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Thought I had already added him to the family tree, have done it again now. Thanks for your advice.

The helpers on the GR boards can't find Derek for you, as his name would have been changed when he was adopted, and neither you nor we know what his name might be now.
Sorry it's not possible to be more helpful.

If he happens to do a Google search for his name, your thread will come up as one of the results, so from that point of view there's no need to keep nudging it.

But if, by some slim chance, he picks on GR in particular, out of all the many genealogy websites, and looks at the boards, rather than searching Google in general, he will only find your thread if you do keep nudging it up to the top, because "Quick Search and "Advanced Search" on GR don't work.

(Well, "Quick Search" will produce results, but not in any order, and you can only search using one keyword. Searches for "Kirk" or "Derek" each produce huge numbers of results, which someone would have to be very dedicated to wade through.)

And if he does try searching for birth family, or his own birth name, on the GR boards, I think he might be more likely to look at the "Find Living Relatives" board, rather than "Find Ancestors".

I'm afraid all you can do, as far as GR is concerned, is to follow all of DetEcTive's advice, and then just be very, very patient.

You still haven't added him to your tree!
New members are going to look there first rather than for a thread with his name.
You need to cover all bases on this site - the thread is fine in case he or a current relative does an internet search for his birth name. BUT you also need to add him to your tree.
It doesn't matter if you are searching on behalf of someone else - add him as a 'brother' to the correct generation and add a note for your own satisfaction that he isn't a 'relative' of yours

Anyone

Thanks for the tips.

Thanks for the advice, we have recently been in contact with the adoption register. Thanks for the tip about Freebmd

Maureen - you haven't added his name to your tree on this site. If someone else were to start a tree with his birth name in it, they'd be looking for other trees to connect with .

Find his birth reg on http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl - its actually Derek J Kirk - and add a Post'em.
Create a generic email address such as @hotmail or @gmail which isn't tied to your internet provider. Say something along the lines of "Birth family would welcome contact". Leave the email address.

Even if you don't renew your subs on GR, always make sure that your linked email address is up to date. Never, ever, delete your account while you are still 'able'. It has been known for people to make an internet search for their names and come across a years old thread. Its so frustrating when it realised the account has been deleted rather than allowed to lapse.

Still looking

Still looking

Looking for Derek Kirk born in Bistol 1946 and was adopted