4. Try to do your own research in person. Some adoptees try to do their research long distance or hire private investigators. When the investigators check records or you send letters, the comment "the records don't exist" will begin sounding like a broken record. When someone other than yourself begins checking old court, hospital, and even vital statistics records at the state level, this is a very common answer. This is especially true when the questions are handled by mail. Many adoptees who actually go to the hospital, courthouse, or state archives later find the records do exist. If you call many courthouses and ask about old records, they will tell you about "courthouse fires". However further examination will show that for a wide variety of reasons, not all records have been kept at courthouses at one time or another. Many professional genealogists will follow the following strategy: Go to the courthouse and simply ask where the birth, death, marriage, etc. records are. They DO NOT mention years or give any additional information. The clerks who are usually buried with their own daily tasks, are only too happy (in most cases) to point you in the right direction and get you out of their hair.

5. Legal records. All adoptions left a paper trail. All children born are normally issued a birth certificate. This is even true with children who are immediately put up for adoption. Most adoptees have what is called an amended birth certificate where the adoptive parents are listed. This supersedes (not eliminate) the original certificate which has the name given at birth, ethnic and religious background, along with medical and social information. Your number one goal should always be to obtain a copy of the original birth certificate which was issued before the amended one was compiled. Many of the growing number of adoptive rights organizations are filing petitions saying that this basic information is a civil and human right which superseded the clauses of secrecy which were contained in most historical adoption contracts. This has focused the attention on the reality that adoptees do not have many of the basic civil and human rights (in relation to knowing their medical and social background) that all other citizens enjoy. However, some adoptees have become very bitter when they are rejected during the search process or the reunion turns sour.

6. Pursue all tangible leads. In previous eras, adoptions were a manner of secrecy. Many unplanned pregnancies were considered "blights" on the family name, or could endanger the reputation of someone. Woman sometimes chose the most remote states or large states far away from their home to have the baby and then place he/she up for adoption. Many churches or local lawyers had invisible networks of places to refer the women to. Many of these trips were masqueraded as "vacations" or "visits to the grandparents". Check them all out. Anytime you find something where the person stayed for between 4-6 months that person needs to be considered.