Looking for Aunty's mum..? Irene..?

Question

My aunty passed away not knowing of her adoption, very sad because she was the one that always felt out of place in the family. My cousins got the details from a meeting they went to and found her mum was named Irene Gath, born 1931. We are still checking to see if that's her real name because we haven't had luck finding her. IF anyone does know an Irene Gath who gave up a Jean Lynette for adoption in 1949, please let me know. This took place in Australia just to let you know.

We would love to find Irene and see if we can contact her.

Many thanks

Answer 1

I wish you good luck

Answer 2

Hi Jorjie,

That is sad that your aunt's information & heritage were kept from her for her entire life.  Not only was that not right to do that to your aunt, it's not fair to her children either that they should be permanently disconnected from their ancestors as well.  When you think about it, adoption affects many more people than just the adoptee.

The first thing I would recommend doing is having your cousins register with International Soundex Reunion Registry. (link below)  Give them as much information as you have.  It is free and very well known in the adoption community for reuniting family members lost through adoption.  I have found 2 family members through ISRR myself.

An adoption search is a lot like a puzzle.  You get little pieces of information here & there and they are all clues.  They need to be put together to make connections. I would suggest finding out as many specifics as you can about your aunt's adoption.  

Was there an agency involved?  If so, perhaps your cousins can find out either identifying or non-identifying information that could lead you to her natural family.  Since adoption agencies are no longer used in Australia, that would involve finding out where her records were transferred.  

If it was a private adoption, there was a lawyer involved.  His or her name could be on the records your cousins saw at the meeting.  That would be another source of additional information if you can track down who has possession of those records now.  

I'm not sure where the court records would be stored in Australia.  If it was a legal adoption, then there must be a legal adoption decree somewhere.  Hopefully Possum will help answer this question as she has more specific knowledge about adoption in Australia.

Your cousins might want to look into adoption support groups in your area.  They often have other ideas that will prove helpful.

Assuming the names you have are are correct, you could also approach it as a regular genealogical search.  There are many websites set up online to help people find their family trees.  In fact, you might have better success not even mentioning adoption to genealogical sources.  Just names and dates of birth & places should be enough to get you started there.

Do your homework before you consider paying a private investigator to search for you if you choose to go that route.  Potential for scamming is there.  Verify their references!

One last suggestion is placing an ad in the paper where she or her natural family was last known to reside.  Perhaps an old friend or anyone who knows something about her will see the ad and contact you.  Some people have success checking out old local yearbooks for that name.  It's possible the local newspaper or tv station will do a feature story.

It's likely that your aunt has other siblings she did not know about.  They may have known of her.  The date of birth and location will probably be the key points to match up since names can be changed.  There are many online adoption registries that you and your cousins can try.  Your cousin's natural maternal grandmother would be 77 years old now.  There will certainly be other relatives out there too.  

I wish you the best of luck.

julie j

reunited adoptee

Answer 3

Good luck in your guest =)