By Elisa
Black-Taylor (Greenville
Genealogy Examiner)
Research for adoptees is
very different from regular genealogy in that you're going in with very little
information. You may only have your own date or birth and the town you were
born in. Sometimes searching for a birth mother or child feels like looking for
a needle in a haystack.
Today I want to tell you
about a firm that has a very high success rate in reuniting families.
Research Etc., Inc. is a
private investigation firm located in Scottsdale, Arizona. The business opened
its doors in 1995 and is owned and operated by sisters Kristen Hamilton and
Judy Andrews, along with their mother Ava Friddle.
Along with adoption cases,
these ladies also handle other forms of private investigations. They're most
famous for reuniting adoptee's and their birth mothers. Much of their fame can
be credited to a book about many of their success stories. Back To The
Beginning: Remarkable True Stories Of Adoption Services & Reunions was
published in 2008 and offers insights on what it's like for a birth mother to
be reunited with a child.
Research Etc., Inc can be
reached by phone at 1-800-992-3571 or by email at RSearchEtc@aol.com.
The name of the free
database for adoptees is Birthline Reunion Registry and is located at http://www.researchetcinc.com/birthline.html
If you're an adoptee and wish to post your
information there's a one time fee of $10. The search option itself is free.
On it you'll find birth
mothers and adoptees listed along with date of birth, hospital and an email
address to contact.
Birthline Reunion Registry
services not only the U.S. But also Australia, Canada, England, China, Germany,
Jamaica, Japan, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Russia, Scotland, South Africa and
the U.K.
There are only a handful
of states in the U.S. that have open or semi-open access to adoption records.
Those states are Alabama, Alaska, Delaware, Kansas, Maine, New Hampshire,
Oregon and Tennessee.
This means the information
(most likely a birth certificate)is accessible to the person named on the
document, meaning the birth parents. Once a child reaches age 18, they may also
have the right to access the information through the Vital Statistics Office or
other sources. Records are easier to obtain once the birth records are 50 years
old.
They caution not to expect
miracles and no one price fits all cases. Some cases are solved in a few hours
while others may take a year or longer. The more information a client has at
the time of a free consultation, the lower the cost will be.
The firm does state that
some birth mother's are reluctant to name the birth father. Many birth mother's
take that information to their grave. A birth mother may not
always be pleased when first contact is approached. Research Etc., Inc. also
offers services to arrange emails, phone calls or visits between mother and
child. Some clients feel the need to make arrangements personally. The firm
treats each case individually and does whatever the client wishes in handling a
reunion.
There are probably many
such databases online. I wanted to highlight one that's free and easy to use.
Many states are trying to
change the law where more mothers and their children can search for each other
more easily.
There are many adoptees who cannot afford to pay for a private investigator but if you can search a free database - then FREE is wonderful! Get busy! ... Trace
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