History of Child Adoption in PA

Denys Allen covers for family historians:

• the four major changes in child adoption laws in Pennsylvania
• the first thing to do when researching adoption
• how to request an adoptee’s original birth certificates
• what can prevent you from getting that original birth certificate
• and how adoptees used to seek out their birth parents.

Timestamps:

00:37 A way to think about adoption research

03:44 Guardianship records

05:35 First state law in 1855

09:50 1870’s - 1930’s

13:18 1970’s - 1990’s

16:19 Current adoption laws and adoptee rights

19:21 Research techniques

24:14 Wrap-up

Links:

Summary of federal adoption legislation - childwelfare.gov

Pennsylvania state laws - legis.state.pa.us

Online free Pennsylvania historic newspapers - panewsarchive.psu.edu

PA Department of Health to request adoptee original birth certificate  - health.pa.gov

Books by E. Wayne Carp - Family Matters and Adoption in America

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Music: My Days Have Been So Wondrous and Free, composed by Francis Hopkinson in 1788 in Philadelphia, www.amclassical.com, Creative Commons license, some rights reserved.