so they're kits you use yourself? I had the wrong idea entirely.....so what do you do with the kit? Do you need to give a blood sample? I do hope not!

:edit: Am I right that the "kit" is just a test tube that you spit into and send back? $99?

dido2 · 09-11-2014 1:06am

No blood test!!! You get a swab that you rub on the inside of your cheek for I think 1 minute, then you use the second swab at least 4 hours later and do the same thing, post it off, then you wait for your results that can take a good few weeks to come but worth it when they do!

pinkypinky · 09-11-2014 7:50pm

FTDNA were doing them at BTOP - there was no need to wait 4 hours between swabs - one on each cheek, one after the other.

22-03-2015 11:41am

dido2 wrote: »

Hi Vanzan

There are 3 main companies that do DNA testing, Ancestry.com, FamilyTreeDNA and 23 and me.. Ancestry DNA test is only available in the US

Have things changed with regard to DNA testing with Ancestry? I just clicked the link for DNA on ancestry.co.uk and I got to an order page with a price of £119!! I didn't see any kind of announcement that they were now doing it outside of America so maybe I'm mistaken somehow.

I ended up spending €1000 on FTDNA. Not all at once but I kept ordering more tests as I found and made contact with matches. Still waiting on the Big-Y and my mtDNA tests. The family finder test, in my opinion, was the weakest of them all.

dido2 · 22-03-2015 11:55am

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Have things changed with regard to DNA testing with Ancestry? I just clicked the link for DNA on ancestry.co.uk and I got to an order page with a price of £119!! I didn't see any kind of announcement that they were now doing it outside of America so maybe I'm mistaken somehow.

I ended up spending €1000 on FTDNA. Not all at once but I kept ordering more tests as I found and made contact with matches. Still waiting on the Big-Y and my mtDNA tests. The family finder test, in my opinion, was the weakest of them all.

Yes vanzan, they started offering autosomal tests in February, but in terms of cost it's working out about twice the price of ftdnas family finder test when you include p&p which is £20 with Ancestry on top of the kit price of £99

22-03-2015 12:08pm

The cost of the test doesn't deter me....it's whether I'll be able to see any benefit to it without maintaining a subscription at ancestry.co.uk. I think I'll treat myself and order an ancestry.co.uk test and a 23andme one.

dido2 · 22-03-2015 12:11pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

The cost of the test doesn't deter me....it's whether I'll be able to see any benefit to it without maintaining a subscription at ancestry.co.uk. I think I'll treat myself and order an ancestry.co.uk test and a 23andme one.

I'm not sure how the results are presented just what I see wrote about them, lack of chromosome browser so no way of comparing people, not being able to see trees even public ones without a subscription but I think a lot upload the results to.gedmatch and transfer to ftdna so they can use their tools

PopTarts · 22-03-2015 12:14pm

Would you know the date of birth?

Finding lost adopted relatives

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