Any ideas where to start finding biological parents?

Question

So I have my mother's maiden name now, but I have no idea where to start. Any ideas are very much appreciated. Thank you!

Answer 1

It may sound strange but Craigslist is a great place to find people. You can go under personals and go into missed connections and type your ad it is free and it would be a start. People may know who she is and know something..

Good luck...

Answer 2

I know this sounds a little weird but have you tried Myspace? I've heard of quite a few people who found bio-relatives by using the search engine there. Good luck.

Answer 3

Please add to your question where you were born - country - state - year.

This will help to get some clearer answers.

There are many people who frequent these boards who are more than willing to lead you in the right direction.

Wishing you all the luck in the world.

Oh - and grab on to all the support you can get - you could be in for an emotional roller coaster ride!!

GREAT adoptee forum -

http://www.adultadoptees.org/forum/index...

Poss. x*x

Edited to add -

Thanks for leaving the details - I've left a message for Gershom - she's a searching wizz.

And I'm sure that others may be able to pipe in with info.

I'm in Australia - for me - I googled my mothers name and hit upon an entire family tree on-line!!! Married name, sisters and brothers - the lot.

I then searched the white pages phone directory for the state she lives in - and bingo!!!

School friends.com , MySpace, Facebook - try the lot.

Definately search around the internet - you just never know what you'll find.

All the best.

xx

Answer 4

Having adopted an older child it is now law to tell a child they are adopted.  after they turn 18 records are opened.  You may want to go to the orginating adoption agency to find out who she is.

Answer 5

Believe it or not that is a great place to start. If your adoptive family is open to asking and giving you all the info they have that would be great to. If you know where you biological mother grew up she may still have people in the area. I know it is hard to cold call but sometimes that will lead you to the answers you seek. My sister and I have been down this road and  it has been a wonderful journey. DON'T LOSE HOPE.

Answer 6

You are one of the lucky adoptees born in an open state!  The only difficult thing is that there are not a lot of online public records for the state of KS available.  Records such as birth, marriage, death.  You didn't state your year of birth but one place to try is classmates.com.  If you know her age when you were born you can determine what year she graduated from.  classmates contains a woman's maiden name.  The other site that works is reunion.com.  Try running a public records search for the city/state you were born in using the last name. If the name is uncommon it should give you other people with that last name that are or were connected to that town.  These sites are intellius.com, public-records-now.com and peoplefinders.com.  Just take the free information that these sites give you to find other names and then take the full names and do white pages searches and zabasearch.com.  You can then call these families and tell them that you are doing genealogy research and their names came up in your research and then mention your birth mother's first name.

You can also search online for obits in the areas you were born with that last name.  Search the obit for your birth mother's first name.  These will often give her new married name and the location she is living at the time of the obit.  Another online source is family trees.  

you should of course reigster with

isrr.net

registry.adoption.com

g's adoption registry

and any other online sites that you can search and post your info.

Good luck

Answer 7

The adoption agency should still have those record. And depending on your b-moms situation when she relinquished you, she may have made them available to you if you should ever ask. Also, in todays age, an abundance of information can be found on the internet. Google her name with the state and city. Research high schools in that area and try her name with those schools. May turn up leads. Try different search engines, as some seem to find things others dont. and all the popular sites, such as Myspace and those such places for connecting may find something. You may even try putting a video on youtube. Chances  are somebody she knows watches there, or she might herself. However you may not want to say her full name, to protect her privacy.

Answer 8

Zabasearch.com

Peoplelookup.com

Answer 9

WOW! congratulations!! That is such a huge step!

try this:

go to here:

http://adopteerights.net/forum/index.php...

and check out the free name and address finders.

You may also want to do some maiden name searches like on

www.maidenname.net

or looking for her on classmates.com , alumni.net, reunion.com etc.

You could also consider trying to narrow her down to a highschool w/ graduating year and requesting a yearbook from that time and finding her in the yearbook and going from there. Having a picture is always incredible.

I'd also try and go to one of my favorite links:

black book online : http://www.blackbookonline.info/

and look up the free searching stuff they offer for your state by clicking on the "state / local public records" link.

I searched it real quick and noticed that voter registrations and the history of them is available, that could possibly be helpful :)

Some marriage records are also there , you could possibly do a marriage search by your mothers maiden name and trace her to her current last name depending on county, because it appears that via this site at least, only some counties have them available online.

IF you do find her marriage certificate then you'll be on your way !!!  Marriage annoucements, or real estate searches etc. good luck! you're on your way!

maybe a stretch, but worth a try :)

Answer 10

go to the court house in your home town......ask to have the adoption papers unsealed......then go from there

Answer 11

Generally, starting with the agency through which you were adopted is recommended.  Also, submitting information to the International Soundex Reunion Registry at http://www.isrr.net/ is a good idea.  

But you actually have more info than many do.  (Certainly more than I did when I started my search.)  If the name is unusual, you might have some luck searching on line.  If you know where you were born, or better, where she lived, you should start there.  

You may also want to pick up a copy of Birthright by Jean Strauss.  It has many helpful suggestions for how to conduct a search.  Finally, if I were you, I would try to find a search support group in your area.  They may have practical advice, but they can also provide very important emotional support during the rollercoaster ride that is search and (hopefully!) reunion.

Best of luck.  I hope you find her soon!