Find Birth Mother

As a maturing adoptee, it's natural to wonder about one's birth mother as certain personality traits and interests begin to indicate differences between you and your adoptive family members. Maybe these curiosities have come from the development of medical conditions or wanting to know more about your pre-adoptive lifestyle and biological roots.

Whatever the reason, the quest to find birth mothers is something thousands embark on every year. The first step to a birth parent search is to ask your adoptive family for as much information as they know or are willing to share. Expressing your desire to search to your family and maybe a support group as well is helpful in grounding you for an experience that may take months or years of waiting or yield disappointing results.

Domestically adopted adoptees should register with the search registry in their state of adoption. These are government-run and facilitate the opening of sealed adoption records as well as the exchange of contact information from the time of the adoption. Both adoptive parties must mutually register in order for this method of searching to work. There is also the possibility of having a confidential intermediary assigned to your case. The C.I. will have access to the sealed records and can find a birth relative and facilitate communication.

Other methods used to find a birth mother are online search databases. These are registries that adoptees and birth relatives can manually search through for possible matches. Other search registries and agencies may offer services that aid in the search process.

It's important to note that while it's not impossible to find the birth parents of an international adoptee, it's more difficult.