Given up at birth; adopted by mother's sister

[flappleton]

I have a child that was given up at birth by an unmarried woman; the child was subsequently adopted by the mother's sister.

I have entered the child as a daughter of her biological mother. Is there any way to also connect the child to the sister who adopted her?

The child is still alive and wants to be moved to be a child of the sister who adopted her, but this throws off many of the ancestors (interestingly, and logically, many of the ancestors remain the same.)

Help!

[A Hougie]

Re: Given up at birth; adopted by mother's sister

In English law (not sure about elsewhere), an adopted child is the child of its adoptive parents and is no longer the child of its birth parents. Logically therefore she should be be moved to be a child of the sister who adopted her, and her adoptive ancestors will be correct.

[Dennis J. Cunniff]

Re: Given up at birth; adopted by mother's sister

I have a child that was given up at birth by an unmarried woman; the child was subsequently adopted by the mother's sister.

I have entered the child as a daughter of her biological mother. Is there any way to also connect the child to the sister who adopted her?

You've already entered her in her biological family. You can also add her to her adoptive parents' family, so that she has both adoptive and biological parents. Search the manual for "Adding Multiple Sets of Parents" for further instructions.

It's also a good idea to set the child status to "adopted" on the pertinent card, and to record details of the adoption in a miscellaneous note.

Reunion will use only one of these sets at a time in generating ancestor reports and relationships. They are also the set that will appear on the family card when you first navigate to the child's card.

So you would set the adoptive parents as the "preferred set" if you want relationships calculated that way (and it sounds like the child wants it that way), or set the biological parents as the "preferred set" if you want them used. And of course you can switch back and forth.

[Kim]

Re: Given up at birth; adopted by mother's sister

To me, it really kind of depends on if you are doing 'genealogy' or 'family history'. If 'genealogy' is your primary purpose, the child belongs with her 'genetic' parents. If you are more interesting in 'family' history, she belongs with her family; the family she grew up with.

I know I am probably in the minority, but this is one reason I have no interest at all in DNA testing. I am trying to trace the family and that doesn't always correspond to the genetics, whether for reasons of adoption or other reasons.

[Dennis J. Cunniff]

Re: Given up at birth; adopted by mother's sister

To me, it really kind of depends on if you are doing 'genealogy' or 'family history'. If 'genealogy' is your primary purpose, the child belongs with her 'genetic' parents. If you are more interesting in 'family' history, she belongs with her family; the family she grew up with.

I know I am probably in the minority, but this is one reason I have no interest at all in DNA testing. I am trying to trace the family and that doesn't always correspond to the genetics, whether for reasons of adoption or other reasons.

Yes, and it's good that Reunion has the flexibility that lets you switch from biological to legal parents.

But let me add that "genealogy" doesn't mean tracing "genes". The word genealogy comes from the Latin "genea", meaning "race" or "generation", and people have been doing genealogy long before any such thing as a gene was discovered. "Genealogy" has other meanings than the one you've decided on

I certainly don't see any reason for not doing both biological and adoptive parentage. Doing one doesn't mean you can't also do the other.

[flappleton]

Re: Given up at birth; adopted by mother's sister

In English law (not sure about elsewhere), an adopted child is the child of its adoptive parents and is no longer the child of its birth parents. Logically therefore she should be be moved to be a child of the sister who adopted her, and her adoptive ancestors will be correct.

I understand the point. I will give this approach some thought.

[flappleton]

Re: Given up at birth; adopted by mother's sister

You've already entered her in her biological family. You can also add her to her adoptive parents' family, so that she has both adoptive and biological parents. Search the manual for "Adding Multiple Sets of Parents" for further instructions.

It's also a good idea to set the child status to "adopted" on the pertinent card, and to record details of the adoption in a miscellaneous note.

Reunion will use only one of these sets at a time in generating ancestor reports and relationships. They are also the set that will appear on the family card when you first navigate to the child's card.

So you would set the adoptive parents as the "preferred set" if you want relationships calculated that way (and it sounds like the child wants it that way), or set the biological parents as the "preferred set" if you want them used. And of course you can switch back and forth.

I like this approach. It keeps the facts intact.

I have now made the changes. I think that it is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks to everybody who provided input. You are a good crew.

[feelsrgreen]

Re: Given up at birth; adopted by mother's sister

To add to the discussion.
I have a situation where a married couple in my family history had a son.
At about 3 years later his mother died. His aunt, a sister of his late mother, took the lad in and raised him as her own. He was given the name of the aunt which he used until he was of a mature age.
He elected to reverse this and then used his birth name.

As he was not legally adopted by his aunt, there seems no reason to confuse the issue.
Notes have been added to the record.
He was however known by his 'aunt's name for years and then when he changed there was confusion to his position. Sorted out at that time (c1900) - I guess.

How should I record these facts ?

Noel

[Dennis J. Cunniff]

Re: Given up at birth; adopted by mother's sister

I have a situation where a married couple in my family history had a son.
At about 3 years later his mother died. His aunt, a sister of his late mother, took the lad in and raised him as her own. He was given the name of the aunt which he used until he was of a mature age.
He elected to reverse this and then used his birth name.
...
How should I record these facts ?

In the notes is fine. If you wanted to, you could make his last name "Smith, later Jones, later Smith".