Surfing the internet/world wide web can be an excellent tool in the adoption search but should not replace human contact or one on one face to face interaction. While surfing the web you can travel any where but takes some navigation.

To go anywhere on the world wide web you need a URL which stands for Uniform Resource Locator. The URL is an address that points to each site. When typing in the URL you always want to include “www” Spelling or typing errors in the URL are the most common error in not being able to view the web page you are trying to view.

For the folks new to surfing the internet a question that you may have is where do you get the web addresses? There are a few ways that you can obtain web addresses. Some may be given to you so you simply type them in at the top of the screen. You can access other web pages by clicking on links or by following links. The third way is that there are companies that index web sites according to their content or site specific data. Depending on what you are looking for these search engines may be useful. Using them is easy – you enter your key word or words and press a search key. After a brief wait a page will appear with near matches. Yahoo and Google are probably the two best known search engines. There are many others and will list a few for you at the end of this blog.

There are many resources on the Internet exploring adoption. In fact, there are so many sources as to be overwhelming. In addition to the free information provided by the National Adoption Information Clearinghouse, some of the best resources include the sites developed by support groups with listserves, which offer timely advice before, during and after the adoption search.

Web pages by triad members, natural mothers and adoptees, dedicated to adoption search and reunion as well as the opening of adoption records are all over the Internet. Just place the words "adoption, search, adoptee, reunion, adoption, and/or reform" into any search engine and you will find many such pages.

I have listed a few for you.

About Adoption (http://adoption.about.com)

Adoptee Liberty Movement Association (http://almasociety.org/)

Adoption Films (http://www.adoptionfilm.org)

Adoption Information (http://www.adoptioninformation.com/)

Adoption Reunion.com (www.adoptionreunion.com)

Adoption Today & Fostering Families Today magazines (www.fosteringfamiliestoday.com)

Adoption.com (www.adoption.com)

Adoptive Families (www.adoptivefamilies.com )

American Adoption Congress (www.americanadoptioncongress.org)

Bastard Nation (http://bastards.org/mediaroom)

Birth Family Connections (www.birthfamily.org)

Canadian Council of Natural Mothers (http://nebula.on.ca/canbmothers/)

Child Welfare League of America (www.cwla.org )

Concerned United Birth Parents (http://www.cubirthparents.org )

Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute (www.adoptioninstitute.org )

First Mother, Celebrating Birthmoms, (http://www.fm-magazine.com)

Inter-National Adoption Alliance (www.i-a-a.org)

International Soundex Reunion Registry (www.isrr.net)

Let's Talk Adoption, a radio broadcast interviewing adoption professionals (http://www.LetsTalkAdoption.com)

Lifemothers (http://lifemothers.tripod.com)

National Adoption Center (www.adoptnet.org )

National Adoption Information Clearinghouse (http://naic.acf.hhs.gov)

Search&Reunion (www.reunion.com)

Social Security Death Index (http://www.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=3693)

State Adoption Lawsh (http://fatty.law.cornell.edu/topics/Table_Adoption.htm)

Tapestry Books, The Adoption Book Catalogue (www.tapestrybooks.com)

The National Personnel Records Center (http://www.archives.gov/)

Vital Records by State (http://www.vitalrec.com/)

Yahoo (www.yahoo.com)

Google (www.google.com)

AltaVista (www.altavista.com)

Web Crawler (www.webcrawler.com)

Lycos (www.lycos.com)

Excite (www.excite.com)