Starting in January 2020, all New York adoptees over the age of eighteen will be able to get their original and unredacted birth certificates. New York will become the 10th state to restore the right to adoptees to obtain their birth record, which will name their birth mother. Descendants of…
A Pennsylvania adoptee search for birth parents usually requires more research beyond obtaining the original birth certificate, a version of which is available to adoptees. The Non Certified Copy of Original Birth Certificate lists the child’s name, the birth mother’s full name, the birth mother’s age and the birth father,…
You’ve tested your DNA through Ancestry.com and now you want to send a message to your Ancestry DNA matches through the application’s messaging program. There is one method that many researchers have found is more likely to reach the recipient. Before you reach out, formulate your questions and conduct enough…
SFGenealogy.com asked me to pen a short guide, How To Do Your Own Adoption Search In California, which highlights some of the recommendations I offer on AdoptionSearcher.com. I didn’t mention petitioning the court to open closed adoption files because this is generally not successful. However, courts in closed states have released…
An adoptee can begin her search for an adoption record even if she doesn’t know her birth parent’s name. A few states will open adoption records and give you the original birth certificate. Almost all allow release of some information from the closed record. This is called the non identifying…
