Hit a brick wall trying to track down my birth mother in the UK

Question

I'm trying to locate or learn more about my mother, who was known as Janet Ann Brooks. She gave birth to me in the Wandsworth, London area on 08 May 1968, and the name on my birth certificate is 'Christopher Hugh Brooks'.

I've hit a brick wall in my research, although I have DNA at 23andMe and have uploaded it to GEDMatch too.

Can anyone advise where I should be looking?

Answer 1

This page on Family Tree Forum has info about UK adoption https://reference.familytreeforum.com/index.php?title=Adoption#Before_1976

They've also helped people thru the search process.

Also - using genetic genealogy to search is great, but IMO you need to "fish" as many ponds as you can.  AncestryDNA, MyHeritage, FamilyTreeDNA, and (possibly!) LivingDNA are other databases.  There are many overlapping "kits" (test subjects) in each of those locations, but some people only have results on one site.

Comments

That's great advice — thank you!

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Please note that you can import your 23andme results to MH and ftDNA (probably - things change as the chips used for testing change) for less than it would take to run a new test at those sites. I think you can upload at ftDNA without additional charge, but full tool access is a fee.

For AncestryDNA, you must test again.  It has a VERY large database, and a search is not complete without a kit there.

Hmm. If your budget allows, you could do Y-DNA testing in the hope of getting a paternal surname.  ftDNA has "projects" one of which assists adoptees' searches.  WikiTree also has some who assist with DNA searching, too.

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Good call. I've signed up for an AncestryDNA kit. No luck with 23andMe so far, just distant cousins.

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You can upload your raw DNA data to MyHeritage, Gedmatch, LivingDNA, ftDNA, and yourDNAportal, all for free now, and you can also do this with your Ancestry test when you get it.

You imply, but don't expressly state that you are adopted.Wikitree has some very special rules for adoption. You can open a second profile in your Birth name to link to your DNA here if you with.Wikitree isn't a going to collection matches for you, but as you build your tree, it will show the DNA links.

Answer 2

I was adopted in England, in 1960. I started looking in 2018, and was able to locate many details of both my maternal and paternal sides. One of the first things I did was get my adoption file, which involved a lengthy process, through the family court. If you haven't done this already, message me, and I can walk you through the process.  Made complicated because I am in New Zealand, so the Family Court set up an online zoom meeting for me to attend. Totally bureaucratic but the staff involved were very supportive.