Lots of info, what to do

maxwell smart

My friend has discovered that his mother had a baby (his brother) 15 years ago and hid it from everyone. He knows where the lad is, what his name is etc. Now he is unsure what to do, and I guess I'm not asking how to advise him here.
The strange thing is this: His newly found brother has the same surname as his mother's maiden name. This is different from the surname of the woman who he is living with (who he presumes the lad thinks is his mother), and from the womans husband (who is seperated from her). (I know, I found it hard to follow him too!!).

Anyway, does the fact that the lad has the surname of his mother's maiden name mean that he is not adopted?

The baby went straight from his mother on the day he was born to this woman, his mother was still married and his father knew nothing about it. She was having an affair with the father of the woman who now has the lad.

Any idea if this is all legal? If he went into the births/deaths/marraiges place, could he have a look at the births for that day?

Thanks

The_Conductor

Legally under the 1954 act- the child of a married couple cannot be adopted, fullstop. There would be an automatic assumption that the child was a child of the married couple- and there is no allowance in law for the birth of an illegitimate child to a married woman.

All births are registered under the mother's maiden name in the General Registers Office. It really is as simple as requesting the books (probably 3 or 4 books) for the year in question- getting to the mother's maiden name, and in alphabetical order- looking up the mother and then checking with the sex of the baby, the date, the name etc. Its the sort of thing that would take you less than 10 minutes to find out.......

Its not unheard of for women to lie about their names, their relationship status or any of a number of other factors- and it certainly wouldn't be the first time that a child of a married couple was apparently adopted in this manner. Two agencies in Dublin were cited for this practice in the late 70's- I don't have any information on later activities of this nature.

Its up to your friend what he decides to do- but I would caution that he should consider the turmoil he would bring into the life of several others- not least his own mother- were he to decide to this without her knowledge or consent. I am also not certain as to the legalities of making contact with a minor- but I suspect its a big no-no.

S.