Petitioning the court to open your records is something every adoptee should try. Even the most restrictive states allow the sealed adoption file to be open via court order, and petitioning the court is usually not a difficult nor terribly expensive proposition, and your odds are slightly better than winning the lottery.

We at givenright can help all adoptee's open their records for a small fee, the court file contains a variety of documents related to one's adoption, often including the original birth certificate. The most likely occurrence is that when petitioned, the judge will instruct that only non- or de-identified information be compiled from the file and given to you, but in a few instances, judges have been known to open the entire file. A very few judges will open files to every adoptee who asks, regardless of the reason.Many times it pays to use a professional comapny to open your records.

The details of petitioning:

Petitioning the court does not require the services of a lawyer although it can help your chances of success to use one. The first step will be determining what court has your file. You probably have already obtained this information if you followed the steps detailed in the other documents of this.The court that has your file will be the court that finalized the adoption. In the States, this is usually a county Family court, located in the county where your adoptive parents resided at the time of your adoption. Most courts will have the proper forms for petitioning available to you on request, and you do not need to be physically present at a hearing date in order for the judge to read and respond to your petition, although appearing in person can greatly enhance your chances of success. Along with the petition, you should include the reason for your request. You may simply believe the information belongs to you, and you can state this, but the sad truth is that you are more likely to be successful if there are extenuating circumstances. If you have a medical condition that could be eased with the information or with finding your birthparents, proof and explanation of that condition should be included in your petition. If there were unusual circumstances involved in your adoption, if you know your birthparents are deceased, if you already know the identity of your birthfamily, or if your adoptive parents are deceased, you should include a statement to that effect, along with proof of your claims. However, even if you do not have any unusual circumstances, and simply want the information, you should still try a petition. As stated above, some judges will release the file to adoptees just for the asking.

What to Expect:

Many times our company can open your records without a petition, we have birth records and other records that can help you, we have marriage records, and divorce records and birth records many people do not have these records avaliable to them. Given right has a 90 day search, are adp[tee's and birth mothers can call our company at any time between 9:00-5:00 CST AT 253-829-3666 We have weekly updates sent to you on every Monday on your adoption search.
 

Adoption Documents:

The following documents are usually part of your court file, depending on the circumstances of your adoption:

1. Original birth certificate
2. Petition to adopt
3. Final decree of adoption
4. Your adoptive parents homestudy
5. various reports from the agency or lawyer such as intial interview with birthparent(s), their medical history, biographical information
6. signed relinquishment (sometimes called consent form)

These documents and the information contained within them, along with your hospital records and 'non-identifying' information available to most adoptees, will form the cornerstone of your search. If you do not know from your initial inquiries what court your adoption was finalized in, the best place to start is in the county where your adoptive parents were residing during your adoption. Contact the Family Court in that county and ask them if they can verify for you if your adoption file resides in their court. Sometimes, in small, helpful counties, you'll be given the information over the phone, at other times, they will require you to submit a written request.

1) Private Adoption vs Adoption Agency?

Hopefully your initial inquiries will have established whether you were the product of a private adoption, or whether you were adopted through an agency. In the cases of a private adoption, usually your adoptive parents will have arranged to adopt you through a family doctor, family friend, minister, or family member. They will have hired an attorney and the adoption will have been handled through the attorney and finalized in a court of law. In an agency adoption, your parents will likely have contacted an agency with their decision to adopt, sometimes they will have been placed on a waiting list, and are matched with a birthmother and/or child who also had contacted or was brought to the agency. In the States, some adoptions, which are sometimes referred to as 'welfare' adoptions, were arranged through the State's Department of Social Services, or Department of Children and Family Services. Even in the case of an agency adoption or DSS adoption, your parents will have utilized an attorney for the finalization procedure. Usually your adoptive parents will have chosen and utilized their own attorney, although it has been my experience that sometimes the adoptive parents were referred to specific attorneys by the agency. Some countries only arrange private adoptions, others only public adoptions. You should research the adoption laws and regulations of your state, province, or country as detailed in 'Initiating a Search', if you are unable to find out what agency to contact with regard to your adoption records.

2) Non-identifying information

"Non-identifying information" in this instance refers to a specific set of information given to an adoptee about their adoption and birthfamily. A very few states define within their statutes what constitutes non-identifying information, and makes provisions for its release through agencies and courts. In states or provinces or regions where non-ID is not defined, it is up to the court or agency responsible for compiling and releasing the information to determine what to give you, if anything. Generally 'non-ID' will include some or all of the following about one's birthparents:

• ages
• occupation(s)
• level of education
• race and/or ethnicity
• religion
• physical description
• hobbies
• talents
• marital status
• medical history
• circumstances surrounding the adoption

Other things that a lucky few may receive include the first names of the birthparents, medical history, ages, and physical description of the extended birthfamily.

Where you get 'non-ID' will depend on several things. For private adoptions handled in the States, you must apply to the court that finalized the adoption. For 'public' or 'agency' adoptions, you should contact the agency directly AND also apply to the court, as sometimes you'll get more information from one than the other. To find out if your state defines non-ID or makes provisions for it at all, you may read the entire text of most states and many countries adoption statutes on givenright.com 

There is nearly always a fee and a wait involved for non-identifying information. In the States, for agency non-ID you can expect fees to start around $50 and go up to $250 depending on the agency. Court fees for non-ID are usually less, around $40-60. The wait will vary from 1 week (unusual) to years, but is usually somewhere around 3-6 months. How ever you apply for non-ID, whether it is a court petition or a written request to an agency, I highly recommend that you specifically state what information it is that you expect, even if your state defines non-ID. In Washington State, for example, even thought the law entitles you to the first names of your birthparents, you will usually not receive them unless you specifically ask and often then you will only receive them over the phone. Ask for first AND last names, ask for residence, last known address, ask for the name of the school or college your birthparents attended and what they majored in, ask for the moon, but don't expect to get it. The more you ask for, however, the more you're likely to get.

Do not inform the person or agency compiling your non-ID that you intend to search for your birthparents. It is best to maintain that the non-ID is meant to answer some questions that you have and you expect it to end there. If you have written for non-ID in the past and received it, it is a good idea to write again if several years have passed, or if adoption laws have changed. Each year in many places, social workers and judges provide more and more in the way of 'non-ID'.

 

• My date and time of birth
• My place of birth (listed as Fort worth Texas; note that the Final Decree says Houston Texas, my amended certificate s; Tarrant is correct)
• Single birth
• No previous births listed
• Birthmother was 24 years old
• Birthmother was born in Edna Gladney, Tarrant county
• Her race was hispanic

3) Birth certificates

When a person is adopted, their original birth certificate in most cases will be sealed in the court file and a new certificate, with all reference to the birthparent(s) names, and the adoptee's original name removed, is issued. This new certificate, referred to as the 'amended' birth certificate, usually will list your adoptive name and your adoptive parents as your mother and father. The remaining information, such as addresses, age, occupation, previous births,and race of parents, is usually the information as it applies to your adoptive parents, although mistakes have been known to be made. The hospital of birth is usually accurate, although that information, too, can be altered and was sometimes done so if the hospital was a maternity home for unwed mothers. The filing date, depending on the practice of the office issuing the certificate, sometimes remains the filing date of your original, or is sometimes the filing date of the amended, resulting in what several offical agencies such as the U.S Passport Agency, refer to as a 'delayed' birth certificate, which can cause great difficult in receiving certain official documents such as passports and visas. The name of the doctor is worth a special look, as you will be attempting to contact him or her later in your search.

The original birth certificate of a person adopted at birth or shortly thereafter, often will list the person's name as Baby Girl or Baby Boy, plus the last name of mother at the time of birth. This does not mean that your birthparent(s) did not name you. If an adoption plan had been made, often the individual taking the information for the birth certificate did not bother to ask, or to respect, the wishes of the birthparent(s). In general, even if your birthfather was named by your birthmother, his name will not appear on your birth certificate if your birthparents were not married at the time, although there have been exceptions. If your birthmother was married to someone other than your birthfather, usually her name and your last name on the certificate will be her married name, and sometimes her husband will be listed as the father. Again, there are no hard and fast rules, and you should look closely at the information on both the amended and original birth certificates and be willing to dismiss some of it as false or misleading. The file numbers and/or registry numbers located on the original and amended birth certificates are, frankly, a mystery to me. In many cases, I have seen that the file numbers on both the original and amended birth certificates are the same, which could be helpful. In my case, the file numbers located in the upper righthand corner of both of my certificates, are completely different from each other. In this area, a local search and support group can be helpful so that you can compare experiences and documents with other triadians searching in the same area of the country or province.

4) Birth announcements

In most cases, a baby born to an unmarried woman or who was scheduled to be adopted after birth, will not have a birth announcement in the papers. Mistakes have been known to happen, however, so it pays to make copies of the birth announcements for babies born on your birthdate at the hospital or in the city or town of your birth. In addition, further inquiries and information, particularly from the hospital of your birth, might require you to rule out certain names of babies who share your birthdate, so the announcements can come in handy regardless of whether you are listed. As with any other piece of information that requires you to search in the area of your birth and/or adoption, if you do not live in the area or cannot get to the library or institution of research, call the library that houses the information and ask about hiring a research librarian to do the research for you. Usually they will do so at a nominal fee, such as the cost of copying the documents, or a small hourly charge. GivenRight charges a small fee to locate and find your family.Jennifer Robinson our owner has been doing searches for many years. She has a 98% search rate. Call 253-839-3666 to reach her.

5) Legal Notices

In most places, prospective adoptive parents are required by law to place a legal notice notifying the alleged birthfather of the impending adoption hearing. It is common practice to place these legal notices, even when the birthfather is named and has consented to the adoption, in order to erase all potential for problems later on. The attorney that represents the potential adoptors generally place these legal notices in obscure legal journals that are well known in local search circles, which is why it's a good idea to have joined a search and support group, as detailed in the post 'Initiating a Search'. Legal Notices sometimes contain absolutely no identifying information, but they *usually* will refer to you using your birthname (Baby Girl/Boy_______) and they often identify the birthfather by name as well, although sometimes he will be referred to as John Doe. The potential for payoff is enormous, however looking through the legal notices on microfilm can be an incredibly painful and time-consuming procedure. Knowing the time period when the legal notice might have been placed is tricky, and it often requires that you look through thousands of notices for several months if you are unsure when your adoption hearings were held. Knowing if the legal notice refers to you can also be tricky, unless your adoptive parents are referred to by name. Usually the name of the attorney, or the attorney's firm is named at the top of the notice, which is how you can begin narrowing down the notices.

6) Adoption Decree or Order of Adoption

The Adoption Decree or Order of Adoption (your adoption might have come with one or both), is generally the final order of adoption. The Adoption Decree can contain some potentially upsetting and draconian language for adoptees adopted several decades ago, or even more recently. Often, the decree announces that you, the adoptee, have been 'abandoned' or 'rejected' by your natural mother. You, the adoptee, might be referred to as illegitimate or in other derogatory terms, until the end of the document when you are judged to have, by virtue of your adoption, obtained "all rights, privileges and immunities of children born in lawful wedlock." take all of this in stride, if you can, and write it off to sheer ignorance. Adoption Decrees usually include your birthname, your adoptive parents names, your adoptive name, and sometimes one or both of your birthparents names.

The best place to find the adoption decree is with your adoptive parents, with their important papers. Barring that, you can contact the attorney that handled the adoption, or his firm if he is no longer practicing or has passed on, and try to obtain a copy. I optained the copy of my adoption decree through the attorney that handled my adoption for my adoptive parents. It contained my birthname, and within two days I had found my birthmother, after several years of searching. My problem was with locating the attorney, as my adoptive parents did not have a family attorney that they used regularly, and so did not remember who they had retained. If you are in a similar situation, if there was an agency involved, they sometimes have the name of the attorney and will give it to you as part of the non-ID(if you ask), as will the court to whom you petition for non-ID or to have your file opened. If you contact the attorney and s/he will not give you a copy of your adoption decree, it is often worth it to have your adoptive parents request it, as well as all other documents related to your adoption, in order to help in the preparation of their wills, for instance. If you obtain a copy of your adoption decree or order of adoption through the court, agency, or even through an attorney, sometimes identifying names will be 'whited' out or otherwise deleted, however you can often still tell how many characters in length a name is, or find other clues. Similarly, when requesting the adoption decree, it can be useful to also attempt to obtain the consent to relinquish, termination order, or other consent that your birthparent(s) will have signed.

7) Waiver of Confidentiality

You should contact the agency, court, adoption services department, or other agencies or bureaus that were involved in your adoption or house records relating to your adoption, and ask about filing a waiver of confidentiality. In some states, provinces and regions,if you file a waiver of confidentiality, then if and when a member of your birthfamily contacts that agency or court seeking information about you, identifying information will be released to them so that they may contact you directly. Do not file these waivers or ask about them until after you have received all of the information you plan to request from that particular agency, so as not to tip off Vital Statistics, for instance, that you are adopted if you're trying to get an original birth certificate, or so as not to seem as if you are planning on using any information obtained in order to search.

8) Baptistmal certificates and other religious records

If in the course of your inquiries, you are able to determine if you were baptised shortly after birth, or if you were placed by a private agency with a religious bent, particularly a Catholic agency, you might be able to obtain a baptismal certificate that could contain information about your birthname and birthfamily. Churches in general keep excellent records and if there's any indication that your birthparents were active in a church or specific organized religion, it pays to look into it further.

9) Hospital Records of Birth

The records of your birth can be a goldmine of information and in some cases can be relatively easy to get, as in many hospitals, after a certain period of time the records are moved to an archiving company and stored in warehouses staffed by people who know little about adoption and have had little contact with medical requests. The place to start, however, is with the hospital itself. If you do not have your birthname, you have a few options. You can request the records under your adoptive name and that of your adoptive parent(s), hoping that, especially in the case of a private adoption, they might be listed as responsible parties and therefore the records will be crossreferenced and the clerk will just send them all to you,(do not mention adoption) or you can engage in a number of deceptive practices such as attempting to come up with a story as to why you don't have your birthname,(that doesn't involve adoption) or why you want to see the records of all the babies born on a given day. I am not recommending any of these methods nor vouching for their legality in your particular region under your particular circumstances, and if you are concerned about the legality of any of them, you should consult an attorney. In addition to the records of your birth, most Obstetrics units keep an 'OB' log that lists the babies born each day that could be of use. How long both the log and your particular birth records are kept varies from hospital to hospital but most hospitals do have the records in some form, kept somewhere, it may just take some persistence on your part. Do not mention that you were adopted. You will not receive your records even though it is not illegal for you to request them, nor in most places is it illegal for them to be provided to you. In fact, one can make a pretty good argument that you are entitled to them, but that is another matter. One thing to keep in mind is something that happened to me. I attempted to obtain my hospital records without my birthname, thus tipping off the hospital that I was adopted. My files were promptly flagged, and once I had a name and attempted to get my records again, I was unable to.

In most cases, your birth records will not indicate by any special flag that you are adopted, and so if you do have your birthname, you can usually obtain them without trouble if the hospital has not destroyed them. On the other hand, usually one of the attractions of obtaining the records is for a name, so it's a classic double-edged sword, and you should use your best judgement.

10) City directories

City directories will likely be something that you become very familiar with in the course of your search. At this point, you will likely need to use them to find out more about the doctor that delivered you, the attorney that your parents used, the agency that handled the adoption, or the hospital where you were born. City Directories are a lot like phone books. They contain listings of businesses and individuals, their addresses, and their phone numbers, and are bound by city, or groups of towns, or regions. These books are usually hardbound and can be found in university and public libraries for surrounding areas, usually from about 1930 forward, but often much earlier. City dirctory listings contain more than phone books do, however, such as occupations, places of employment, and the names of others living in the same household, such as spouse or adult children. They can be used to trace a listing for a doctor to find out when s/he retired if s/he has, or where they are now located or now practicing. Likewise with an attorney. Also, if your adoptive parents are not able to come up with the name of the agency they used, city directories will list all the agencies in a given area at the time of your birth, which you can then contact. Usually there were just a handful. Finally, city directories can be used to find out if the hopsital where you were born is still around or if another hospital is now located at the same address. Again, utilize your friendly research librarian or volunteer search buddy if you do not live in the area of your search.

Attention all Gladney Home adoptee's or Birth parents

Please feel free to contact Carol Bollinger or Patty Hicks
at (817) 922-6000 EXT: 2050 and ask them about your non i.d. information and their adoption registry.

We have resources to help you in opening your records through the courts. Give us a call and we will help you get your records opened.

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