How to Find Someone Who Was Adopted (An Adoptee)

Every search for an adoptee is different and is dependent on the information at hand. This is meant as a very general guide for those with limited information (i.e. just a birthdate and a State).

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Perseverence
• A bit of luck
• Stubbornness

1. The best aid I have found (in finding my adopted sister--who I found 2 years ago), is a Search Angel -- someone who is experienced in looking for adoptees in a particular state for FREE. You can find one through various online adoption forums or via www.about.com. If you are not located in the state of the adoptee they are helpful in doing some footwork should you have information on the adoptee and his/her possible whereabouts.
2. If you know only the birth date and the state in which the adoptee was adopted, don't be discouraged. Most people stay in the same state and can be found by acquiring a birth date search by sex (male or female) for that particular state. Ask your Search Angel for assistance in getting such a list. Once you get a list, you would simply create a mailing to those people who come up on that list. I found my sister by doing such a mailing. The letter went to her parents' house. They still lived in the same house after all those years.
3. If you do opt to do the mailing, be sure not to divulge all your information in the letter as you need some information to use for verification purposes, when someone responds. You want to make sure the person who responds is the person you are seeking. Also, provide an email address, for instance, in your mailing and encourage people receiving your mailing to contact you (even if they are not the person you are seeking), so that you can eliminate them from your list.

Tips & Warnings

• Please do not show up on any one's doorstep.
• Respect an individual's right to say yes or no at seeing you, if you do find them.
• Be aware that although you may be excited about finding them, keep in mind they may know be aware they are adopted or may not want to be found. Also, even if they are initially excited about being found, it could also come to pass that they decide not to have any further contact.