- If it was a closed adoption, but you know which adoption agency facilitated the adoption, you can ask them to provide a redacted report (without identifying information) that fill in many of the clues and circumstances of the adoption. This can be provided to any consenting party to the adoption (birth parent, child, or adoptive parent).
- Many states, such as California, have a Consent for Contact form that parties to the adoption (birth parents, child, adoptive parents) can fill out. If the adoption agency gets consent from the adult adoptee and the birth parent, for instance, then the agency is allowed to facilitate contact between them. https://www.cdss.ca.gov/Forms/English/AD904.pdf
- One very successful way to find parties to an adoption is a DNA test such as Ancestry.com or 23andme.com. Make sure to add the “extended family” module to your order…not just the health or ancestry. We are hearing amazing stories of people all over the world finding their relatives who they didn’t even know about. It’s entirely possible the other parities to your adoption already registered on ancestry.com or www.23andme.com and are waiting to hear from you.
- The most successful method people are using nowadays is social media (Facebook). Often parties the adoption have some knowledge of at least the first names and city where people live, or even their last names. We have heard stories of people all of the world finding each other through social media, when all other efforts failed.
- There are “Adoption Angels” also known as “searchers” who investigate the parties to an adoption for free. Do an internet search for “adoption angel” or "search angel." Check out www.adoptionsearch.com
- Private investigators also can be very successful at finding parties to an adoption. They do charge a fee. Make sure to find someone who specializes in this area.
- Try an adoption database. There are many online, such as http://www.adoptiondatabase.org/