birth certificates of adopted children

Dear Mrs Barden

Thank you for your email of 17 September, which has been forwarded to me
for response, in which you make an application under the Freedom of
Information Act for information relating to birth certificates of adopted
children.

The General Register Office holds records of births which have taken place
in England and Wales. Certified copies of these entries can be obtained
provided that the applicant supplies sufficient particulars about the
birth to enable the entry to be correctly identified. GRO produces annual
index of birth records which are available for public viewing at a number
of locations across England and Wales. Further details can be found on the
Directgov website at
[1]http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentci...

When an adoption has been granted by a court in England and Wales, the
court issues an order which is the authority for an entry to be made in
the Adopted Children Register held at the General Register Office.
Adoption certificates are then produced from this register under the
child's new details. The adoption certificate replaces the original birth
certificate for legal and administrative purposes.

The original birth record is not removed following an adoption, however,
the entry in the birth register is annotated with the word "adopted" in
the margin and all subsequent copies of the entry will show the
annotation.

It is possible to obtain copies of adoption certificates from the General
Register Office when sufficient particulars about the adoption are
supplied to enable the entry in the Adopted Children Register to be
correctly identified.

The information contained on an adoption certificate is as follows -

* The name of the adopted person, the date and location of their
birth and the sex of the child
* The name, address and occupation of the adopter(s)
* The date of the adoption order plus description of the court who
made the order
* Signature of the officer at GRO deputed by the Registrar General to
attest the entry

I hope this information is helpful to you and clarifies that a birth
record is not removed following an adoption.

Austin Hayes
GRO Adoptions Manager
Room C202a

T:0151 471 4393
E:[email address]

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References

Visible links
1. http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentci...

Dear Mrs Barden,

Thank you for your further email of 9th October in respect of the
questions you have raised surrounding the issue of birth certificates
relating to adopted people.

I am sorry if my initial response did not answer all your specific
questions.

As I explained once an adoption order has been granted, by a court
within England and Wales, an entry is made in the Adopted Children
Register held at this Office. This record replaces the original birth
entry for all legal and administrative purposes. However the original
birth entry remains in the records and a certified copy of this entry
(which will include the 'adopted' annotation) can be applied for by any
person who can clearly identify the entry - this means that any
applicant should provide the relevant details including child's name and
surname, date and place of birth and parent's details, if known.

Likewise any person may make an application for a certificate to be
issued from an entry in the Adopted Children Register as long as they
can identify the details contained within the entry i.e. name and
surname of the child, date of birth, place of birth etc. I would like to
explain however that certain restrictions do apply where the application
relates to a child who, at the time of the application, is under the age
of 18. In these cases any application must by law contain the following
information;

The full name of the adopted person;
The date of the birth of the adopted person; and
The full name of the adoptive parent or parents

I hope that this and my previous response now answers all your questions
on this matter.

Austin Hayes
GRO Adoptions Manager
Identity and Passport Services | General Register Office | Room C202a
Smedley Hydro | Trafalgar Road |Southport | PR8 2HH

T:0151 471 4393
E:[email address]

To find out more about the General Register Office, part of the Identity
and Passport Service, visit www.direct.gov.uk/gro

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