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Gramps filter rule

Non-Birth Child Relation

A Gramps review rule for adopted, foster, step and other non-birth child relationships.

Purpose

Non-Birth Child Relation is a review rule that finds people whose relationship to at least one parent is recorded as something other than Birth .

It can list adopted, foster, step, sponsored, none, unknown and custom relationship types. It is especially useful as a quality-control companion to Common Biological Ancestor .

Download and compatibility

Source & Downloads

  • Designed for Gramps 5.2 or later.
  • Tested on Gramps 6.0.8 with Windows 11 and Zorin OS 18.1 Core.
  • The package contains the two rule files, README.md , LICENSE , translation source files, and a ready-to-use Danish translation in locale/da/LC_MESSAGES/addon.mo .

Installation

  1. Close Gramps.
  2. Extract the downloaded ZIP archive.
  3. Copy or extract the project folder into your Gramps user plugin folder.
    Keep the complete folder structure unchanged, including any `locale` folder included with the project.

    The user plugin folder is normally located here:

    - **Windows:** `%AppData%\gramps\gramps(version)\plugins\`
    - **Linux:** `~/.gramps/gramps(version)/plugins/`
    - **macOS:** `~/Library/Application Support/gramps/gramps(version)/plugins/`

    Replace `(version)` with the Gramps version folder used on your system.
    Start Gramps again.
  4. Check that the installed filter, rule, gramplet or tool is available where described in the project documentation.

    If the project does not appear or fails to load, check **Help → Plugin Manager** for an error message.

Removing the test version

  1. Close Gramps.
  2. Delete the project folder that you added to the Gramps user plugin folder.
  3. Start Gramps again.

    Because the project was installed only in the user plugin folder, removing that folder removes the test installation without changing the original Gramps program files.

Use the rule

  1. Open Edit → Person Filter Editor .
  2. Create or edit a filter and add a rule.
  3. Under Family filters , choose People recorded as a non-birth child .
  4. Select (any non-birth) to include every non-birth type, or select one relationship type.
  5. Save and test the filter.

A person matches when any parent family contains a qualifying relationship to the father or mother.

Limitations and review

The rule cannot identify a child who should be non-birth but was incorrectly left at the default Birth value. In the data, that relationship appears biological.

Gramps’ Tools → Utilities → Verify the Data can help reveal biologically implausible birth relationships, such as a parent being too young, not yet born or already dead. Plausible-age adoptive parents will not be detected automatically.