From my experience in the adoption community the number of adoptees searching for their birth parents has always been high. However, there are birth parents searching for the child they relinquished to adoption many years earlier. It is true that a birth mother searching is more difficult however new legislation in some states permits more access to birth information and new technology has the potential to make the search process easier for birth parents.

I hope by writing this blog that I will be able to provide you – the birth parents – with some guidance in the search process and information access as well as resources for further help in succeeding in your search.

As I mentioned before adult adoptees are the most common group of triad members to initiate a search and they usually search for their birth mothers first and then search for birth fathers, siblings, or other birth relatives. Other triad members also search although the number in comparison is not as high. I think that birth parents search because they want to know more about the child they relinquished to adoption, their background or medical history.

I think that many of the reasons that birth parents search are similar to the adoptee. They want to know the name of their child, where they live, and they are like. They also want to know whether their child had been happy and treated well.

Family traits and personalities is another reason. They want to know what their child looks like and how they act. They wonder if they share similar traits.

Medical history information or genetic diseases and conditions are important information to the adoptee health. Family medical history is sometimes the only reason that judges will open a sealed adoption file.

Birth parents that search may want an opportunity to explain the circumstances of the adoption to their child.