fostering help

[Kimjones]

hi, firstly hope i'm in the right area. My mum passed away in May 2010 and it was only before that (about a year) that I found out that she was fostered to what I thought were her biological parents. I have a birth certificate but it doesn't tell me anything except the entry number 3035 for the district St. Rollox in the burgh of Glasgow in the year 1924. Does anyone have any idea where I might start looking? I tried getting some bits of info before she passed but she wasn't interested, she figured she had been left by her mum and that was it. I do know that her foster parents took children in during the war and she had to take care of them which was in Kirckcudbrightshire. Any help would be appreciated. thanks Kim

[LesleyB]

Hi Kim
Not sure that we can help as your mother's birth falls into the 100 year closure period and she died very recently so as long as we are not mentioning names in a public forum we should be OK... you say:

I have a birth certificate but it doesn't tell me anything except the entry number 3035 for the district St. Rollox in the burgh of Glasgow in the year 1924.

I'm assuming that if your mother was fostered, but not legally adopted, that she kept her original name. A birth certificate should have parent names on it (although in some cases it may be just the mother's name) which I'm guessing is what you are hoping to find. If not, what you have may be a short form or abbreviated version of the birth cert, and if so, you should be able to either order the full version online at the ScotlandsPeople website, or go to the Mitchell Library or GROS Edinburgh, or visit a local registrar to pay for a full version of your mother's birth entry. (http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/famrec/bdm.html)

Best wishes
Lesley

[Falkyrn]

The main problem is that adoption as we know it today did not start in Scotland until 1930 and so if she was adopted between her birth and 1930 there may not be an "official" paper trail.

That said if the birth certificate has been amended or limited there may have been court proceedings of some sort to make the fostering or adoption official.

see http://www.nas.gov.uk/guides/adoptions.asp and http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/regscot/adoption.html