adoption

[tikkit]

I am trying to trace a member of my family (aunt) who was adopted as a child of 2 or 3. Her mother had died in childbirth. The problem is that no one knows whether she was adopted legally, or taken on by a friend.(This was in 1928) I have her birth name and date and place of birth, and the names of her parents,where do I go next? I know that she married in about 1948, but without knowing what name she was married under, I'm stuck. Any ideas?

[dot.hawkes]

have a look at the information on this site, for a legal adption she would have had to be included in this system, if you cannot find her, then possibly it was not a legal adption, but bear in mind that there were private adoption charities and church adoption agencies, though legally they would have used this civil registration system.
http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/adoptions/ad optedchildrenregister/

[dot.hawkes]

Oh and usually there is an anotation in the far right column of a birth certificate that indicates adoption and if i recall correctly a reference is added to match an entry in the adoption register, but I havn't covered that topic for ages and so you may need help from someone who has looked at adoption tracing services in more recent years.

[tikkit]

Thank you for your help and advice dot.hawkes.
I will certainly look on the web site tomorrow,
Do you know if a female marrying has to use her maiden (birth) name when signing the marriage certificate, or could she legally use her adopted name?