How to Track a Birth Parent
If you were adopted and have a desire to find your birth parents, there are a number of resources that can help you. It is important that you mentally prepare yourself for the search and all of the possible outcomes. Think about joining a support group or talking to a counselor before beginning your search, and then take steps to begin tracking your birth parents.
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Instructions
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Gather any information that you have that may help with your search. Try to find out the name of the adoption agency and any other person or organization that assisted your adoptive parents. If you are fortunate enough to have names of birth family members or documents about anyone in your birth family, these can be a big help.
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Find out about laws that may affect your search. The laws regarding the release of adoption records vary from state to state, according to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services. Visit childwelfare.gov to learn about the laws in your state.
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Contact the adoption agency and the hospital where you were born to inquire about your birth parents if your state laws allow the release of this information.
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Visit your state's Department of Health website or contact the agency by phone to initiate a search of public documents, such as birth, death and marriage records.
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Register with a reunion registry. The U.S. government's Child Welfare Information Gateway recommends trying the International Soundex Reunion Registry. This is a passive registry, which means you can only find your birth parents if they have also registered to search for you.
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Hire a professional. If you are not able to track down your birth parents on your own, a professional searcher may be able to help. Check the phone book for investigators in your area, and contact your state's Department of Health and Human Services to see if there are organizations in your state that will search for birth parents for a fee.
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If you were adopted from a country other than the United States, try to contact the agency that handled your adoption. You can find contact information for foreign government agencies that handle vital records on the U.S. State Department's website. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service and International Social Service are other agencies that may be able to assist you.
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Tips & Warnings
If you have tried the above steps without success and your adoption records are sealed, you have the option of filing a court petition to have the records opened, according to the Child Welfare Information Gateway. This may or may not be successful, and you can go through the process yourself or hire an attorney to help you.
