At some point in your search, you will be considering your options regarding hiring a searcher. In many states a confidential intermediary (CI) systems are in place, and a CI will be recommended to you by your agency or by the courts, In this series of blogs I will try and explain the options.. In the end, the decision that you make will be the result of many different factors that only you know and only you can weigh appropriately with your situation and your search.

Intermediaries are individuals with access to your file, either through court approval, or because they work for an adoption agency, who use that information to find the individual(s) you are searching for. When the individual is found the intermediary will ask that individual(s) for permission to release to you, the searcher, their identity and whereabouts; depending on the arrangement that is worked out, the intermediary may obtain updated medical histories, or pictures, or other information to give to you. If the other party chooses not to have his or her identity and whereabouts released the intermediary closes the file. Any fees paid for the search are usually nonrefundable. Depending on the laws in your state and the policy of the intermediary, court, or agency, contact may be attempted after a certain amount of time has passed or the file may close permanently. In most states if not all states, if the intermediary can’t find the party you are seeking in a specified period of time, identifying information is NOT turned over the person who is searching.

There are three ways you can come in contact with an intermediary. The first is that the state that you are searching in has an intermediary system and the court will appoint you one when you petition to have your records opened, or you can contact an intermediary organization directly. The second way is that the adoption agency that is appointed to do the search often times utilize their own employees to conduct a search rather than an outside intermediary. The third way is that you contact and independent intermediary yourself. Some intermediaries work independently and privately but are certified to ask the court to release your records directly to them. This is different than going with an intermediary that works for an organization.

The intermediaries, sanctioned by the courts, have access to sealed adoption files for the purpose of conducting an intermediary search. They generally ask for their fees up front, and these fees are usually non-refundable in the event that the party refuses contact, the party is deceased, or the search cannot be completed. This arrangement might be negotiable with certain independent intermediaries. Some intermediary systems and intermediaries will attempt contact with the nearest relative in the event that the object of the search is deceased. The disadvantages in hiring an intermediary are the fee structure, the lack of control or input in the search, the inability to make first contact, and the possibility that contact may be refused, and you might walk away poorer, with no more information than when you started.