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Here are some family and adoption reunion stories sent to our OmniTrace private investigators:  Sari Acevedo, Rachel Weiss and Chris Maione. 

Happy Monday Chris!

I cannot thank Omnitrace enough for bringing such joy into my life!  I sent a letter to Laura’s parents, they called her and she called me.  We set up a meeting for a reunion on Saturday; what a spectacular day for all of us.  Her parents, adopted brother, Laura, myself and my husband met at Applebee’s in West Covina.  We were there for hours, laughing, telling stories and trying to catch up on 31 years of absence.  Laura was raised by the most outstanding, wonderful people.  It was fabulous to meet them and now we will all be able to spend wonderful days together. 

 Thank you again for doing such a wonderful job at uniting this family with mine.

Claire

 ———-

Dear Sari,

Hi there! …….I just got in contact via email with Silvia, Leticia’s daughter….a very emotional reunion event that you made possible this very moment for Silvia and for me…, as I had not heard of these folks in 28 years….

I thank you from the bottom of my heart…..and never take for granted the impact your efforts have on those whose hearts are placed at your feet for you to bring minds and spirits back together…..so I thank you 100 billion times….

My friend Leticia passed away last June…..timing is everything in life, isn’t it?  I wish I would have discovered you guys much, much sooner……  I hope you are well…..

With all my gratitude,
Jaime

 ———-

Rachel,

Thank you for the results.  I called Debra right after I talked to you and it went great.  Come to find out, my cousin knew where she was for years but didn’t know that we knew about her.  She wants to meet us and it made my day talking to her.  Omnitrace is a wonderful company and they care about their clients.  Thanks again for what you did and just know that we appreciate you and the work that you do.  I’ll write again with any reunion stories I can share.

Kelly

 ———-

Rachel,

I just wanted to thank you for finding my birth mother.  I did talk to her after 50 years and found out that my Dad had kidnapped me.  The stories she told me!  I now have a feeling of belonging somewhere and have finally found my relatives.  I will recommend Omnitrace to anyone looking for a search.  I’ll try to send you more family reunion stories shortly.

Thank You

Karol R.

 ———-

To: Rachel Weiss

Subject: Re: Barton Daley Search

Rachel,

I am on vacation in Tennessee this week, but I just wanted to share exciting news and reunion stories with you!!  Thanks to your intervention on our behalf, I wrote a letter to Scott.  The day after I got to Kentucky with his birth mother, he called.  He sounds so neat, cheerful, and great.  I talked to him, then he spent a long time talking to Joy.  The next day he called back, and said he would like to get our emails, and send us pictures of his family, and business, and we could keep in touch by email, as well as phone.  So, to say thanks is hardly adequate for how both Joy and I feel.  It is a real answer to prayer on my part.

Marge T.

 ———-

Subject:  Search results awesome!

Sari,

How can I thank you for helping me find my best friend from college?  Ron is alive and well living in Florida just as you said.  I talked with him and we are going to renew a friendship after 40 years.  I am sooooo happy.

Their home in Florida is close to my best girlfriend’s winter home AND Ron still spends his summers in Manhattan, IL.  My husband and I live in Elwood, IL 5 miles away!

Can you imagine playing cards with my best friend and his wife after forty years!  I am ecstatic~! 

Thank you so much,

Lynne E.

 ———-

Dear Chris,

I wanted to let you know that I have contacted Daniel by letter.  He and a friend found my daughter’s My Space pages online and that is how he contacted us.  We now talk online daily. 

I have seen pictures of him growing up and now.  He looks exactly like me.   Once again, I want to thank OmniTrace for finding him for me. You guys are wonderful.

 Jennifer S.

 ———- 

Chris,

This is Heather.  You had asked for any reunion stories I might have.  I just wanted to give you an update.  Everything is going so wonderfully.  I have talked on the phone to my birth family multiple times this week.  I found that I have 2 sisters and a brother and a nephew.  All of us are excited.  We can’t wait to see each other.  Thank you so much for all you have done. My life has definitely been changed for the better.

Sincerely,

Heather

We love receiving reunion stories from our clients.  If you need help in searching for someone, please fill out the following form:

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You will first receive a FREE and FRIENDLY search consultation from one of our search consultants:  Sharla, Sheila, Michelle, Barbara, Tatiana and Diane.  Before you know it, you’ll soon be sending us your own reunion stories.

Are you conducting a New Jersey adoption search?  

A while back, we wrote that a bill to open adoption records in New Jersey had been passed by the New Jersey Senate and was being considered for approval by the New Jersey Assembly.  If passed, an adoptee would have access to his/her original birth certificate as long as a no contact veto was not signed by the birth parents. 

Here is that complete post:  Good News About Finding Birth Parents In New Jersey 

OmniTrace recently contacted the New Jersey Office Of Legislative Services for an update.  Bill S611 has not yet been approved.  They informed us that Bill S611 has been in Committee (Assembly) since March 2008 and, to date, no schedule has been set for its review.  If and when Bill S611 is approved by the Committee, it will then go before the full Assembly and, if approved, then will be signed by the Governor.  The Office Of Legislative Services could not provide us a time frame. 

Also, this bill has an option for a No Contact Veto.  So, if S611 is finally signed by the Governor, New Jersey will have to give the birth parents time to sign the Veto.  This may take up to a year. 

You can obtain a copy of the proposed bill here:  S611.  You can also call (609) 292-4840 for information. 

We’ll keep you posted on anything new we hear about this important legislation.  In the meantime, here’s good news–OmniTrace can successfully conduct a New Jersey adoption search without access to open adoption records.   

You can visit OmniTrace or call us toll free at 888-965-6696 for a free consultation about your New Jersey adoption search.

You can locate someone free by searching the White Pages.  These are available free via the Internet as well as hard copy telephone books.

Our researchers often use free online telephone directories and telephone books to locate someone and verify their address and phone number information.  We have our own library of telephone books covering cities all over the USA as well a list of our favorite online white page web sites. 

So, why do we use hard copy telephone books instead of online white page directories to locate someone free?  Good question!  We mainly use older telephone books to conduct historical research.  Sometimes, in order to locate someone at a current address, we need to obtain historical address information first and then work our way forward year by year. 

For instance, in Oregon, an adoptee can obtain their original birth certificate, which will list their birth mother’s name and address at the time of the adoption.  So, if the adoptee provides us with a copy of their birth certificate, we can search an old telephone book for the year of the adoption and verify the birth mother’s old address and phone number (we can also verify the spelling of the birth mother’s name which sometimes is spelled incorrectly on the birth certificate).  Then, year by year, we can search other, more current telephone directories, to see when the birth mother underwent any address and name changes.  At the very least, we can determine when the birth mother moved out of the area, which can also be helpful when trying to locate someone free.

You can visit a local library and they’ll likely have a collection of telephone books for you to access.  If they do not, contact the local genealogical society or historical society and see if they can assist you. 

Sometimes an old phone book can help you obtain your subject’s unlisted phone number.  Even if they currently have an unlisted phone number, their number at one time may have been listed and may still be in use.  

Free online directories can also help you find birth family members.  If you are an adoptee searching for your birth mother and have her maiden last name (and the name is a bit unusual), you can research online directories to determine where in the USA the majority of persons with this last name reside.  Then you can contact these potential relatives by phone or by mail to see if they have any information on your birth mother.  (The Social Security Death Index can also help you with this type of research by observing where the majority of persons with a particular last name have passed away.  Then you can search for living persons in the same area to help you locate someone free.)

Online directories often have a reverse search function.  So, if you happen to have an old address or phone number of someone you need to locate, you can input that address and/or phone number and obtain a current listing.  The current resident may have information on prior residents.  You can also look up listings of persons who live nearby who can assist you.   

Make sure that you search for all possible spellings of a name.  If you are searching for, let’s say our company president–David Betz, and find no listing, next look up David Betts, then David Bets.  Try different first name variations and nicknames as well:  David or Dave.  Other examples are:  Richard or Dick or Rick | Charles or Chuck | William or Bill or Billy.  Be creative and search as many name varations as possible.  Also search for initials (e.g., D.R. Betz or D. Betz instead of David Richard Betz or David Betz). 

When trying to locate someone free and you know they are associated with a business, you can search the white pages for the business name.  Check out the yellow pages when you just know the type of business and don’t have a name. 

Be sure to choose the correct telephone book when trying to locate someone free.  Some directories cover a single town and others cover an entire county or more.

If you are trying to locate someone free who may be married, be sure you search for the names of both the husband and the wife.  You may also want to look under the wife’s maiden name in the event the couple are trying to not be found.

If you have no luck finding the one you seek in the white page listings, try searching the yellow pages.  The subject might be listed there, particularly if he/she has a home office, is self-employed or is a licensed professional such as a doctor or lawyer.  If you have a business name, search in both the white and yellow pages for a listing. 

If you find a listing for your subject, make sure the listing is current by checking other white page resources or calling directory assistance. 

If you have a last known address of your subject and notice that there is someone with your subject’s same last name listed at a similar address (e.g., 23123 State Rd. 7 instead of 22123 State Rd. 7) you should give that similar listing a call.  There may have been a typo in your original information.

We hope this post helps you locate someone free.  Of course, if you need additional search help or simply would like a FREE search consultation with one of our OmniTrace Search Advisors, please email us or call toll free at: 

 888-965-6696. 

Troy Dunn - The Locator 

Callers and visitors to our OmniTrace web site have been saying that Troy Dunn - The Locator was on Dr. Phil yesterday. 

Troy Dunn - The Locator has been in the business of reuniting birth parents and adoptee (s) for about twenty years.  As a matter of fact, he helped his own mom, Katie Dunn an adoptee, find her birth mother.  What could be better than that?

After helping his mom find her birth mother, Troy Dunn decided to dedicate his time, his resources and his life to reuniting birth family members all over the world.  Even Troy’s mother is now an adoption search specialist!  According to Troy, he has helped reunite thousands of families!  Literally millions of people have witnessed Troy Dunn conduct reunions between birth parents and adopees on TV. 

Troy Dunn has a new adoption reunion show–The Locator–on the WE Channel which premiered Sept. 6, 2008.  You can catch it on Saturday evenings 9:00 PM Eastern Time / 8:00 PM Central.  If you missed the first couple of episodes, you have a good chance of catching reruns on WE.  Are we starting to sound like a commercial here? 

Our company founder Dave Betz and his OmniTrace / The Search Advisor Research Staff are also dedicated to reuniting birth parents and adoptees all over the world.  We love what we do and truly appreciate the unique position we are in to help so many people.  OmniTrace currently conducts more searches, reunites more birth parents and adoptees, and has a greater success rate than any other search firm in the USA.  So, if you can’t get your search done on TV, give us a holler!   

Toll Free Number - 888-965-6696 or email us at:  support@thesearchadvisor.com

There are several states that currently have open adoption records.  In these states, an adult adoptee can obtain an original birth certificate and in some instances additional adoption record information.

If you are an adoptee looking for your birth parents in an open adoption records state, please do request your open adoption records.  However, please be aware that obtaining your original birth records does not mean that your search will be a piece of cake.  Having information on your birth mother, such as her maiden name and perhaps an old address is a nice start, but you will still have to obtain her current name and current address information.  Your birth mother may have changed her name several times, or she may not reside in the state where you were born.

Here is a list of states where adoption records for all or some years can be opened.  In some states, birth parents can sign a no-contact veto:

• Alabama - Adoption records are open.  OmniTrace has the necessary forms you will need to open your records.
• Alaska - Adoption records are open.  OmniTrace has the necessary forms you will need to open your records.
• Delaware - Adoption records are open.  Birth parents can sign a no contact veto.  OmniTrace has the necessary forms you will need to open your records.
• Indiana - Adoption records prior to 1940 may be open.  OmniTrace is currently investigating how to request the original birth certificate.
• Kansas - Adoption records are open.  OmniTrace has the necessary forms you will need to open your records.
• Maine - Adoption records will be open beginning in 2009.  OmniTrace will obtain the necessary forms you will need to open your records.
• Massachusetts - Adoption records are open for birth years prior to 4/14/1974.  OmniTrace has the necessary forms you will need to open your records.
• Michigan - Adoption records may be open for older births.  OmniTrace is currently investigating this.
• Montana - Adoption records are open for adoptions finalized prior to 2/2/1964.  OmniTrace has the necessary forms you will need to open your records.
• New Hampshire - Adoption records are open.  OmniTrace has the necessary forms you will need to open your records.
• New Jersey - Adoption records prior to 1940 may be open.  OmniTrace is currently investigating how to request the original birth certificate.
• Ohio - Adoption records are open for adoptions finalized prior to 1/1/1964.  OmniTrace has the necessary forms you will need to open your records.
• Oregon - Adoption records are open.  OmniTrace has the necessary forms you will need to open your records.
• Tennessee - Adoption records are open.  No-contact vetos are available to birth parents if the adoption was finalized after 1951.  OmniTrace has the necessary forms you will need to open your records.

Please note, if you were born in a state that does not have open adoption records, don’t be depressed!  OmniTrace has many ways to solve birth parent searches involving closed record states.  In fact, some of our best states for searching are closed record states. Also, there is pending legislation in a number of  states where adoption records may become open.

OmniTrace takes no responsibility for the accuracy of the above information.  If anyone reads any inaccuracies with any of the information provided in this post, please let us know and we will make the appropriate changes.  Thanks so much!

Please write or call us if you have any questions about obtaining your open adoption records.

support@thesearchadvisor.com
Toll Free #: 888-965-6696

Please feel free to leave a comment below.

A while back, we wrote a post on how to search for people with free help from the city clerk’s office.  You can read that post here:  City Clerk’s Office Can Help You Find People.

When you search for people and you know the county where they reside, the county clerk’s office is another great free resource.  Here is a nice website to help you find any county in the USA:  NACO - Find A County.

An easy way to find the address and phone number of a particular county clerk is to enter the county clerk’s name in google.  For instance, if you google “Palm Beach County Clerk,” this clerk’s office will show up prominently in your google results and you can obtain their address and phone number.   

Make sure when you contact a county clerk’s office and ask them to help you search for people, you are polite and that the person you are speaking with has ample time to help you.  They may be able to help you:

• Search For People in a phone, city or reverse directory.
• Determine whether the people you search for have business licenses, business permits or occupational licenses. 
• Determine if the people you search for have been involved in any recent court proceedings.

If you are adopted and are conducting a people search for your birth parents ask if there are any birth, marriage or death records available.  Birth records or birth indexes may provide name information on the birth parents.  If you know your birth mother’s maiden name, marriage records can help you obtain her current name.  If one or both of your birth parents have passed away, death records can help you determine if you have any birth relatives.  (The informant’s name on the death certificate is typically a relative or close friend.) 

So, when you search for people, use the free help provided by the county clerk’s office.  Please send us a comment if you have any questions.  You can also email us or call us toll free at:  888-965-6696 for a free and friendly people search consultation. 

When OmniTrace begins a new search for someone lost, we ask our client, who is requesting the search, for as much information as possible about the lost subject of the search.   We take extensive notes and use the following worksheet (feel free to make a copy for your own use):

Missing Persons Search Form

During the course of a search for someone lost, we attempt to fill in all the blanks in our worksheet.  We also take notes on any research that we conduct such as:

• Our telephone calls - who we speak with, the phone numbers dialed, when we call and what we learn.
• The research we conduct - we record what databases, genealogy records, census records, phone directories, city directories, etc. that we access.  We record when we access these records.
• The letters and emails that we send, when we send them, the dates we send them and if and when we receive a response. 

What we are emphasizing here is to keep extensive notes on everything you do during the course of your search for someone lost.  It’s vital!   Each source that you access will provide you with different details about your lost subject.  A marriage record may get you a maiden name.  An old city directory may get you employment information.  A criminal record may get you a date of birth.  The information you obtain from one source will allow you to search other sources for more information (e.g. obtaining a date of birth from a criminal record may allow you to request driver’s license information).

Trust us here, if you don’t take good notes when you search for someone lost, you will lose track of what information you have collected.  Not having good notes will prevent you from staying organized and putting the pieces of the search puzzle together.

When taking notes, try to clarify which information is exact and confirmed and which information is speculative and unconfirmed.  For instance, if you are an adoptee searching for your birth mother, you may have been told that your birth mother was 16 at the time of your birth and from the Bronx.  This is unconfirmed data and you need to make a note of this.  We have clients who have spent years searching on their own, unsuccessfully, because they put their trust in unconfirmed data.  You must be very careful working with unconfirmed data, particularly dates and places.  So, referring to our worksheet, you may want to write down unconfirmed information in red or in pencil. 

In general, most people are pretty bad at estimating dates–particularly birth dates.   Here’s a website link that can help you:

Birth Date Range Calculator
Here you can obtain the whole range of possible dates of a person’s birth in order to match them up against genealogical records.

So, stay organized, take good notes, be accurate, verify your information (from as many sources as possible), don’t make assumptions and jump to faulty conclusions.  This will help you search for someone lost.     

Here are some thank you letters from our clients to  

To all of you angels at Omnitrace, I want to express my deepest gratitude to you for locating my biological son.  My son was born in 1968.  I was 17 (just out of high school) when he was conceived and 18 when he was born.  I was unmarried and never told his birth father or my parents that I was pregnant and moved to Los Angeles from Montana where he was born and adopted in a private adoption.  Giving him up was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my 58 years of life so far.  Before the nurses took him away from the delivery room, they offered for me to hold him and I decided against it which I have always regretted.  He was a beautiful, perfect little baby boy!

In January of this year (2008), I engaged the services of Omnitrace to locate my son and I guess I’m one of the fortunate ones for whom the search went quite quickly and on February 26th, I received a call from Sari saying she had just had a wonderful telephone conversation with my son! The joy (and relief that he was even still alive after 40 years!) was overwhelming.  He is a talented singer, songwriter and musician and knew that he was adopted and had been raised in a loving family.  We communicated by email for a few weeks until our first phone conversation on March 6th.  And in June, he and his girlfriend drove from Los Angeles to Denver to visit my me and my husband.  My husband of 29 years and I don’t have any children so this man is my only child.  To be able to put my arms around him and kiss his face and know he is for real is something I NEVER thought would EVER happen!  But thanks to you all, it has happened and I’m elated.  We spent our first evening of 4 wonderful days together out on the patio looking through photo albums, taking pictures and getting to know about each other.  It was such a dream come true.

I know that sometimes these kinds of reunions don’t work out so well, but if anyone out there is even thinking about looking for a biological child or parent, I would say go for it.  Omnitrace is professional, discreet, reasonably priced and dedicated to getting the job done for their clients and I am one VERY HAPPY CUSTOMER!!  Thank you again, Omnitrace, and a very special thank you to you, Sari, from the bottom of my very full of joy heart.

Alexis Twiford

_________

THANK YOU ………THANK YOU………..THANK
YOU…………I TALKED TO MY FATHER LAST NIGHT!!!!

THANK YOU!

Shacolbi

__________

Dear Julie,

Sorry it has taken so long to get this off to you but I have been trying to get MY things in order after spending nearly a year getting Roberts affairs straight. 

Thank you so much for your help in settling the Roberts mystery.  Your locating the 77 year old cousin in California solved the mystery.

Marlene and Reina were delighted to hear from me and thrilled to get the precious items about their family. 

I have passed along your address to the Markheims lest you might be needed to help find more souls from what they can glean from the backs of pictures. .. you might even help them stir up a family reunion! 

Thank you Julie (and OmniTrace) for all your help and all your patience with me.  You certainly provide a wonderful service.

Most sincerely,

Mrs. John E. C III

__________

Dear Omnitrace:

My name is ClaireElaine J.  I’m Beth’s daughter-in-law, and you found my natural mother!  Thank you so much!!  I can’t tell you how happy I am.  Libby (my birthmother) and I have been looking for each other for just under three years now.  Thank you so much!

We talked on the phone for the first time on March 30, and we talked for nearly three hours!  We’ve been in steady correspondence since then (I know!  Only five days. But five days seems like so much when we’ve had nothing for 20 years!) through email and phone.

Thank you so much!!

ClaireElaine J.

__________

Hi Chris,

I wanted to let you know that Erick’s birth mother Margie G. called us today and confirmed that she is his mother!  We got them together on the phone and they are planning to meet in August.  Fantastic Job!  

Gratefully,

Mary S.

__________

Subject: Eternally Grateful for your Help

Tatiana,

I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the results of your search for my cousin Aristotle on May 19, 2008.  I know it took a bit of time and effort but in the end you were able to locate my cousin and his wife when other services could not.  I consider the fee charged as very reasonable because when you only have a name and no address or SS# for over 30 years, it is amazing that you can still find someone.  Again, thank you so much for your help - I will be eternally grateful.

Very Truly Yours,

George S.

__________

Please write us if you have any comments or questions about OmniTrace’s birth parent and adoptee search services.  You can also receive a FREE and FRIENDLY telephone consultation.  Call us toll free at:  888-965-6696.

The Public Library is a great resource if you are searching for your birth mother or searching for an adoptee. 

Not convinced?  Here’s just one example of how a library can help you when searching for your birth mother: 

If you were adopted in New York City and have your amended (adopted) birth certificate, you can obtain your original birth name by visiting the New York Public Library Genealogy Department.  This department has original birth listings (in birth books and on microfiche) dating back many years.  With the last four digits of your amended birth certificate number and your date of birth, you can find your original, pre-adoption birth listing and birth name.  (Warning, our OmniTrace staff searches the New York birth indexes often and a search can take several hours to complete.) 

Here is a sample page of the New York Birth Index: 

NYC Birth Index Page 

(You’ll need Adobe Reader to view this.)  You can download Adobe here: 

Adobe Reader

Perhaps we have your attention now on how a library can help you with your search. 

If you are an adoptee searching for your birth mother, you will want to contact the County Library where your adoption took place.  Also, if you have information on your birth mother, such as where she was from, you’ll want to contact the County Library in that geographical vicinity as well.

If you are a birth mother searching for an adoptee, you should contact the County Library where the adoption took place.  And, if you have information on the adopting parents, such as their names and where they were from, you’ll want to contact the County Library in that geographical vicinity.    

Of course, if your search is not adoption related–perhaps you are searching for an old friend–the library can help you too.  You’ll want to contact the County Library located where the subject and/or the subject’s family members were last residing. 

(Please note:  Contacting city libraries may also help with your search.) 

When contacting a library, you should ask for the reference department.  This is where you’ll find many resources that can help you with your search.  (Please note:  Many reference departments have separate genealogy departments.) 

Speak with a reference librarian and say you are searching for your birth mother or searching for an adoptee–make sure they are not too busy and can give you their full attention.  Reference librarians have great skills when it comes to research and you’ll be amazed at how helpful they can be–and their search expertise is FREE!     

Here are possible resources the librarian might research or point out to you:

• Old and current telephone and city directories

• Reverse directories

• Newspaper databases

• Free Internet access

• Genealogy records - including birth indexes

• Genealogy databases - such as Ancestry 

• Trade Organizations and professional association directories

• Business directories

• Legal directories

• Adoption agency directory

• CD Rom National Phone Directories

Make sure you are courteous and thankful to the librarian who assists you.  It’s good to be polite and you may need their assistance more than once. 

Here is a link to find nearly every Public Library in the USA:  Library Finder

We hope this post has demonstrated how valuable the Public Library system can be when searching for your birth mother or searching for an adoptee.