The Challenge of Finding Foster Parents and Step-Parents in Genealogy

Families come in all shapes and sizes. While adoptive and foster families are now well documented, along with mixed families, this hasn’t always been the case. A lack of formal documentation in previous generations means it can be challenging to find foster parents and-step parents when researching your family tree. We often rely on circumstantial evidence, such as oral history, family letters, or photographs, to know about these family situations. 

While it can be challenging to find and identify foster parents and step-parents in genealogy, it’s not impossible. Although we often rely on census records, other documents can shine a light on these relationships, along with contextual research.

Foster Parents and Stepparents in Genealogy

It’s important to understand the differences between foster parents and step-parents, as these often explain why records relating to them may differ. Foster parents are legal or informal guardians who care for a child or children when their biological parents cannot. 

By comparison, a step-parent is married to one of the child’s biological parents. Although these family circumstances are considered normal by today’s society, they were often overlooked and underrepresented in previous family records. 

Why Finding Foster Parents and Step-Parents is Challenging

Foster parents and step-parents can pose a challenge to your genealogical research as they often aren’t included in historical documents the way biological parents are. These circumstances make it difficult to find records that confirm these relationships. 

The Informal Nature of Guardianship

Such challenges are especially prominent when searching for relatives who were alive before the 20th century when fostering wasn’t formalized or often documented. While we now have strong legal paper trails for fostering and adoption, this wasn’t true for previous generations. 

Many children were cared for as part of informal foster care arrangements, often by other family members of neighbors without a formal guardianship process. It also wasn’t uncommon for children to be sent to live with other relatives or family friends, whether to work in a rural area or to be cared for by another family. Similarly, if a child was placed in an orphanage or institution, it wasn’t uncommon for them to be moved between homes without documentation.  

Lack of Legal Records and Inconsistencies 

Foster care situations were often not documented officially. If they were included in documents, it wasn’t uncommon for terms like “guardian” or “adoptive parent” to be used interchangeably, even if they weren’t the most accurate description of the relationship itself. Legal records can also be incomplete or missing, including guardianship records or court petitions relating to the adoption of children by step-parents. Census records are not fool-proof either. Step-children and foster children may not be listed in the same household, or their relationship may be incorrectly documented by the enumerators who recorded the information for early censuses. For example, a step-father may be listed as “head of household”, not indicating how he is connected to specific children living in the house. 

Where to Look for Foster and Step-Parent Information

If you’ve been told that a relative was cared for by someone other than their parents or had a step-parent, there are different types of records you can consult to confirm this. 

Here are a few places you can search for information:

• Guardianship records, including probate records, can help determine who had responsibility for caring for orphaned children, especially if property or an inheritance was involved. 
• Court records can confirm adoptions, custody arrangements, and divorce proceedings to confirm family relationships. 
• Orphanages and institutions may have had their own records that include information relating to foster placements, which may now be held by a local archive. 
• Marriage records can confirm that a biological parent remarried following the death of their partner or a divorce. 
• Oral history can provide clues to help start your search, from family photographs to personal letters and family bibles. 

Cross-referencing sources and focusing on contextual research, such as township documents, can help identify and establish foster relationships and step-parents. 

Find Foster and Step-Parents in Your Family Tree with MyHeritage

Identifying foster parents and step-parents in official documents can create obstacles for your family genealogy search. These relationships are why it’s important to consult a wide variety of historical records and documents when tracing your family tree. 

At MyHeritage, you get access to billions of historical records, from marriage records to wills and immigration documents. Are you searching for a foster or step-parent in your family tree? Read our guide of 7 tips to find your long-lost relatives.