Tracing a sibling

KKkitty

Hi all. First time poster here but my brother was born in the first 3 or 4 months in St. Patricks on the Navan Road in 1971. My mam gave him the name James and she took care of him for about 4 or 5 months after his birth til he was adopted. Were any of ye there at the time at all.

KKkitty

Anyone able to help with this please?

KKkitty

JM_2009 wrote: »

Wish it was as simple as just posting on boards to see if your sibling is reading.

Contact the adoption authority of Ireland thats your best bet. I'm currently in the process of starting to look for my brother ... Born Feb 28th 1979 Mount Carmel in Dublin so I believe ... Given the name David !

Good luck with your search

I think I've searched through every single post on this adoption forum here in the vain hope he posted but to no avail. Our mother has passed away and I can only wish that I asked more questions but it was something that upset her. I really hope your search has a happy ending too.

Enda63

KKkitty & JM_2009,

you should both get a copy of their birth certs in the GRO, that will give you an exact date of birth to start with.

KKkitty

Enda63 wrote: »

KKkitty & JM_2009,

you should both get a copy of their birth certs in the GRO, that will give you an exact date of birth to start with.

What is that exactly?

The_Conductor

KKkitty wrote: »

What is that exactly?

The GRO is the 'General Register's Office'
Their reading room is in the Irish Life Mall on Talbot Street.
Essentially you go in- you pay to search a particular year- and the original birth certs are normally sorted alphabetically (but not always- as many of us have discovered). It shouldn't take you more than 10 minutes to find your brother's original birth certificate.

You then need to check the adopted children's register. This is not with the other books- and will have to be specifically requested at the counter. You will need to go through this entry by entry- all 43,000 odd entries- making a note of all entries with dates of birth that match that of your sibling (which you'll just have gotten from the original birth cert).

You will probably have at least 4 or 5 matches.

Your sibling will have been given an adoptive name- so you're not going to know what it is.

At this stage- you're going to have to have to start your detective work- seeing if you can determine which of the matches best matches your sibling. It may be obvious and fairly quick- or it may be long and tortuous.

Once you get to this stage- get back to us- and we'll see if we can offer you further suggestions.

KKkitty

My mam's maiden name was kinda unusual so here's hoping it's not too hard. Thanks so much for the information Conductor.

The_Conductor

KKkitty wrote: »

My mam's maiden name was kinda unusual so here's hoping it's not too hard. Thanks so much for the information Conductor.

That will make finding the original birth certificate a lot easier- it won't help at all with his adopted children's certificate though (which will have his name as it is now, on it). Unfortunately- his name- first name and surname- will have been changed- so getting his original birth certificate- is the first stepping stone on your search- it will give you his date of birth. You then leverage his date of birth- to get a list of the children from the adopted children's register with the same date of birth. You then have to start your detective work to try and narrow things down further. Once you get that far- come back and I'll give you some new pointers on possible directions you can then go in.

Enda63

the GRO are meant to be leaving the Irish Life Centre this week, their lease is up there and they are moving to the old dole office in Werburgh Street. Have been trying to check if they will be opening in the new office on Monday but have been unable to confirm this.

KKkitty

Wish this was easier. Wish it was as simple as typing a name into a website.

Enda63

KKkitty, there are a lot of people that wish it was that easy, me for one, but at least it can be done. I've found one brother that was adopted after me but still have another one to find.

KKkitty

Enda63 wrote: »

KKkitty, there are a lot of people that wish it was that easy, me for one, but at least it can be done. I've found one brother that was adopted after me but still have another one to find.

How long did it take to find your brother?

Enda63

once I put my to it properly it only took a few weeks, 18 years later I can't remember what it was like not to have him around

KKkitty

Hope it doesn't take me long to find him.

Enda63

take it step by step, it's better to do it slowly and properly and get the result you want rather than rush in and scare the crap out of him. Keep in touch and if there's anything I can do I will

KKkitty

The last thing I want is to scare him but at least he'll know a blood relative has tried to find him. Me and two of my younger sisters were watching a show on ITV called Long lost family and it spurred us on to find him once and for all.

Enda63

Long Lost Family is an amazing programme!! I wish they would do one here too. have you thought about joining one of the adoption groups on FB? they're great for advice and support and because they're closed groups only people in the group can see your posts

Enda63

JM_2009,

send her a message, you've nothing to loose and all to gain.

Enda63

Do it!!

I was adopted, I've done it with one brother also adopted. I then contacted my 2 sisters that grew up together, and I'm still looking for another brother.

On the other side, my son has done it with my daughter that was placed for adoption.

It's worth it

KKkitty

JM_2009 all you can do is reach out. Get on facebook and send that message. What are the names of these groups Enda?

Enda63

KKkitty,

Adoption Support Network of Ireland and Adoption Rights Alliance are the two I would suggest. Tell them I sent you

KKkitty

Enda63 wrote: »

KKkitty,

Adoption Support Network of Ireland and Adoption Rights Alliance are the two I would suggest. Tell them I sent you

I will and thank you.

Wittner

@Kkkitty
To properly trace your birth cert I would add that you look at the excellent guides on the 'sticky' section of this very forum:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055543715

I printed those out and used them to the letter when I was tracing GRO records. Very very helpful.

You might want to also fill out the Contact Preference Register. Not sure how useful it is but it's a database of people who have said that they are interested in finding their parents or siblings after adoption and you can decide how much contact you might want or not with the person. The idea is that if two people fill out the same data and can be matched, you will be put in touch with one another (if that's what you request). If by chance your brother knows about this register and has already filled it in then you *might* get lucky. The government sent out a form for this to a lot of households in the country some time ago. Might be worth a try.

Here's a link to the information about it on the Adoption Authority site:
http://www.aai.gov.ie/index.php/information-a-tracing/contact-preference-register.html

And here's a link to download the form if you wish to download it directly and fill it in:
http://www.aai.gov.ie/attachments/article/24/ApplicationFormEnglish.pdf

cheers,

Wittner

KKkitty

Wittner thanks for that. Part of me is a bit nervous about the whole thing still.

justagirl

Just to let you all know that the GRO is re-locating from the Irish Life Centre to Werburgh Street, Dublin 2. The new facility will open to the public on Monday 30th September 2013. To facilitate the move the Research facility in the Irish Life Centre will be closed to the public Wednesday 25th to Friday 27th September inclusive.

Normal service will resume in the new location at Werburgh Street on Monday 30th September 2013. The telephone number of the new office is: 01-8940080.