Can I get info on an institutionalized person
I am just wondering if I found someone in an institution is there a way to get more info?
Answers
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"It depends." There may be more information available, but it depends on where, when (how long ago), and what kind of institution. Many such records have restricted access due to medical privacy regulations. Older records may have been destroyed, once any time requirements have expired.
I've gotten some limited information from certain mental institutions. If the person was institutionalized in the US in 1880, there was a special census for "Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes" that included jails, prisons, and orphanages, among others.
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A sister of one of my grandmother's was institutionalized as a child around 1904 or 5. She was probably autistic. I first found evidence of this on her death cert and realized she was someone I had never heard of. Several in my parents' generation were alive knew the story and I felt it a shame this little girl had become a non-person. I found her name in an online memorial to those who died in the institution she lived in. She died at age 21.
While doing research for a lady, I discovered that one of her ancestors also died in an institution. I found that from the 1910 census rather than the death certificate, but I was able to deduce which death cert was his after I saw his place of residence was a sanatorium.
So there are many ways to pick up the bread crumbs.
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