The nursing home.
What I already knew from my adopting parents was where I was born. Birdhurst Lodge in Croydon Surrey UK. An Auntie had worked there and mum & dad used to send a donation from time to time and we received a publication from them.
In 1974 on a work visit to Croydon in my lunch hour I went looking for the place all I knew was the name. It turned out to be just round the corner in a road of the same name.
Knocking on the door I announced who I was telling them I was born here. Normally I would have got no further, until I mentioned that my Aunt had worked there. So I was invited in by this lady.
She told me if I had come next week the place was being demolished to make way for houses and a new place had or was to be built just around the corner.
I was shown into the nursery and shown the old cast iron cots I would have slept in. She then went and returned with the Day Book that showed all my birth details including time of birth. My mothers name and address near Manchester. At this point in time I did not write down the details as I felt it was not the time to take any action.
Many years passed and in 1983 my mum sent me all the papers she had kept on the adoption. She died 6 months later.
These papers were the Harrow Court Papers from my formal adoption around my 1st Birthday and gave my birth mothers name and permanent address in Timperley Cheshire UK. Again I took no action.
Why did I take no action?
Well and I have heard this from other adoptee’s, I did not want to upset my adopting parents.
I was concerned as to how I would cope if my natural mother was destitute or very rich. I was not scared of rejection just curious to find out. I though I would be OK if she was an average person.
I had this picture in my mind of where my mother lived.
Before I found out the address of where my mother lived I used to visualise where She lived. In this visualisation, the house was one of a terrace of brick houses with a low privet hedge and matching height wooden paling swing open gate. A straight path to the front door.
Later in my story you will see how close I was with the description. In fact in 1968 I had visited Manchester University for work and stayed in a very simular location. As it turned out the bed & breakfast I had stayed in was not far from where I later found out my mother lived. It was also almost opposite where my mother (….) I will leave that for later as it will spoil the story as to what was opposite this location and what happened there.
Note, In 1968 I did not have any idea where my mother lived but after visiting the south side of Manchester for work, my vision was that it was close to where I had stayed. It would be 22 years before this could be resolved.
To recap since 1983 I had details of my mother’s name and address and a vision of where she lived dating back to 1968, we now skip to 1990 and my decision to go and find out….. to be continued.
Information on Birdhurst Lodge.
The last children’s home was closed in 1989 and the adoption agency closed in 1992. The adoption records were transferred to the care of Croydon Social Services. Their address is:
Fostering & Adoption Service
Croydon Social Services
Taberner House
Park Lane
Croydon
SURREY
CR9 2BA
The History of Birdhurst Lodge link to website
Oldtimer
I remember Birdhurst Lodge in year of 1968 where I gave birth to a baby son Scott Coney, also remember Nurse Flood who was looking after us at the time. My son was fostered and then on to Adoption, I have been trying to find out where he went to live since his adoption can anyone in this era give some info on this?.
I would love to know where my birth mother is, i was adopted from Birdhurst when i was around 14 weeks old ( born in 1958), i know her name but wouldnt know where to start even tho i know her name and mine was changed when i was adopted
Hi Shaz, If you look above you will see the address of Croydon Social Services. They should have your file on record which will have some more details and maybe some communication from your mother. I will contact you direct via email with some more tips.
Regards Tony.
I had baby a baby boy 1967 at (Admin did you mean Birdhurst?) Buddhist looked after by nurse Flood and Sylvia Lloyd. He was adopted by a young couple who adopted a little girl very soon after. Never had any more children of my own but went on to adopt 6 children..sadly I don’t know his New name.
Hi if you meant to say Birdhurst in Croydon, then Croydon Social Services will have the records. See my other posts.
If you provide more details such as his birth date, full location then others searching including him may find this post. One of the earlier posts looking for her son I was able to help when her son did a post looking for her. I never put his post up but was able to help connect them discreetly.
Good luck in your search at 51 he may be searching for you now.
Regards Oldtimer.
I empathise with the writer of the article. I was adopted in 1953 and although my adoptive parents told me that fact alone, I felt it would be disrespectful to investigate my birth circumstances. Finally, at the age of 62 I got in touch with the Surrey Adoption Service. They presented me with information about Birdhurst Lodge and copies of correspondence between my birth mother, Birdhurst Lodge and my adoptive parents. To cut a long story short, I engaged a reasurcher to find out more. The result was – both my birth parents lived in Northern Ireland and got married six years after I was born, and subsequently had three more children. Through the assistance of Surrey Adoption Service I have contacted all three siblings and we all get along very well, and visit one another two or three times a year.
This is a story with a happy ending, but I had to start out prepared for disappointment and possibly rejection. Personally, it had been helpful to understand why I was adopted and to find out so much more about myself as a consequence.