How can you find out your adopted?

Answer 1

There are a ton of ways that the world has created. But as an adopted child myself, I say stay out of it! It's not some fairy tale like you see in the movies. I hated that my birth parents made contact with me. They have homes and families and you gave them up. You'll only be screwing their life up again by making any contact.

Answer 2

The answer varies quite a bit from place to place. Often you have a right to the information when you turn 18 or 21. Other places, the records remain closed tight.

Here are some things you can do:

Ask for your birth certificate. You can go to (or usually write to) your county office of vital statistics to get it.

Get a DNA test. This is a more elaborate and expensive process and requires cooperation of your mother (for girls) or father (for boys). The DNA test can tell you if your parent is your actual birth parent.

Ask family elders. If your grandparents are alive, ask them.

Most newspapers maintain archives. Look in the births and deaths section of the newspapers from your city or town for each of the 14 days after your birthdate. (It will be on microfilm in most places).

Go to an LDS (Mormon) church and ask if they have a family history center. They have access to a stunning amount of information and are very helpful.

This writer had a brother, 12 years older than I, who was from my father's first marriage. He was adopted away to a family friend. He was never quite certain of his parentage until my father was slowly reintroduced to him when he was about 12 or 13. It was very confusing for him to learn that "Uncle ***" whom he rarely saw was actually his father. I don't know if there is a better way to learn these things.

Answer 3

There are several sites on the internet where you can post queries. One of the most popular that seems to have some success is cousinconnect.com. They have a team called Search Angels that help locate adoptees.