Question about adoption in the 1940s

[WelshSpringerSpaniel]

I did an ancestry DNA test and was contacted by the daughter of my dad's half sister. I found out that my grandmother had another child, born in the 1940s, which my dad knew nothing about.

She has sent us a copy of her birth certificate with my grandmother's name on it and her adoption certificated which have the date of 1962 on them.

I was wondering whether it would have been possible in 1962 for someone to find out who their birth-mother was and to retrieve the birth certificate.

I want to know how sure I can be that this is really my dad's half sister. I had an 18% DNA match with the half-sister and a 10% DNA match with the daughter.

Why not just ask her?

There are ways though. She may have always had them if her BC was given to her adoptive parents and it was known about by her.

she could have gone through social services or one of the adoption agencies to get her adoption file.

Entirely feasible now, not as easy then.
I am tempted to do the DNA but wonder what it will reveal as my dad was a player in his youth and also travelled the world!!

adoptions were sometimes within family/friends or church rather than via government institutions so it's possible for someone to know at least one of the names involved.

I know of 2 relatives who were adopted in the 1940s. 1 by family and 1 by a friend of the family. I think there were a lot of more informal placements within families and social networks were they knew couples who couldn't have children.

The DNA match % is in the range you'd expect for a half aunt, so it does sound plausible. Maybe ask her how she obtained the adoption certificate and birth certificate? I can understand why you feel cautious, and it must also be a bit of a shock!

Whereas birth marriage and death certificates are public records, adoption birth certificates/ birth certificates for adopted babies are not

if the woman had her adopted birth certificate she had the right to then use that to get the other birth certificate. Legally the GRO couldn’t make it difficult for her as she had a right to that information

social services may not have been forthcoming about her records of adoption, whereas now there is a much more set out way of gaining further information surrounding the reason for adoption

Yes there were far less formal adoptions back then, mine was one.

I was adopted as a baby in 1950 and knew a few other adopted children, some a bit older. Adopted children were not then allowed to search for their birth mothers/parents and could not obtain their original birth certificate (though I am sure there were exceptions). Later on the law changed so that they could obtain their birth record once they were eighteen. In my case it was always available because I was privately adopted but I didn't know that. I was told by the general register office when I made enquiries that the 'rules' didn't apply to private adoptions!

I have a relative who was adopted out of my family in the early 60s and there was a lot of info in his file about both birth parents. I don't know how he got the file - I guess he applied to see it when he turned 18 - but he was able to track us down with little difficulty (we share an unusual surname).

she could have gone through social services or one of the adoption agencies to get her adoption file

Not until the law changed in the 70s.