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Hi everyone

Just an update.
I didnt find out about this adopted half brother until a few months ago. When my dad died i got in touch with his daughter from his first marriage. She had been looking for him for 25yrs when i found her but sadly it was 3 weeks after dads funeral :(

We went to the registry office in Preston as Marc was born at Preston Royal Infirmary. When a child has been adopted they are very reluctant to give the birth certificate to someone who does not have all of the information about that child. We knew his birth name, mother and fathers name, where he was born and had a rough idea of the address. We were lucky that the lady in the office helped us out a lot - i think she was curious!! We had the wrong year initially - we thought he might have been born in 1971 but it turned out to be 1973.

The birth certificate which we were given is a copy of one from the original register. It has adopted written in the bottom left hand corner. We were told that we would have to contact the office at Southport but that due to the year he was adopted (1973-4) it is unlikely that we will be given any information about him unless he decides to look for us himself.

The reference to an "s" being on the certificate is actually about the GMO index. If you look for anyones birth record on the index you will see that some names have an "s" after the vol. no. This is because there has been an adoption or a name change to that child. That doesnt show on the birth certificate. I only ordered this birth certificate for Marc in October but we were told by the lady in the registrars office that if we didnt give her all of the information that we had then there would be no way that she would have been able to issue us with that particular certificate. I think it might have something to do with the secrecy around adoptions.

Rose, just got some advice. I think your talking abt the GRO indexes ie the S

I am referring to the word ADOPTED that is shown on birth certs when an adoption has taken place.. As far as I know, on line, it isnt possible to see that someone is adopted until the certicate has been ordered, then it will say so to the right hand side...

that's my understanding..

Perhaps you can add some links that give us an example of the S bit...thanks..

Wendy, have never heard of that, cos an adoption is a legal procedure and hence the new name is legal. So am wondering why he got married in his birth name and not his adopted name..sounds odd to me!!

strange that Rose. My half-brother was adopted in 1946 and his birth certificate (ie the copy I ordered 4 years ago, states the words ADOPTED..)...Bizarre why it should have changed from ADOPTED to an S.
I've also dealt with adoptions in the 80's and word ADOPTED has always been used.
I'll have to look into this further me thinks...

Rose are you saying the letter S is marked on the original birth entry ie once an adoption has took place?? And therefore, when re-ordering a copy of that b/c the S shows and not the word ADOPTED? I am talking birth certificates here and not other entries anywhere??..& what do you mean by go to any page?? where are you talkin?? Thanks hun

hi our friend was adopted but had to marry in his birth name so it was a bit strange at the wedding lol

Whirley,

In the 60s, 70s and early 80s, birth references ending in a S are for name changes and adoptions. Go choose any page at random. You'll see what I mean.

Rose

My husband's father adopted my husbands 2nd cousin in 1929.
I have the adopted girl's original birth certificate, adopted is added to the right hand side. No letter S.
I found her adoption registration using her original first names, obviously I knew the surname to look for.
I'm not sure if it is possible to do, but -
If you know a narrow enough time frame could you try going to Kew in London and requesting the ledgers to find those first names? The register was in the family record centre when I did my search.
A divorce and secretive family had kept her existance from my husband for 30 years.

Hi Lisa, are you 100% certain that he was adopted? You could order a copy of his birth certificate which will tell you one way or another.

If he was adopted then the word ADOPTED will be to the right hand side of the birth certificate. Is the b/c you have the one that was given to his mother at the time of his registration? or is it one you have recently ordered?? I'm not aware that an S stands for adoption and I have NEVER come across that.

If he was adopted, then as a family member, YOU are entitled to ask an Intermediary Service (who now deal with post adoptions as opposed to Social Services) for their help in tracing your h/brother. If you suspect the adoption was in Shropshire, contact one of the local SS's there and ask them to refer you to the appropriate Intermediary Service in that area.

Some charge, some are free. The one I used was free. They may ask you to attend a meeting to discuss matters.

It's a long winded process. If you need more advice, feel free to PM me. I am interested to hear more abt the b/c you have.

There are two trees on GR with a Marc Webb born 1973 Preston, one of whom, I assume, is you. Try contacting the other one.

Hi all

Many thanks for your replies.....

I guess i should give a little more information.

After my dad died last year, i found my half sister through this site who is my dads daughter from his first marriage. She told me about Marc, but doesnt have many memories as she was only very yound when he was born.

Her mum is still alive, but she wont speak about this at all . My sister grew up believing that her step father was her real dad, until she was told the truth as a teenager. She searched for our dad for over 20yrs but was not successful in finding him as he had changed his name and cut off all contact with his previous family.

The only snippet of information she has ever given up is the name which she gave him when he was born (Marc Webb) and she said that he was adopted by a family in Shropshire although we dont know if this is true or not. Obviously, we dont know if he knows that he is adopted or not.

Ive applied to be put on the register for contact today so maybe something will come back from that.

Thank you again to everyone for all your help

Lisa

Another possibility might be that he was adopted by a later husband of his mother, but chose to marry in his birth name.
...Although perhaps not so likely if he was adopted soon after birth.

I recently bought the copy of a birth certificate and marriage certificate for someone in my tree.
She was registered in her mother's maiden name, raised with her father's surname, - appearing with his family, then away in service in 1901 still with that surname, but married the following year with her birth name.

Gwyn

Not sure I would contact his mother Rose! She is unlikely to know who adopted him and it would be distressing for her I would think.
Jan

Hi,
The adoption agency will only tell you there has been a match,but it will confirm that he does possibly know about you.You could try NORCAP which is another agency.It seems in my experience that only the adopted person can do anything about the contact. All these will cost. You could also try the social services.
Good Luck
Trudy

I think the S at the end of his birth reference means he was adopted.

Anyway you could contact his mother?

Rose

Lisa, just worth saying that there is no way of finding him unless he wants to be found, as you would expect.
The only other remote chance is that he is looking to find other family members, in which case he would be looking under his original name, so be sure to check out Friends Reunited and Facebook. At least Marc is a reasonably uncommon name!
Good luck.
jan

Hiya

I am 100% sure that he was adopted - not entirely sure when but i know it was between 1973 and 1974.

Unfortunately i only found out about him after dad passed away so have noone to go to for information now although i dont think dad knew much about it as hed seperated from his wife when Marc was born.

I'll take a look into the National Adoption Register - many thanks. If anyone else can help with anything else, id be very grateful!

How sure are you that he was adopted? There is a marriage for a Marc J. Webb in the Midlands, though might be a co-incidence of course.
If he was, you might want to put your details on the national Adoption register - if marc wants to find his birth family he might have registered on there.
jan

Hi
Im hoping someone may be able to help me in my search.....
I recently found out that i have a half brother (dads son from a previous marriage) who was adopted, i think, shortly after birth.

I have found his birth certificate and he was born april 1973 - Marc James Webb. I have no idea as to his whereabouts now. and likewise, he will know nothing about me.

Can anyone help me in obtaining any information as to how i might track him down?

Thanks in advance

Lisa