Recently there has been a lot of interest in adopted children and birth mothers, particularly when searching for each other. There are several national organisations to aid adoptees in their search, but almost no help for birth mothers.

If a birth parent wishes to trace their child, the law at the moment prevents them to a large extent.

Many birth parents are unaware that they can leave letters to their children in their social services files.

Obviously, no direct contact should be made and a trained intermediary should be used, as it is possible that the child may be unaware of their adoption or may not be ready to meet their birth parent.

I am a birth mother who was persuaded to give up my first son in 1970. I was given no support or information on how I could have kept him. I have recently traced him using my own methods and wish to offer advice and help to other birth parents who want to find out how to find their lost child. For further information please phone/fax me or send a large SAE. Tel (answerphone/fax) 01909 489888.

Julie Goldsmith,

Holmefield House,

1 Holmefield Close,

Worksop,

Notts S81 OJX.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.