A black market adoption is the sale of a baby for profit. Some may have the image of a dark alley and money being exchanged. However, it isn’t nor was it like this at all.

In the early 1900’s, private secular and religious groups began the permanent residential care of orphaned children, but were ill equipped to handle the multitude of America’s orphans. By the 1920’s, social changes and the absence of state run orphanages provided fertile ground for the emergence of black market adoption as a means to place babies with adoptive parents.

From... more

Susi is an educated, bilingual Guatemalan hired by adoptive parents who wish to locate their Guatemalan children's birth mothers.... Occasionally she will set up meetings between the two families. But most often she'll travel throughout Guatemala, often deep into the countryside, to knock on the door of a woman who hasn't received news of a child she placed for adoption years before.

This interview caught my eye. It is an interview between... more

For people involved in black or gray market adoptions, finding birth family or a child surrendered to adoption certainly can be more difficult. However, over the years groups have sprung up to unite those searching. There were some quite well-known adoption lawyers or agencies in several states know for shady, if not illegal adoption practices.

In Florida, an attorney named Helen Tanos Hope was known to have handled many adoptions in the 60's to 90's. It is alleged that her adoption records were found in a dumpster after her death and another attorney... more

You will want to contact the agency that facilitated the adoption and inquire if they assist in searching. The agency is also likely to have names and addresses of overseas contacts. Depending on the response from the agency, the next step would be to make a personal connection with someone in the birth country.

I think we will all agree that adoption is a lifelong process and for many triad members that process includes the desire to search. This is normal as is that response that the remainder of the triad members have which are... more

Every triad members has their own personal and unique adoption story. That story is part of who they are as they move from childhood, through adolescence to adulthood. It is important for an adoptee to come to their own peace with how adoption fits into their lives and find a comfortable balance. For international adoptees, their story began in another country and culture and includes issues of race, ethnicity and heritage.

An international adoption search requires working with a different country, language, laws, and culture. One... more

Back in March 2006 I wrote a blog about Georgia Tann and Black Market Adoptions. That blog is accessible at http://birthfamily-search.adoptionblogs.com/weblogs/georgia-tann.

Today, I learned of a new book that is coming out about Georgia Tann via a news article at http://www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/Content?oid=oid%3A24386.

The story of Georgia Tann is being told by New York author... more

First off, some triad members who have contacted me regarding Mrs. Duncan seem to think or believe she was connected with Catholic Charities. This is not true. Mrs. Duncan was not connected to Catholic Charities in any way shape or form. A lot of the natural mothers who relinquished through Mrs. Duncan were referred to her via the priests of the local catholic churches, the doctors, hospitals, and lawyers that she worked with regularly. I do not believe that there was any financial benefit for Mrs. Duncan in the work that she did. I have not... more

When I was adopted the adoption was a private adoption through a woman named Elizabeth Duncan. She placed many babies in PA and to the best of my knowledge did not place the babies outside of Western, PA. In addition, to the best of my knowledge I don’t believe she placed outside of Westmoreland or Allegheny County.

My adoptive parents were introduced to Mrs. Duncan through the priest at their church. The story goes that the priest came to bless their home and asked if they had any children. The response was no but they were thinking about... more

Countless numbers of children born in Germany between 1945 and 1985 were placed for adoption. Just like the United States, in many cases German born adoptees and the natural parents are interested in contacting each other.

The first step in locating and contacting your German Natural mother or siblings is to request original German birth documentation. You can do this by writing to the “STANDESAMT” for the city in which you were born in Germany. When you write your letter, you want to provide as much information as possible and request a “copy of your birth entry in... more

I was recently contacted by an adoptee who is searching for your natural family and it is more than likely that her birth information was altered as he adoption was handled through a private attorney that is known in the Philadelphia area for altering information such as date of birth, hospital, or city of birth. The adoptions handled by this attorney were all legal but with the information altered it can be very difficult to complete a search.

I decided to do some research on falsified information on birth certificates and... more