Locating Birth Parents

Every bit of information is helpful in finding them

I receive dozens of weekly requests to find biological parents. I only take a few of these cases because the adopted child does not have enough information for me to find their birth parents.

Without a name it's obvioulsy going to be next to impossible to find your birth parents. I suggest asking the adopted parent for the name (if they are cooperative). If you have the birth father's name, it's going to be easier to locate him rather than the birth mother. In the majority of cases, the birth mother gets married and changes her name. I had a case recently where we had the birth mother's maiden name and date of birth. I then conducted a nationwide search for all the people with that first name and birth date. There were only two people in the database with that name and birth date and one was deceased. So, it's not impossible to find your birth mother with limited information.

Sometimes it can be useful if you have an old address for your birth parent. These addresses can remain in a database for up to 25 years.

If you have absolutely no information on your birth parents,
you may want to try Ancestry.com.They have a good database for birth records. However, most of their records list the name of the adopted mother and not the biological mother.

If you know what hospital you were born, try contacting their records department. You may get lucky and find a compassionate person their who is willing to look up your birth record. It never hurts to try.

If you have a medical condition and you want to find out your family medical history and your birth records are sealed, the only way you can get your birth records is through the court process. Hiring an attorney is expensive, but it can be an effective way of obtaining this important information.

I suggest that you have a good relationship with your adopted mother (or father) and every once in a while ask them questions about your birth parents and write down the information. This will come in handy when it's time to locate your birth parents.

Good Luck.

Jay Rosenzweig
CaliPI.com