Adoption in Scotland about 1885.....

[Pat Bostock]

Hi,

I bought some Poor Relief Records, & one bit of information is that someone had an illegitimate child, who was then adopted.

Are there records of adoptions?

Kind regards,
Pat Bostock.

[DavidWW]

Hi,

I bought some Poor Relief Records, & one bit of information is that someone had an illegitimate child, who was then adopted.

Are there records of adoptions?

Kind regards,
Pat Bostock.

There was no formal, legal process in terms of adoption in Scotland prior to the relevant Act of Parliament in 1930. Thereafter, there is a GROS record (closed to other than the adoptee), and a linked Sheriff Court record, also closed, other than to the adoptee, or their legally authorised representative.

Prior to that date, adoption most often involved the extended family. or community, especially in terms, for example, of close mining and fishing and similar communities.

There were also a number of national and local agencies which arranged adoptions, e.g. Quarriers in the West of Scotland, some of which institutions have excellent records, but many of which don't.

In order to establish what such records there may be, it's probably best to contact the local archives,- see .........

David

[Pat Bostock]

Hi David,

Thanks for your reply explaining about the adoption of a child - so I should check the archives in the local area where the family lived? Would the name of the child be changed as well?

I shall now begin my research.

Kind regards,
Pat Bostock.

[DavidWW]

Hi David,

Thanks for your reply explaining about the adoption of a child - so I should check the archives in the local area where the family lived? Would the name of the child be changed as well?

I shall now begin my research.

Kind regards,
Pat Bostock.

Outside an extended family adoption situation, very possible that the name was changed.

David

[Davie]

Hi Pat
I have come across a few adoptions on my researches, and as David has pointed out, it was mostly extended family that took on the child.
If you know the weans name and birth (if it was before 1901), you could try the census after they were born.
That might give you at least some chance of finding them.
Davie

[Pat Bostock]

Hi,

Thanks so much for your advice. Yes, I do know her name, & found her with her grandmother in one Census as a small child. I shall have another look for her in a later Census, just as a matter of interest.

Kind regards,
Pat Bostock.

[joette]

I have the opposite problem I have a rellie who is enumerated in 1881 with his wife,in-laws & adopted son.I think he was their only child & after the 1881 they all vanish.I can find the in-laws & grandchildren from the other sister but no trace of mine.I have tried searching for Marriages/Deaths under Greer & Paige in case he was the sister's son & also under her married name but no luck.
I am assuming they left the country.Strange thing is I found a marriagewho fitted the bill in every respect-near to the other Greers,having Paige as his surname but parents completely unknown to me.If he was the right one he too disappears after his Marriage & I am thinking maybe an inter-family placement but that he was aware of who he was & decided to go back to his original name.