How can I find my half sister who was adopted many years ago in England?

Question:I have a half sister in England who was born to my Dad and his second wife. She would be in her mid thirties now - all I know is her first name and our family surname, and that she was last known to be living in Basingstoke, having separated from her husband, and was the mother of 2 children. I know that the Salvation Army won't take on cases where the missing person was adopted - is there any other organisation which can help?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I have a half sister in England who was born to my Dad and his second wife. She would be in her mid thirties now - all I know is her first name and our family surname, and that she was last known to be living in Basingstoke, having separated from her husband, and was the mother of 2 children. I know that the Salvation Army won't take on cases where the missing person was adopted - is there any other organisation which can help?

http://www.baaf.org.uk/info/lpp/law/inde... This website may help you if someone here in the UK is adopted they are provided with info from here.

The case files of adoptions are sealed and only the person involved can apply for their records at the age of 18, they are usually counselled in order to continue with the desire to meet there natural family.

The Adoption Contact register for adopted people to register their wish to contact birth relatives and for birth relatives also to register an interest that they want to contact the adopted person www.statistics.gov.uk /registration

There is a County Court in Basingstoke and they deal with a lot of the childrens cases, so just making a general enquiry of the court may help point you in the direction to go.

Also if you know what area she was born in you could try contacting the Social Services department for that area and again make general enquiries of them as to what their process is for adoptees wanting to find relatives and vice versa in your case. Basingstoke is covered by Hampshire County Council Social Services, also cases from Southampton, Winchester and the surrounding area would be dealt with there. Portsmouth has its own County Court which deals with adoptions. Southampton has its own County Court but most of the adoptions for this city are dealt with via Basingstoke or Portsmouth Courts.

These days adoptions are far more open than they used to be in the way they are handled children are given a life story book and may have contact a few times a year with siblings and their natural parents or purely by mailbox once a year.
Adoptees tend to be told that they are adopted should the circumstances be appropriate.

The Family Records Centre Myddleton Street in London holds the Adopted childrens register, anyone can look at these on the shelf. This register states the childs adoptive name not the original name. It states date of birth, names and addresses of adoptive parents, date of the adoption order and name of Court that issued it. (Collins tracing your family history). So if you knew the date of birth it is possible to go through and check all the entries for that date of birth. But this is a long job.

You could try looking for her original birth certificate the index should be in the birth registers for it. This would confirm mothers name and fathers if the birth was not illegitimate in that case the father may not be named.

Try looking on Friends Reunited thats where I found my friends sister she was looking for her !!

I hope this has given you some things to think about and I would say to you having helped a friend find her birth family go carefully for yourself as much as your half sister, she may not even know you exist. Handly correctly these things can work out but don't be upset if in the end you do find her and she does not want to meet sometimes it happens and you will have tried your best.

NORCAP are very good

www.norcap.org.uk

Try Friends reunited if you know her name.
Nee names are often on there too.

Good luck!

private investigators

or a web search

Find my past ,,but it will cost,,or try looking on the net,,there are a lot of good investigators who can help you

Sometimes the obvious might work.

Have you tried contating the ex-husband, or sending mail to the last known address? Maybe the Post Office can tell you any forwrding address, and you can move forward from there.

Google regularly - people keep showing up who hadn't been there before.

There is a site on the internet called missing-you I found a friend on there that I hadn't seen for 30 years, you can post a message in an area you last knew your relatives lived in. Good luck!

The Barnardos

You could try posting on this site http://www.missing-you.net/Adoptions.php
or how about doing a search of BMDs for her married name, then you could search 192.com? or do a search on friendsreunited under both surnames. A Google search will reveal various tracing agencies but I've no idea how expensive or successful they are. This site might be of use to you http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/adopti...

I think this is the site that one of the previous posters recommended, it is excellent.
http://www.missing-you.net/missing_uk_re...

You could try a search on www.192.com she might have reverted to her maiden name, or search on www.ancestry.com for her marriage that would give you her married name.

If non of this works you can leave contact details with Social Services and they can either pass along your details if she comes looking or can use her ss number to track her down and pass on a letter.

You could track down a local newspaper and get a letter published asking her to get in touch or does any know the ware abouts of her, and last but not least you could try www.friendsreunted.com

Good luck and good hunting