Marriages, Adoption and Children
Children within the same family but of differing parents can be distinguished as follows:- If a parent marries again, the children from this marriage are half brothers or sisters to the children of the previous marriage.
- If a parent marries again to a person with children from a previous marriage, the children are step brothers or sisters.
- If parents adopt a child
a check of the local adoption
laws needs to be made, but usually, in the law, the adopted children
are not distinguished from natural children. PLEASE NOTE: Local
Privacy rules may make it illegal to identify such children as adopted
without their and/or their adoptive parents' consent. Remember: some
children may not know [or want to know] that they are adopted.
An example of local law
regarding adoptions in South
Australia:
In 1925 an act of Parliament relating to the Adoption of Children was passed which gave the adoptive parents the legal status of natural parents: "Upon adoption the child legally becomes a member of the adopting family as if it were natural born. The parents become legally the parents of the adopted child as if the child has been a natural child born to them." In a genealogical pedigree, the adopted child belongs in the family of his or her adoptive parents. If a person who has been adopted wishes, it is possible to trace the family tree of the birth parents. The information obtained is classified as private to the adopted person, and is not to be published. Any pedigree that is to be published should only relate to the adoptive parents, and there should be no indication that a child is adopted.
In 1925 an act of Parliament relating to the Adoption of Children was passed which gave the adoptive parents the legal status of natural parents: "Upon adoption the child legally becomes a member of the adopting family as if it were natural born. The parents become legally the parents of the adopted child as if the child has been a natural child born to them." In a genealogical pedigree, the adopted child belongs in the family of his or her adoptive parents. If a person who has been adopted wishes, it is possible to trace the family tree of the birth parents. The information obtained is classified as private to the adopted person, and is not to be published. Any pedigree that is to be published should only relate to the adoptive parents, and there should be no indication that a child is adopted.
Relationship Chart
For a relationship to exist there must be an ancestor who is common to both individuals. In the chart below the Common Ancestor is Box 0 on both the horizontal and vertical scales. To use the chart:
On the top row find the relationship of one person to the common
ancestor and follow the column straight down. Find the other person's
relationship to the common ancestor on the left-hand column and follow
that row straight across. Their relationship is described where the
projected row and column meet.
As an example, say we have a great great granddaughter of the
common ancestor and we want to see what her relationship is to the great
granddaughter of the common ancestor. By following the rows and
columns we see that they are second cousins once removed.