in article 2Hiob.80352$ZH4.72792@twister.socal.rr.com, RB at
raybuffer@socal.rr.com wrote on 31/10/03 1:13 am:
I've come in late to this thread but another proof of the intent of sealed records is the fact that records are not sealed and BCs are not amended until AFTER an adoption. Foster children who age out of the system never to be adopted do not have their identities changed or obscured.

It might be easier for foster child to trace birthmother. But of the seven
kids that my mother lost to adoption and the care system, the one that "aged
out of foster care" was potentially the most difficult to find because his
identity had been changed without any publicly accessible records of that
change.
A birthmother knows not for certain whether her child will be adopted or grow up in fostercare since adoptions are not finalized for one or two years. Therefore, a promise of secrecy or privacy argument is a ludicrous, uninsured myth.

Yep, it is and always was, where I come from at least.

Robin

Robin <alt.adoption@nowhere.nowhere> wrote It might be easier for foster child to trace birthmother. But of the seven kids that my mother lost to adoption and the care system, the one that "aged out of foster care" was potentially the most difficult to find because his identity had been changed without any publicly accessible records of that change.
How was his identity changed, Robin, and why?

Rupa

in article e5619372.0310312359.6450a042@posting.google.com, Rupa Bose at
rkbose@pacific.net.sg wrote on 1/11/03 7:59 am:
Robin <alt.adoption@nowhere.nowhere> wrote
It might be easier for foster child to trace birthmother. But of the seven kids that my mother lost to adoption and the care system, the one that "aged out of foster care" was potentially the most difficult to find because his identity had been changed without any publicly accessible records of that change.

How was his identity changed, Robin, and why? Rupa


At the age of 13 or thereabouts if the natural mother of a foster child had
shown no further interest in the child and could not herself be found. Then
legal parental responsibility would be vested in the state, with the foster
parents acting in loco parentis. If the local authority were agreeable the
child could then change his surname to that of the foster parents (but not
usually first names) by Statutory Declaration, under the Statutory
Declarations Act 1835. Something that could be done at a local lawyers
office, the only record of such changes of name are the copies of the
Declaration, one kept by the person concerned so that he can get a passport
and drivers license etc in the new name, any other copy would be kept in the
lawyers safe. There are no public records of such name changes. My view of
such arrangements is that they were de facto adoptions. The only hope for a
birth relative searching in such cases is that the care file has been kept
by the local authority and that the change was noted there. Such
arrangements certainly continued until the mid 1970s but I doubt that it
happened in more recent years.

People sometimes tell me they have obtained the OBC of an adult child their
mother "had adopted" and it has no mention of adoption, yet they still can
not find him, usually that is the result of such a name change.

Robin

Robin <alt.adoption@nowhere.nowhere> wrote At the age of 13 or thereabouts if the natural mother of a foster child had shown no further interest in the child and could not herself be found. Then legal parental responsibility would be vested in the state, with the foster parents acting in loco parentis. If the local authority were agreeable the child could then change his surname to that of the foster parents (but not usually first names) by Statutory Declaration, under the Statutory Declarations Act 1835. Something that could be done at a local lawyers office, the only record of such changes of name are the copies of the Declaration, one kept by the person concerned so that he can get a passport and drivers license etc in the new name, any other copy would be kept in the lawyers safe. There are no public records of such name changes. My view of such arrangements is that they were de facto adoptions.

Oh, ok, thanks. I didn't know about such arrangements. Wonder if that
was prevalent in other countries as well.

I don't know if they happen in the US at all.

Rupa

There was no choice. There were no Democrats in plain view. During the
1964 presidential election, they did this mock campaign and vote. Barry
Goldwater won in our local Electorial College unanamously. I wanted to be
politically active and there wasn't even a Young Dems in town (not to
mention anything more progressive--like the Prohibition Party). . I made
the mistake of supporting Bill Scranton. I ended up working at the county
fair passing out Goldwater literature and we were joined by the local
neo-Nazi. At least he wasn't wearing his uniform that day. The YR
president kick him out as soon as he spotted him, Golwater literature in
hand.

Marley


"Rupa Bose" <rkbose@pacific.net.sg> wrote in message
news:e5619372.0311011248.2e54d97d@posting.google.c om... Robin <alt.adoption@nowhere.nowhere> wrote At the age of 13 or thereabouts if the natural mother of a foster child
had shown no further interest in the child and could not herself be found.
Then legal parental responsibility would be vested in the state, with the
foster parents acting in loco parentis. If the local authority were agreeable
the child could then change his surname to that of the foster parents (but
not usually first names) by Statutory Declaration, under the Statutory Declarations Act 1835. Something that could be done at a local lawyers office, the only record of such changes of name are the copies of the Declaration, one kept by the person concerned so that he can get a
passport and drivers license etc in the new name, any other copy would be kept in
the lawyers safe. There are no public records of such name changes. My view
of such arrangements is that they were de facto adoptions. Oh, ok, thanks. I didn't know about such arrangements. Wonder if that was prevalent in other countries as well. I don't know if they happen in the US at all. Rupa