Advanced Genealogy
Adoption lists
There were no such things as adoption certificate until 1920, and the records held at the FRC do not start until 1927. The indexes give only the adoptive name of the child and their adopting parents. There is no record of the child’s name before adoption. The certificates are similar to birth certificates – they give the correct date of birth, for example. Close relatives of the mother, such as aunts and uncles or grandparents, sometimes adopted illegitimate children, but the certificates do not divulge this information. Only an adopted adult can obtain the original copy of his or her birth certificate.