I thought it might be helpful to discuss some of the particulars of searching here in California as I know that many are searching within the state.

However, I will say that for a couple of reasons California is an easier state to search in than many other states. The chief reason that I believe that California is searcher friendly is that we have “birth indexes”. The birth index lists all births in the state since I believe as far back as 1900 (don’t quote me on that though).

The birth index lists dates that babies were born, the county they were born in, their sex and their mothers’ maiden names. Although the birth index is no longer available on the Internet, you can generally find someone in the adoption community who will do a “look-up” for you. Different versions of the index exist and some have additional information which is useful as well.

Records are still sealed in California in most counties. There are some counties which are considered “open counties” that will release adoption records without the necessity to unseal the records. Some of the open counties will release adoption records to the adoptive parents upon their request.

Although as I mentioned adoption records are still sealed in the majority of the counties, it is sometimes possible to petition the court to seek the release of records. As for what you receive even if you do get records, there seem to be a great deal of different outcomes.

One friend of mine petitioned the court and instantly found her birth mother’s name on paperwork. Another adoptee that I successfully helped to petition the court received documents, but, his birth parents names were blacked out in MOST places. Whether a kindly clerk intentionally left the name visible in a few spots or in error, we do not know. We can only speculate.

To Be Continued.......................................