How to learn about my orgins....???

Question

My Father was born in 1952, and was "put up for adoption" when he was 4. in that time i can only assume that everything was "hush-hush". Both my dad & his brother were adopted into the same family. His brother was 6. They had/have an older sister (who apparently stayed with his b-parents). My father had MANY problems, some of which include substance abuse, and depression, which lead to suicide. He never really had many questions (that he made known to me) about his orgins. I on the other hand have many. I NEED to know what i am. The only information that i know is that the dad's last name was "Taylor" and the mom's name was "gonzales". How can i learn more? What steps can i take? The WHOLE family that my dad was adopted into stopped calling or talking to us when his mom passed away. I havent seen or spoken to anyone on that side for at least 6 years when a handful of them showed up to my dads funeral. I know someone might know something about where my dad came from but im not too sure

Answer 1

Alameda county is an open records county for adoptive parents. That means that the adoptive parents can sign for his original birth certificate and adoption decree which has at least his biological mothers full name on it. Maybe his biological fathers depending on the circumstances of his surrender.

Let me poke around and see if I can find anything else for you, in the meantime check out this link....

http://www.geocities.com/capitolhill/960...

Okay so here is something REALLY COOL you can do since you know your fathers possible last name, go to this link...

http://www.vitalsearch-ca.com/gen/ca/_vi...

use the login : vitalguest

             password: enjoy

and click onto the link that takes you to the 1905-1995 birth index for california. After entering the password you'll go to a page that has a big loud net detective ad, don't click on that. Click in the bottom right hand corner where it says "begin search reset"

Then do a search for his last name at birth "taylor" but from where I'm looking you'll probably have to enter "tay%" because taylor is too many digets and unless you enter the % sign they'll only bring you back results for taylo which isn't the name you're looking for....

You'll get like 53,000 in results.... click on mothers last name to alphabatize by last name for her, or county brings up all alameda births first so that may be easier. This is going to help you find his FULL NAME at birth that can start your search better.

while you do this, i'm going to see if I can find the laws for offspring of adoptees, i believe its not going to be positive since california doesn't even include adoptees as "parties to the adoption"

Answer 2

I don't have anything to add to these answers.  I just wanted to wish a fellow searcher the best of luck reconnecting with your roots

Answer 3

Please take Laurie up on her offer! She does know what she is talking about and what she is going. Also Magic has some excellent references for you and you can begin that way.. I don't know too much about searching personally but another thing you can do is register with the ISRR (International Soundex Reunion Registry) there are also some registries on-line if you would like I do allow e-mail on my profile and you can mail me privately. Not sure about Laurie and Magic. Good luck with your search! Let us know how it goes will you please?

Answer 4

I have a subscription to Ancestry.com, which allows searches through the California birth index, but you don't have to go through a gazillion entries to find what you want, so to speak.  I have a few possible matches, but if you wouldn't mind giving me just a tad more info about your dad, I may be able to get further for you.  Would you be okay with giving me your dad's birth month and day?  If so, you can just email them to me if you want.  

The vital-search is great and I've used it a number of times, it's just very time consuming without the paid account.  Ancestry.com's got easy access to lots of databases.  (I guess that's why you have to pay for them, but I couldn't do my genealogical research so easily without it.)

edit:

Wow, thanks you guys.  I'm blushing.  I am honored to be a part of adoption reform with dedicated, intelligent and motivated people like all of you.