[LisaE1971]

does anyone know how i would go about fnding a lawyer or attorney to help in the search for my birthmom? is there any around nys that would possibly do it for free? i am a stay at home mom with no income and i just really want to find my birthmom sometime soon

[KristinSullivan]

When and where were you born? More than likely a search angel can help you. And, search angels don't charge.

[Nicole28]

If you did not want to go the search angel route [I was in contact with someone from NYS a few years ago and if I can find her info I will send you a private message] then a lawyer would become involved when you decide to petition the court in the county where you were born for the unsealing of your original birth certificate and records.

However, this is very costly. Unfortunately, unless you find a search angel, searching & attempting to unseal records is far from free - no lawyer I spoke to would have considered doing pro bono work. A lawyer is helpful to an adoptee when you decide to petition the court; otherwise they would not become involved in your search [like a lawyer wouldn't do the leg work for you].

Many people hire a private investigator to help them but of course, that's not free either.

Are you registered with the NYS Dept of Health Reunion Registry? Have you received non-ID info and do you know where [city, county, hospital] you were born? Were you placed for adoption through an agency? I'd also suggest calling the hospital where you were born, as you can then request medical records from your birth to your discharge from the hospital, if records are available. My records weren't necessarily helpful, because obviously all of the identifying information was blacked out, copied, blacked out again, copied again, and so on and it was nearly impossible to decipher names or dates, etc. BUT - depending on who happens to be the one processing your records, you may end up with records that have legible names or addresses and this would potentially be useful to you in your search. I'd also search microfilm or other records at the county or local library for birth records from your birthday and see if there's any info.

And if you were placed through an agency, you'll want to call them and ask a ton of questions - sometimes important info slips out in conversation. Also, you can request non-ID info from the agency as well.

If you know for a fact that a lawyer played a part in the finalization of your adoption, I'd also call the law firm where they worked and ask about available records. I contacted the lawyer who represented my parents when my adoption was finalized and due to a conflict of interest [he remains friends with my parents and was obviously their lawyer at one time] he respectfully declined to help me. However, often the lawyer who represents the adoptive family has no valuable identifying info for the adult adoptee anyway, as many important items related to the relinquishing biological mother in an adoption from the 1950's up until the early 1990's - and even sometimes still - were kept a big secret. Some adoptees do not even have non-ID info available to them.

So - a search angel might be your best bet, as a lawyer probably wouldn't help you very much [unless you decide to petition the court in NYS - and even then, unless you have a 'medical emergency' or an 'extenuating circumstance,' the chances that your records will be unsealed are slim to none]. A PI is another option; perhaps you can find someone who may work for fairly cheap or someone who doesn't expect payment unless they uncover something of use to you? But I'd start by registering with NYS if you have not already, then getting all of your non-ID info and doing some research on your own.

[LisaE1971]

i do not have a search angel yet. i was born in feb of 1971, in monroe county in rochester ny.

i have non identyfying information already. i do not know the hospital i was born at. i am regisitered with nys registry

i have called the agency a few ties, and they wont budge with anythng. i hate nys that they are so ****ed tight lipped about some things! the adooption took place thriough monre county dept of ss. i dont even know if there was a lawyer involved. my adoptive mom doesnt even know if Lisa was my name at birth or if thats the name they gave me at adoption

[Nicole28]

Here's the thing Lisa -

A search beyond obtaining non-ID in NYS is going to be expensive and it is going to be time-consuming. Unfortunately as an adoptee in NY, this is a reality.

The court system can't be bothered with an adoptee who calls them, asks a ton of questions, etc. Trust me - I did that. If you want to petition the court in Monroe County where you were born, you need to go to the court with the appropriate paperwork and tell them you want to petition the court for the release of your original birth certificate and other records. If you have extenuating circumstances that prevent you from traveling there, I'd start by calling the Monroe County Dept. of Health and requesting that they mail you all of the paperwork you will need. Then you can fax it back to them but you will probably have to have it notarized at a local bank or somewhere first.

Here's the contact info for the Monroe County Dept. of Health:

111 Westfall Road, Rm. 147
P.O. Box 92832
Rochester, NY 14692
(585) 274-6141

You may also want to contact the county clerk's office and see if they have any info they can send you regarding your birth records:

Monroe County Clerk's Office
39 West Main St.
Rochester, NY 14614
(716) 428-5123

I am 95% sure that you will HAVE to hire a lawyer to appear in court with you IF the court even permits your case to go that far. I was told that I needed a lawyer if I wanted to petition the court. I was also informed that I would have to write a compelling letter stating why my records should be unsealed. I had a medical reason, but that was not even compelling enough for NYS.

Reasons that's NYS deems silly/unworthy:

"Because I deserve them and you are violating my civil rights"

"Because I have kids or am thinking about having kids and I want to know my medical history first"

"Because all of my adoptive family has died and I am looking for biological family members"

So, Lisa, unless you have an unbelievably compelling reason, the court is highly unlikely to unseal your records. I'm not trying to be harsh; that's the way the cookie crumbles here in NYS!

I would recommend calling hospitals in Monroe County and asking if they have birth records for all baby girls born on your birth date as well as the day before and after [in a few cases dates were changed on NYS adoption records]. Here's a link to a Google search for hospitals in or near Monroe County NY:

monroe county ny hospitals - Google Search

Also contact the Monroe County Dept. of Social Services and ask if they have any records that they can release to you, too. Looks like now that department is called the Dept. of Human Services. Here is their phone number: (585) 753-6298.

If you can find out which hospital you were born in somehow, then you can have non-ID birth records released from the hospital as well [my non-ID from the hospital and the state were different].

Lisa, check out Access to Adoption Records. This information seems especially pertinent to your case:

When an adoption is finalized, a new birth certificate for the child is customarily issued to the adoptive parents. The original birth certificate is then sealed and kept confidential by the State registrar of vital records. In the past, nearly all States required a court order for adoptees to gain access to their original birth certificates. Some of those laws allow information access:

* Through a court order when all parties have consented
* At the request of the adult adoptee
* At the request of the adoptee unless the birth parent has filed an affidavit denying release of confidential records
* When eligibility to receive identifying information has been established with a State adoption registry
* When consents from the birth parents to release identifying information are on file

So, in NYS, if your biological parent[s] signed an order denying eventual release of your original birth certificate, the court will honor that request and your OBC will not be released, even after 99 years [because in NYS records are sealed for 99 years - god willing I live to be 100 and I get my records and really tick of NYS hehe]

To be frank, no one is going to do the work for you. I have made hundreds of calls, asked thousands of questions, spent a lot of money, drove all over the county where I was born, etc. If you want someone to do the work for you, I'd hop over to the search angel forums and post your info and see if anyone is available to help you out with your search.

[Drywall]

LisaE...scroll thru the search and reunion section of the forum and you will see a note regarding search angels. They may be able to help you.

I wish you the best.

[Adoptee99]

Joe Soll is in NY and helps adoptees locate biological family. Google him asap.

[Nicole28]

Adoption Crossroads: Adoptee First Parent Reunion Search Support is his website.

He is in NYC, however, which isn't geographically convenient for someone who is located in Upstate NY and cannot drive, as Lisa shared.

Here's info for two search support groups in Amherst and Victor which are fairly close to Rochester:

Post Adoption Center for Educ & Support, (PACES) 716-691-7696 Email: KBlake@adelphia.net
PO Box 1223, Amherst 14226-7223

B.U.S., 585-924-0410
PO Box 299, Victor 14564

I see a lot of potentially helpful info on this website but it seems to take the stance that adoption is painful and adoptees are helpless and feel like they are not "empowered," etc [browse their adoption articles] so I hope this doesn't promote a skewed idea of adoption.

It also doesn't seem like Joe does much of the work himself; it looks like the site is more informational and gives adoptees support and search resources. Either way, his site is interesting and has a lot of information for New York adoptees.