Genealogy Forum UK

Apologies that this isn't strictly a genealogical request, but I'm after advice and can't seem to find it anywhere. All my web searches seem to turn up sponsored links to "Find your family" sites.

Can anyone point me in the direction of the process for getting in contact with an adoptee relative in the UK? During legit genealogical research on my wife's family we found that a baby boy had been born out of wedlock and adopted in 1966. His birth mother (my wife's aunt) never married and died over 20 years ago. The father was unknown, and the address she was living at the time has long since been demolished. We thought that if this boy (now in his fifties and my wife's cousin) was trying to track down his biological relatives, then he would have hit a brick wall. We know that the law prevents biological relatives from getting access to adoption records and tracing adoptees, but that intermediaries can contact the adoptee on the relatives behalf and offer the possibility of contact if the adoptee wishes.

But we have no idea how to go about this. We have contacted the local council in the town where the boy would have been adopted (we have his birth certificate) but they scratched their heads and said they had no idea.

Any advice would be most welcome. If the mods decide this shouldn't be on this forum then I apologise.

Cheers

Dave

Bit Obvious but have you tried tv channel for advice? https://www.itv.com/hub/long-lost-family/1a8904 Kind regards RF

Hi

There is a horribly long guidance document, available for download here https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... y-services

I don't know if it helps or not

"If birth relatives are seeking contact with an adopted person they should be encouraged to register their wish for contact on the Adoption Contact Register, with the option of naming the agency as an intermediary. Registering on the Adoption Contact Register means that the birth relative will be informed if the adopted person has registered a wish for contact or no contact (Section 80 of the Act)."

But there is a lot more too, starts on page 42.

Thanks for that. Very helpful. I'd been to the .GOV page but missed that document.

EDIT: For future reference if anyone asks the question again, there's two sections to fill in - one if you're the adoptee (and the fee is £15), and one if you're a birth relative (fee is £30). The register is designed so that both parties can either wish for Contact or No Contact, and if two of them match up, they will contact the adoptee first and inform them of the birth relative's wishes for contact.

If either party wants to use an Intermediary then that Intermediary's details will be passed to the other party, otherwise each party will get the other party's address.

It's not a tracing service, more of a bulletin board.