United States Adoption Research

United States

Adoption Research

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Locating information about an adoption in your family takes time. Here are a few suggestions to help in your search:

1. Visit with every family member and ask what they remember. They may provide valuable clues.
2. Visit your local library to read books about how to search for adoptions, and then ask about other resource material to help in your search.
3. DNA testing is a new option that may help you, see Hiring a DNA Testing Company for further information.
   

Adoption Organizations

The Family History Library in Salt Lake City does not provide a service to help adopted persons locate their birth parents. The following organizations may be able to help you.

• DNAAdoption. "Our main goal is to help others find those unknown ancestors. Success in using DNA is now becoming a more common event, especially for adoptees."
  
  
• Missouri Department of Social Services: Check out their Family Services Adoption Information Registry. P.O. Box 88, Jefferson City, MO 65103. (800) 554-2222. Any letters sent should be marked "Confidential."
  
  
• Global Adoptee Genealogy Project
  
  
• Mixed Roots Foundation Global Headquarters
  795 Folsom Street, 1st Floor
  San Francisco, CA 94107
  800-659-6958
  info@mixedrootsfoundation.org
  Creating a DNA database to help adoptees find relatives.
  
  
• The ALMA Society
  P. O. Box 85
  Denville, NJ 07834
  
  

• International Soundex Reunion Registry (ISRR)
  P. O. Box 2312
  Carson City, NV 89702
  
  

• National Orphan Train Complex
  300 Washington St.
  P.O. Box 322
  Concordia, KS 66901
  Email: orphantraindepot@gmail.com
  Phone:785-243-4471

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• Utah Department of Health: Utah Adoption Registry
  
  

Internet Adoption Research Guides. The Internet has information about adoptions and finding birth parents. A good place to start is the Adoption page of Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet. This site has dozens of links to Internet sites about:

• Adoption Research
  
• Home Children (Britain and Canada)
  
• Orphan Trains
  
• G's Adoption Registry (international information as well as individual states in U.S.)
  
• Locality Specific Internet Sites
  
• Mailing Lists, Newsgroups, and Chat Rooms
  
• Professional Researchers, Volunteers, and Other Research Services
  
• Adoption Research Publications, Software and Supplies
  
  

Search engines. Use a search engine on the Internet such as Google. Try several keywords such as the term "adoption," the area where the adoption happened, and whether searching for a parent or child. This search will help identify resources and information specific to the area where the adoption took place. In your search, consider the following records, because they can contain information that can give you clues.

• Local and county records such as court records and adoption proceedings
  
• Death certificates, obituaries, cemeteries, and funeral home records
  
• Newspapers, which may be available in historical societies or university or college libraries
  
• Hospital records
  
• Genealogical Journeys in Time
  
• Online resources for adoption in the United States and Canada can be found at the Nashville Public Library website
• Bobbie's Genealogy Classroom

Adoption Records of Each State

See Access to Adoption Records from the Child Welfare Information Gateway for a summary of state laws.

Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida

Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine

Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire

New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina        North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island

South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

Early Adoption Records

Check out the Clerk of the Circuit Court in the county the adoption took place for early adoption records.

For Further Reading

• Mixed Roots Foundation Announces First-Ever Global Adoptee Genealogy Project (GAGP) by Mixed Roots Foundation (Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter, 3 May 2012). Discusses creation of a DNA database to help adoptees find relatives.
  
• With DNA Testing, Suddenly They Are Family by Rachel L. Swarns (New York Times, 23 January 2012). Discusses DNA tests for adopted people.
  
• National Orphan Train Complex of Concordia, Kansas Wiki page.
• Children's Aid Society of New York City Wiki page.
  
• New York Foundling Hospital Wiki page.