What is Adoption?
Adoption is the legal act of permanently placing a child with a parent or parents other than the birth parents. Adoption results in severing the parental responsibilities and rights of the biological parents and placing those responsibilities and rights onto the adoptive parents.
After the finalization of an adoption, there is generally no legal difference between biological and adopted children, though, in some jurisdictions, some exceptions may apply.
The following websites are provided to section is provided to assist Private Investigators in finding information on laws and legislation or to help anyone who is looking to be reunited with a family member or friend.
Adoption Books
The following books provide helpful information for Private investigators who can use such books to help educate themselves on the legal complexities and to understand better the emotional state and struggles experienced by their clients. These books will help you answer such questions as:
- What is adoption and what does it entail?
- What are the relevant agencies, and how do they work?
- What are the steps that are involved in the legal process?
- What are the laws and legal requirements in your state?
- Do you need to hire an attorney or lawyer to assist with the process?
- Federal and state statistics and facts
Search: A Handbook Adoptees and Birthparents – This book serves as a guide for both adoptees and birth parents. It provides many helpful ideas, advice, resources, and encouragement to those considering becoming a parent to one or more children. To write the book, the author drew on both personal experience and extensive research to help readers overcome potential obstacles that may arise during the legal process. A great read for anyone considering the journey.
Birthright: The Guide to Search and Reunion Adoptees, Birthparents, and Adoptive Parents – This helpful book provides guidance to individuals and private detectives or police for locating adoptees, birth parents, and prospective parents. The book discusses relevant laws and legal statutes that make adoption records confidential and lays out strategies to help. The book explains that the more the searcher understands the nature of laws and practices, the more likely they are to locate individuals successfully.
Adoption Reunion Survival Guide: Preparing Yourself for the Search, Reunion, and Beyond – This useful guide helps adoptees and their birth mothers decide whether or not to attempt to locate one another, how to prepare for a possible reunion, how to cope with the emotions of the initial meeting, and how to avoid common pitfalls that may arise throughout the process. In addition, the book includes an overview of the laws and makes practical suggestions for navigating the complexities of the adoption process.
Techniques for Tracing People – A helpful book designed to give adoptees, birth parents, and parents and siblings information on how to find family members, locate vital documents, and uncover relevant information. This is a useful book for private eyes assisting with the search process.
View our list of Private Detective Books.
Federal Government Organizations
Office of Minority Health Resource Center – The mission of the Office of Minority Health (OMH) is to improve and protect the health of racial and ethnic minority populations by developing health policies and programs to eliminate health disparities.
Federally Funded Adoption Resource Centers and Clearinghouses
ABA Center on Children and the Law – Improving children’s lives through advances in law, justice, knowledge, practice, and public policy.
Child Welfare League of America – The Child Welfare League of America (CWLA), the nation’s oldest and largest membership-based child welfare organization, has been known and respected as a champion for children since 1920. Our primary objective, and the title of our current strategic plan and National Framework for Community Action, is Making Children a National Priority.
National Criminal Justice Reference Service – National Criminal Justice Reference Service
National Resource Center for Organizational Improvement – a part of the Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine. The Center supports organizations committed to the welfare of children, youth, and families through training, technical assistance, research, and evaluation.
National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth – This section of the National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth (NCFY) Web site offers information on selected new youth initiatives, reports and publications, and funding announcements.
National and Regional Exchanges
National Adoption Center – The center expands opportunities for children to connect with families throughout the United States, particularly for children with special needs and those from minority cultures.
Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange– A private, non-profit agency providing extensive resources, programs, and services related to foster care. The site provides information on the adoption process, a partial photo listing of children who need to become part of a family, a calendar of events and training, online forms, and related links.
Other Resources and Links
- Adopting.org – Information and resources.
- Adoption Policy Resource Center – Advocacy for individual adoptive families and provides technical assistance to organizations and professionals.
- Adopting.Com – Everything prospective adoptive parents need to know about the process.
- Adoption.Com – Committed to helping as many children as possible find loving, permanent homes. Committed to helping special needs children in the U.S. and worldwide who otherwise wouldn’t be able to find families.
- Canadian Adoptee Registry
- Intelius People Search, is a provider of People Search and Background Check reports. Intelius has an extensive selection of people search reports, background checks, criminal records, court records, real estate, and financial reports.
Hire a Private Investigator to Help
Private investigators often become involved in adoption-related cases, primarily to help find an adoptee’s birth parents or to help birth parents find a child. Locating an adoptee’s birth parents is similar to a missing person case and can be just as emotional for all parties involved. Private detectives use various search methods and reports to locate birth parents and adopted children.
