Oh man am I stuck or what.?

Question

My mother was adopeted. All I know is her biological mothers name and that the adoption took place in California. With this little bit of information is there anyway I might be able to get adoption records and find out who the biological father was or is this a permanent dead end?

I guess I could have been a bit more specific. My mother and both of her adoptive parents are deceased. Plus it was something she never talked about with my dad.

Answer 1

Not a dead end at all.. but neither is it a wide open door.
Adoption records, in almost all states are sealed. Having the name of the bio mom is not going to be what gets them open, it takes very specific conditions and court approval.. And the fact that there is an adoption record, is no guarantee that dad's name will be in the file. He may well be a branch that goes no further.
Since you do have the moms' name, you can research her as you would any other person. Keep in mind that if she is likely still alive, she may not choose to be located. I very much reccomend working with some of the adoption registry sites, in particular, there are suggestions from those who have experience in this. Among those, is to be sure and use discretion, and take time to know the pitfalls as well as the benefits.

Answer 2

I could try to encourage you, but with your mother dead any chance of opening her adoption records disappeared. There is no compelling reason to open them now. It's also probable that the father was never listed in those records, either. You can try tracking down the birth mom...but California is a VERY big state...and there's no reason to believe she was a resident of California before or after giving birth. Homes for Unwed Mothers were commonly where young girls were sent so that their families weren't "embarassed". I would venture to guess she could have given birth in ANY state and the baby was taken to an orphanage for as many as 20 months after birth before she was placed with a family. Back in those days there were far more babies than adoptive families.

The only thing that would help you now is to find the name of the agency handling the adoption and see just how much information they're able to share with you. Details about where your mom was born, the date of birth, date of adoption and marital status of the parents are generally things you can get from them. Beyond that it's a crap shoot.

I don't mean to sound pessimistic, just pragmatic. I wish you all the luck in the world.

Answer 3

Are any of your Grandparents siblings still alive? Especially female siblings? If so, talk to them. They may know something if your Grandmother confided in any of them. If you believe your Mother may have known anything and if any of her siblings are alive, talk to them. Again, she may have confided in one of them.

You do have a name. That means the rest of the information is out there just waiting to get uncovered. One of the first things I would do is take into consideration where your Grandparents were living when they adopted your mother. You may need to travel to that location to begin your search. Unless your Grandparents were wealthy there is a good chance that the adoption was a local adoption. Meaning it took place inside the same county or if they lived next to a large city, your mother's biological mother could have come from there. Most public libraries have databases that they maintain that contain references such as old phone books, city directories, year books from surrounding schools. Search for anyone with the same last name. It may be like looking for a needle in a haystack, but it is possible to find someone doing this. Something else to keep in mind for the area and time period for which the adoption took place. Make a contact with a local catholic church in the area. See if you can determine what unwed mothers homes operated at that time. Remember and remind them, *at this time* you are not asking them to divulge any personal information. *At this point in time* you are only attempting to determine what options were available to a woman about to give birth to a baby she wants to put up for adoption. If there were no unwed mothers homes in the vicinity than the adopion may have taken place through a attorney. If your Grandparents didn't move around alot, who was the attorney that handled their last will and testaments. It could be the same attorney or law office that may have assisted them with the adoption. Try and get a name and ask where that persons case files might be. Again, at this time you are not seeking personal information. You are gathering possible leads to investigate later.

My husbands mother was an attorney. When she retired she brought all of her files back to the house to store them. After she passed away it became our responsibility to handle her affairs. Trying to find important documents such as deeds to property and stocks became difficult. We went through everything trying to locate them including the boxes that contained her files. Inside of those files we found several files that were cases where she would assist people with private adoptions.This wasn't her field of law so it was abit surprising to find them and over the years she never mentioned to anyone in the family that she did this. These were *very* private adoptions. The adoptive parents are no doubt deceased. Their adopted children and their offspring are more than likely still alive. In fact, some of the names that were in those papers can be found in the local phone books. We've never seriously considered contacting any of these people with the information we have but if the day ever comes where they come searching out my husbands mother for information I will gladly turn the information over to them. I'll never throw the files away but it is not my decision to make to volunteer the information to anyone. This may be the same issues that anyone who has information about your mothers adoption faces.

I wish you luck...

Answer 4

Is your Mother deceased? You can go on line and look your maternal grandmother up at Ancestry.com and Genealogy.com but also if you know the City of your Mother's birth you can go on line to some sites of people trying to locate their birth parents/children and look for her. Do you know if the adoption was private or through and agency? Is there perhaps a lawyer you can contact that did the adoption? Are your Mother's adoptive parents still alive?
Here are some links:
http://www.adoptnet.org/
http://www.theadoptionspecialist.com/?OVRAW=locating%20birth%20parents%20california&OVKEY=california%20searching%20for%20birth%20parent&OVMTC=advanced
http://www.kinsolving.com/?source=overture/

If all else fails you can try a private detective.
http://www.cali-pi.com/birth.html
http://find-someone.com/nd/pc.asp?tc=YH&OVRAW=locating%20birth%20parents%20california&OVKEY=birth%20parent&OVMTC=advanced

Answer 5

Trying to track down information about adoptions is tricky. It all depends on what you know, how it took place, what the adoption laws in the state are. If its something that you can't live without knowing, it can't hurt to try, never know when you might get lucky, but don't get your hopes up.

Answer 6

You can go after the adoption record, but don't get your hopes up: it could be that the father on the birth certificate is listed as "unknown."

I know the feeling...and I think that everyone will come across it sooner or later.