One day in June 2005, an adoptee received an unexpected phone call that changed her life forever. Her birth mother had been visiting adoption.com about another topic, and saw a link for adoption search. She decided to search the reunion registry database and came up with the name of a young woman whose information matched her query. She then searched the Internet for the woman’s name and found the MA Adoption Reunion Registry.

The adoptee was born in Natick in 1982 to a woman who was 17 years old. She chose to relinquish her child to adoption because she didn’t have the means to care for her child. When she became pregnant, she was sent from Utah to a foster family in Framingham, found through her church, to have her baby. When she embarked on the adoption journey she left her baby two mementos: a letter and a blanket she made. For two decades, she wondered if her child she gave up for adoption was looking for her.

The adoptee always was curious about her birth parents. She registered with an online adoption reunion registry when she turned 18. She checked it occasionally but never found anything and didn’t find any changes.

So the only connection between the adoptee and the birth mother were this letter and blanket. They lived on opposite sides of the country but both had access to a state adoption registry website.

After connecting through the MA registry, the adoptee and birth mother talked and emailed a picture. When the adoptee saw the picture, she new it was her birth mother. They have been talking and emailing ever since and plan on meeting sometime this year.

The April 2nd online edition of the Boston Daily News has the full story.

Sue, the owner of the MA Adoption Reunion Registry founded the organization in 1997 and has had over 5000 register with her. Her site is updated on a regular basis, and helps as much as she can with searches. Since 1997 more than 700 families have been reunited through this site.

The website is a wonderful resource for triad members searching. You can also register online.

Registries can work if people know about them, register with them, and search them for the person they are seeking. A few of the bigger and respected registries are suggested below:

www.isrr.net – The International Adoption Reunion Registry
http://registry.adoption.com/ - Adoption.com Registry
http://www.aci.net/schaefer/page62.html - G’s United States Adoption Registry
http://www.birthquest.org/ - Birthquest
http://www.canadianadopteesregistry.org/ - Canadians Adoptees Registry Inc.
http://www.adoptionsearching.com/ - World Wide Registry
http://www.niwot.net/adopt/ - Lost and Found Adoption Registry
http://www.adoptionireland.com/ - Ireland Adoption Registry
http://www.metroreunionregistry.org/ - Metro Reunion Registry

These types of registries are mutual consent registries. Some of these national registries such as the International Soundex Reunion Registry have reunited thousands of triad members and provide support within the adoption community. However, in some states, these mutual consent registries have been promoted as an acceptable compromise to the adoption reform movement. These types of registries have not worked because the lack of knowledge regarding them, insufficient staffing, low budgets, If someone doesn’t know about them, how can anyone register with them?