Unlocking adoption paperwork?

Question

My grandmother was adopted in CA back in the 40's when EVERYTHING was locked. in the 70's a law was passed that adoptees could unlock their records to find their parents but even after being on the phone with Sacramento for hours, no one seems to know how to do this. Any help would be good.

Answer 1

Okay, this will sound crazy, and I don't know anything about adoption law in California, but I do know that when we were going through my son's adoption, we hit a brick wall with the state of NJ and how to file for benefits for our son who has special needs.  They didn't know how to process the paperwork because we live in PA, and PA didn't know how to process the paperwork because we were adopting from NJ.  Long story short, I sent emails to everyone in the government that I could possibly think of.  Within 48 hours, the Governor of PA had an assistant call me and get everything straightened out.  If I were you and no one seems to be able to provide you with the right info, I'd be contacting my governor and representatives because that means the department you are dealing with doesn't know how to do their jobs properly.  Like I said, it might sound crazy, but it was a lifesaver for us.

Good luck to you.

Answer 2

It is possible that her original birth record is in the CA birth index.  You can access this with ancestry.com  

I believe they have a 14 day free trial.  

This will not give you a lot of information but it will give you birth mother's maiden name, and if father was listed your grandmother's last name would be listed under father's name.  If the name(s) are not extremely common or if in one of the "smaller" counties, there is a chance of finding info.  

CA is one of the easier states for adoptees to search.

CA does have several "open" counties.  Alameda, Contra Costa, Glenn, Marin, Napa, Orange, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta & Sonoma.  The problem with this is that most of these counites require that the adoptive parents submit the request for the records to be opened.  I can only assume that they have since passed away.  Here is a link that will show you the contact info for these counties if by chance she was adopted in one of them.

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

Good luck

Answer 3

You need to find out the county in which the adoption was finalized. You then contact the clerk of the court...he/she can point you to the forms you need to fill out and turn in. A judge will decide if the records can be released. My hubby was adopted in NY and did this process...judge said no. However, we hired a company and they found ALL the info in a very short time.

Answer 4

Sorry, California has no such open records law.  She can either approach the courts in the county she was adopted in requesting the documents be opened and unsealed, but unless she is in an adoptee friendly county or before an adoptee friendly judge, she likely won't have the records opened.