Adoption Circa 1900

[DSGEN1]

Hello Everyone.
I am looking into our family history. In the 1901 Census one of my relatives households lists a 1 yr old boy as "Adopted". The boy is also listed in the 1911 and 1921 Census, so this was a long term arrangement. Looking into the history I see that the birth mother was a young unmarried girl who died a week after the birth. Her father was deceased and her mother was remarried.

Does anyone know how adoption worked in 1900? Would this have been an "official" adoption and if so which agency would have arranged it?
I have been unable to find any family relationship between the mother and my relatives and they do not appear to have been neighbours.

Many Thanks

[peterd]

mine was taken in by an Aunty its was the members on here that gave me the final bit of the puzzle, have you got any member of the Adopted person to do a DNA test?

[DSGEN1]

Unfortunately I have no contact with any member of adopted members family and a DNA may be skewed by the fact that the adopted child later married a relation of my maternal grandmother. My initial thought was the child was in some way related to great great grandparents, but as mentioned earlier my investigations have been unable to show any family connection between the two families.

My question is just a general one to understand how adoption may have worked in 1900. Would a "family" adoption have been the norm, or would there have been a "official" adoption route at that time via a government agency, church etc.

[peterd]

have you got a name and a DOB

[DSGEN1]

I think I am going to answer my own question "There was no legal adoption as we know it now before the 1926 Adoption Act was implemented", so I guessing there must me some family connection. I will carry on investigating. Thank you for your help

[Northern Lass]

Moving to gen. discussion section.

[gardener]

There is a review of a book here https://reviews.history.ac.uk/review/806 A bit expensive to buy but maybe a library could get it.
The first chapter might be interesting.
Did the adopting family have children of their own?

[DSGEN1]

Thank you for that link. My wife also found https://howtobeadopted.com/blog/2021/th ... format=amp which gives a good explanation of the history of adoption. Unusually for the time my great great grandparents only had one child themselves and then an adoption some years later.

My current thinking, taking into account there appears to be no family connection, the circumstances of the birth and the death shortly after of the mother, that this could have been a '10/6d' adoption via a charity like 'Waifs & Strays'