Is there a free way to find birth records in the UK (online) ?

Question:I need to find out names and adresses of my friends dad's kids after he seperated from my friends mother.
I've tried tracesmart and look around a few other sites but most of them want you to pay for information.
He he has never met his step brothers/sisters but after birth of new baby he would like to get in touch with them.

I am doing what i can online for him but if someone could give me a few more ideas to try, it would be a great help.

thanks

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I need to find out names and adresses of my friends dad's kids after he seperated from my friends mother.
I've tried tracesmart and look around a few other sites but most of them want you to pay for information.
He he has never met his step brothers/sisters but after birth of new baby he would like to get in touch with them.

I am doing what i can online for him but if someone could give me a few more ideas to try, it would be a great help.

thanks

the only free sites I have found are:

http://www.freebmd.org.uk/
http://www.familysearch.org/

They have census results, as well as births, marriages and deaths. They have been transcribed by volunteers, so that's why they're free. The listings aren't complete yet though, so keep checking back occasionally if you're after somethig specific. It's helped me out so much.

If you still want a copy of the certificate, you need to pay ￡7.00 and contact the General Register Office. You will need to have the reference numbers for the certificates you want, which can be found when you look them up on FreeBMD, or otherwise for paying a small fee on www.genesreunited.co.uk (another valuable tool). The GRO are the holders of the certificates, and they are a government body, so not about to give this information for free!

Here in the UK there is nothing like that on-line, you might get some information from www192.com but even that you have to pay to use. The electoral registers are free to search at the library, but you have to give a name and a specific address, you cant just go and look through it, as we are covered by the Data Protection Act, here in the UK.,as far as I know there is the freeBMD site but they only go up to 1920, and then there's www.ancestry.co.uk they have the BMD index from 1837 - 2005 but they don't give addresses.
Hope this helps.

If he knows the Town in which they are living, he could try writing to the local newspaper (google will give you the address). Send a letter to the Readers' Letters Column, and say that he is searching for some relatives (don't be too specific) and if anyone knows a Mr. Joe Bloggs who lived at...........wherever.
We see quite a few letters like this in our local paper and to judge from thank-you letters a few weeks later, they appear to be quite successful.

cllr rev Paul JOHN Flowers
born 5.6.1950
live in bradford 7

Try Genes Reunited at http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/

I've found a lot of useful information for my family tree on it. Don't know if it will work for what you want but worth a try.

The UK is very strict about disclosure of details on line. It is against the law, that is why most sites like Free BMD do not have details of anyone who could be living.
There are Registers of Electors that can be searched in person at local libraries and these are what you may find on line. There is no way of proving the person listed is the person you want except by writing to them. From experience, I have found that a lot of information of this kind on pay sites is out of date.

have you tried putting a post on free sites such as
http://www.missing-you.net? Your friend could contact the Salvation Army, but he'd have to pay.

Other things he could try is to go on social networking sites like Facebook and Friends Reunited hoping they'll find him.

The other thing you could do is to search the GRO birth records at a library or County Records Office near you, especially if you know the name of his new wife. Some might have access to Ancestry ,or Findmypast to allow you a search.

Don't forget friends reunited to find people if you know their names and some details.