In a message dated 12/9/05 11:19:44 PM GMT Standard Time, eve@varneys.demon.co.uk writes: > WAS there official adoption in Australia then? There wasn't in England > till 1926 Act, and people just took on ldren without formality I understand that there would be no official adoption - that is taken as granted ... ...And yes, 'if', as a two year old British Home Child, he may well have formed: "part of a group of children rescued off the streets and sent abroad, or part of a family encouraged to emigrate by the agents who worked in England then". My question is: Would his background details have been given to his adoption/foster parents in Australia 'if' he were a British Home Child - or would his birth details have been kept secret from the Australian 'parents'? We know his adopted parents later gave him a few details of his birh family ...would they have been able to do this if he were a British Home Child? If details of a child's biological parents were kept secret from the family who took the child on as a 'British Home Child' - then I just may be able [?] at least rule out the fact that he was a British Home Child - and that the 'adoption' arrangement may have been made privately? If anyone knows how the system really worked, I would love to hear cathy