Adoption
Whether you are an adoptee searching for your blood ancestors or you have encountered an orphan situation in your family tree, you will need special tools to further your research. According to RootsWeb, "this research can be complicated by such factors as whether this event took place recently or several generations back, whether there was a legal, black-market, or an informal adoption, whether an ancestor was reared by foster parents, and if the foster parents were related or unrelated to the birth parents.

Whether medical, genetic, genealogical or personal, the need to know one's family history can be especially strong for adoptees. However, sometimes you must hurdle formidable barriers of sealed records, falsified birth certificates and uncooperative relatives in order to compile an accurate family tree. If you are an adoptee, in most instances you need to be at least 18 years of age in order to conduct a search to find living birth relatives and obtain access to certain records."

After the publication of my genealogy book for children, on occasion I have heard adoptive parents say in one way or another, "Your book is a great idea, but I can't use it...my child is adopted." Actually, the book is an excellent guide and learning tool for young people, adopted or not! If you are the parent of an adopted child who shows an interest in genealogy, use it as an opportunity to expand your child's world, with you as the conductor. Rather than waiting until your child is of "legal age" to know the facts about their lineage, I encourage adoptive parents to share in the search with their child. Be supportive and helpful...they will surely remember your selflessness forever!

Once, I heard an adoptive parent say that they will not encourage their adopted child to research their bloodlines. "The birth mother lived a horrible life and I don't want to burden my child with that knowledge". Hmmm...many folks are "burdened" with the knowledge that perhaps one parent may not have been a perfect role model. We tend to forget that the ancestry of adoptees did not begin with the blood parents or grandparents. Genealogy is a wonderful opportunity to bulldoze past one or two hurtful generations to discover ancestors your child can boast about! Perhaps your adopted child has blood roots that lead to the Mayflower, or to a war hero, or perhaps even to a foreign king! Adopted or not, we all have ancestors who make us weep...AND ancestors that make us extremely proud!

Adoptees and their parents should also consider taking the path of Donna Holcomb Larose, who researches both her blood family AND her adoptive family lines! This is an excellent way for adoptees to understand "where they come from", as well as strengthen family bonds with their adoptive family!

Whatever your reasons are for needing help with adoption research, I hope you will find the following information helpful and infomative.