How do I get records if they wrongly say my mum is dead?

[FindingMyWayThrough1]

Hi,

I asked for records about my childhood from the council in the area where my mum was born and changed her name by deed poll before I was born. They should have records of her name change, and I was very clear about this in my email.

But they replied saying they can’t help because they claim she’s “deceased.” I just spoke to her yesterday, so I know she’s alive.

I need these records because there were definitely child removals by social services under her previous name before I was born, and I need to understand my own background.

How can I challenge this and get the records?

Thanks for any advice.

But surely it’s more of an issue that you’re asking to access information about someone else?

I’m not sure where you would need to look for the legalities on this, but it’s not clear to me whether previous child removals before your birth would count as material you might legitimately be given access to, regardless of your mother being alive or dead. It’s not just your mother’s record, either, if there are living adults somewhere who are your siblings or half-siblings but have not chosen to contact you?

Thank you for your reply. I understand privacy concerns, but I’m not trying to get personal details about others. If I can get confirmation those children exist and that there were child removals and under which grounds, I could prove a pattern of abuse.

There definitely were child removals before I was born under my mother’s previous name. I’m worried that this information wasn’t passed on to the new local authority when I was born, or during moves to different council areas (which happened a lot), and that my mother was able to stay under the radar.

I want to find out if any council had records of these past concerns and if they should have shared them when decisions were made about my safety.

Has anyone been in a similar situation or know how to get this kind of information?

Overheard is right - you have a right to access your own personal data from the Council but not the personal data of any other person, even where they are related to you, which means you will only be able to access your social work records not your Mums or any siblings.

But given your second post - the information that assessments about you were based on should be in your social work record - again it would have third party personal data removed from it before being released to you but you may find out more information that way. Alternatively, many social services departments will have some sort of service to support adults make sense of their past and decisions taken in their case - perhaps you could request that and see if it is available.

That the Council records are inaccurate is again something that you have no right to challenge - your Mum would have to contact them to make a rectification request to get the record changed.

You can access public records, including records of birth, deaths and marriages - if you know your Mums previous identity you may find information about previous children born to her there.