Private Investigator and Adoption?

Question

Hey, this question, its not for me, its for someone I know.

Could a private investigator track down a 13 year old that was put up for adoption at birth (in the state of michigan)?

I know its a bold question! Is it true Private I's can access police, adoption service and hospital records?

Answer 1

yes but you can get any information until you 18

Answer 2

If you have the right investigator, they can find out everything except sealed records. As another poster said, it is not illegal to track down a minor.  However, if they have ethics, they will not seek out a minor child unless it is to get needed and urgent medical information to that child's a-parents.

Answer 3

I dont know why in the world anyone would try and track down a 13 yr old adoptee. Obviously if it were an illegal adoption then things would be gone about a much different way. This could be so disruptive to so many peoples lives, the childs life most importantly. As a birth mother I would encourage anyone to wait until the child is of legal and respect that childs rights to grow up without disruption in his/her life. No matter the circumstances of the adoption that child didnt ask for their childhood to be in turmoil. I hope your friend realizes that before it is too late. As for the ? No one can acces adoption records and the like before the child is of legal age and then usually family only if it was a closed adoption depending on the state laws.

Answer 4

prolly if u have the name of ppl that adopted them ?

Answer 5

I would think that would be illegal to try and find someone who is a minor. If the person was of age 18 or older it would be completely different.

Answer 6

You can search before the age of 18, however in most states a PI will not do the sort of search you are asking about. From my own experience on speaking with one when I started thinking about search. He told me that in my state it is illegal for a PI to search for an underage adoptee, and that once she was 18 he would be happy to help me.

On another note, please be aware that it is legal to search, and I encourage you to do so. I have a very good reunion with my now adult daughter..

I would suggest that you register with the Internation Soundex Reunion Registry (ISRR) also there are some online registries as well as state registries. Register everywhere you can, it increases your chances of finding. My daughter did find me on line through a registry. Also it is important to remember keep one piece of information back that will "Clinch" your search. It does happen that some people are scammed into believing that a person is their parent or their child. It is very sad and the emotions invovled are already so overwhelming at times this only magnigfies those emotions. I wish you good luck!

Feel free to email if you have more questions!

Answer 7

Usually a private investigator is a person who retired or worked in law enforcement of some sort and still has connections, so I would try and find out about the investigator before I hired them. Ask for references and such.

Answer 8

I know many adoptees who hire private investigators to find their parents successfully! I don't see why it couldn't be the other way around, maybe a bit harder, but none the less it could work.

Answer 9

It's illegal to give out information on a minor, so you'd have a hard time doing any of that until the girl is 18. I know this because my sister and I were adopted and hunted for 17 years to find our birth parents. No one, and I mean NO ONE would help us at all until we were 18. Even then, it took serious tenacity. We were threatened harassment suits and everything. Finally we did find our birth families (mother's and father's). There are privacy laws that can NOT be breached unless there are extenuating circumstances, and it must go through probate court to do it legally. We ended up doing it through an agency. We gave them all the information we had and they found them without courts. They gave us our mother's ex-husband's phone number and we contacted him. He put us in contact with her.

Answer 10

I think an investigator would be able to track a person lost through adoption.

I would have loved it if my parents found me.

It is NOT illegal to locate a minor. If it were the PI wouldn't even accept the case.

ETA  to respond to your details...are your friends the type that closed an adoption they promised to leave open?  It seems wrong that a 13 year old NOT know that he is adopted.

Answer 11

Google Adoption Identity Movement in MI, they were very helpful to me 20 years ago.

Also, I've heard of people having great success with

http://kinsolving.com

Good Luck--never give up!

Answer 12

There a good chance a private investigator could get information, but there are other ways that don't cost as much to get the information, just time.