Born in England, Irish Mother, Adopted in Ireland: Tracing

DubSprinter

Hi,

I was born in England to an Irish mother who brought me back to be adopted here in Ireland.

The tracing guide in the sticky for this scenario recommends applying for dual citizenship in the UK which seems a big step, I would like to try all other avenues first.

What I have done so far may be of interest to others but as I have just started I can't guarantee it works, I just wanted to share in case anyone was in the same boat (maybe literally!).

I knew my first name at birth and the fact that my mother is Irish, using that and the DOB I searched birth records online at genealogist.co.uk by firstname and the quarter I was born in. I read that a birth must be registered within 6 weeks so I can be fairly sure I'm in the quarter I should be in. This returns a large list of 2000 or so people born in that quarter with the same first name. I guess this process would be a lot easier in Ireland, in the UK there are a huge number of births in a quarter and I have a fairly common name.

I then manually searched for records with mothers' maiden name matching child surname and names of Irish origin (I was told she was Irish).
Initially I have assumed no second name e.g. just John Smith and not John Paul Smith. If anyone knows what common practice would be in terms of second name I'd love to hear from them (I always thought it was a baptism name?). Assuming no second name reduces the first search from returning 2000 to just 100 or so of which 2 were Irish surnames with maiden name matching child surname. I'm now convinced I'm one of them who was born in Liverpool, it's a long shot but who knows!

If I can't make the middle name assumption, scaling up I guess I would be looking at up to 40 candidates which is a lot.

It is a long shot but I have ordered both birth certs as a trial go. To do this you just need the GRO index numbers from the sheet returned on genealogist.co.uk. Normally on the GRO site in the UK you need to specify parents names etc. to order a cert however when you try to order there is a button to press if you are adopted and you can order using just GRO indexes. On the previous page you also need to have specifiey that you have the GRO index number. Under the Births and Deaths Registration act of 1953 apparently they have to supply the cert. It costs £9.25 a cert so it could add up if you try a lot, then I guess there is no guarantee that just one will match your DOB, and even if it does you need to do further checking.

What is missing is the facility to search the actual birth certs by date and first name, I wonder if the UK government has a DB that is searchable like that, in which case the citizenship application might be required to get access.

I have also contacted the agency responsible for my adoption and am waiting for a meeting there to initiate a trace. I also found an organisation in the UK (icacentre.org.uk) which deals with foreign adoptions and they have a tracing unit for adoptions with an international elemnet, they have replied to my mail but their tracing person is on annual leave until mid August.

What I'm doing is definitely hit and miss, there might be an easier and more accurate way to find the birth cert and if anyone has traced their birth cert in the UK having been adopted in Ireland I'd love to hear from you on here.


Thanks for any help

DS

LennieB

Hi DS - I have a similar story in that I was born in the UK and brought back by my birthmother at 6 weeks to be adopted in Ireland. I've been through the tracing and reunion process (started 7 yrs ago) - I first contacted the agency I was adopted through here and got non-identifying info and also went to the Catholic Children's Society in London (agency who arrranged the adoption of a lot of babies born in the UK to Irish mothers) where I received all my original documents including my birth cert.
Take a look at an earlier post here (on page 2) from Auguste Comte titled "And so it begins.." it may help you also. Any q's just ask and best of luck!
L.

DubSprinter

Hi L, thanks for your reply. At the moment I have just contacted the agency in Dublin, up to now that is the only agency I was informed of as being involved (from my initial enquiry to the Adoption Authority). There is now an 8-10 week wait for an appointment to get non-identifying info.

How did you know to check the agency in London?
Does an agency in the UK have to have been involved do you know if you are born in the UK?

I wonder if an Irish woman just travels to the UK for the birth and returns if any involvement of a UK agency is required. The trace guide for UK births seems to suggest that something like that may have been happening. I guess the ferry ports then would be possible contenders when searching for birth certs which is why I have a good feeling about the one I found from Liverpool. I'll know next week hopefully if it arrives & if the DOB matches mine. Unfortunately, Murphy's law, the page number for the record in the birth index was scribbled out and replaced with something illegible so I had to make a guess when I entered the number, I'm hoping all of the other details are enough for them to find it and send it to me.

I did contact the GRO in the UK to seek advice and they passed on my enquiry to their adopted childrens register but they said as the adoption was carried out in Ireland they would have no linking information.

Thanks again, DS

sheba 121

Hi Dubsprinter. Ive just sent you a private mail. I may be of help to you.

Sheba 121