Since discovering that my adoption was not valid I have lived with the concern that the name that I have grown up with is or could be considered to be ‘fake’. In this day and age, having a fake ID can lead to all kinds of problems and difficulties, so this is a genuine concern. A concern that goes beyond me to my wife – who had her surname changed and also my children – who also bear a potentially fake surname. In fact I have been advised, by well meaning people, to draw as little attention to my ‘almost adopted’ status as possible for that very reason. For me, regardless of whether I ignore it or not the facts remain, just like a disease it is present whether you acknowledge it or not, and eventually you will have to deal with it.

The problem is this, the Provisional Adoption Order was issued in the UK but is not considered to be valid outside of the UK. The Provisional Adoption Order was only a provisional step in the adoption process, therefore it could be considered that the name change was provisional to be finalised when the adoption order was granted in the country of the adopters. As this never happened in my case, does this mean that my name is fake? As I live outside of the UK and have had to verify my name with various officials though birth-certificates, passports etc. could I not therefore be considered to be using a fake ID as I was never legally adopted in any country?

I have found the answer to the problem of name, but from a Lawyer specialising in Family Law, they unfortunately know almost nothing about the Provisional Adoption Order, but from someone working in the British Foreign Office. The following is my summary of a lengthy conversation with them:

In the eyes of the British Government the identity and name of their citizens is fixed when a UK passport is issued. The facts given in the application process are checked and verified by the government department that issues passports. Once the issuing department is satisfied the passport is issued and in the eyes of the British Government the details on the passport is who you are. Any question of the validity of the details in the passport are answered by the issuing department. As parentage is not mentioned on your passport, it does not matter if the people mentioned on your birth certificate are your parents or not. You stand as an individual, separate from them, in your own right.

Which in my case means I have no legal parents given that my birth parents surrendered their rights as my legal parents and my intended adopters, by not completing the adoption process, did not become my legal parents. The name that I carry, the surname that my wife and children now carry is one that was issued to me by a miscarriage of justice but which is nevertheless verified by the British Government and is therefore a legal ID. I stand alone as the founder of my surname, with no parents or official family tree. Thanks to the stubborn non-action of my intended adopters whose decision was definitely more about their interests than my welfare, I have no past but thankfully I have the ability to shape the future of my family with a government backed ID.

If you have discovered that you are named in a Provisional Adoption Order, rest assured that if you have a passport issued by the British Government, the name given to you on those pages is yours and that it is a valid government backed document.