You must be extremely careful using Family History websites if living people might be
affected, because the very people you are looking for may not wish to be found and we
must always respect this. Whatever their reasons, they are entitled to their point of
view, e.g. Some people are suspicious of anything to do with the internet, simply
because they don't understand it and have heard all sorts of horror stories, and some
are just plain scared that you are after their money and recently this has been
compounded by concerns of identity theft.

If they want to be found they will be on sites like Genes Reunited Facebook etc

Family History forums are not the place to start looking for Adopted Relatives
as it can cause great misery and distress, and will not be allowed here.

Enquiries on open website forums can open painful memories for the people concerned,
which they had hoped and prayed were long forgotten by everyone, and they had hoped
to take their secrets to the grave with them and this was often the case with
illegitimate children, many of whom were adopted.

Attitudes began to change in the 1960's, as society became more tolerant, and often
the parents of adopted children, have put it behind them and moved on, but the spouse
and later children may be ignorant of the adopted child for most of their lives and
they may never know. This situation can lead to questions of trust and openness that
can rock relationships.

For enquiries about adoptions contact Social Services at the County Council.
There are strict rules governing Adoption. The UK Adoption and Children Act 2005
requires professional counselling prior to initial contact between Adoptees and birth
relatives and this is to protect all parties.

Social Services have leaflets on tracing adopted children and birth families, and
details of the Adopted Persons Contact Registers are also available through them.
They also have the expertise, to guide you through it all.

Further reading:
http://www.adoptionsearchreunion.org.uk/
https://www.fosterline.info/
https://www.family-action.org.uk/

The above was put together by May Brace with assistance from Slowhands,

A copy of this article is available as a download in PDF format in the
Miscellaneous Documents Section

Tracing Living Relatives
http://forest-of-dean.net/joomla/miscellaneous-documents