[magic_mickey]

Hello i am new here and am hoping someone can send me in the right direction.

I am a 32 yr old Male in Calgary,ab. I was born at the Holy Cross hospital in Calgary,ab on March 28/1971. I have some info on my parents but no names. I have no idea what to do next. I know my birth mother was 14 and my birth father was 17, she was french scottish with 5 brothers and sisters. My given name at birth was Donald Stevens.

I could not have asked for a better family to raise me and love me, but i am very curious about my roots. I do not want to spend a bunch of money on a private investgator, is that the only way? My mother was born in Alberta as well, and had reddish blonde hair at that time.

If anyone can please help me with some ideas of how to further my search, or has some links to do a search, it would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thank you all,

Michael Stapleton
e-mail: mstapleton@agvalue.com

[echaos]

Were you adopted through Children's Aid? If so, you can apply through your local office to their non-disclosure registry. They will conduct a search on your behalf. The problem is that their are so many people that register that it can take up to 10 years for them to get to your case. (9 and 1/2 in my case). The good news is that they (Ontario children's aid) found my birth mother in 6 months.

[magic_mickey]

10 years? holy crap, i had no idea. That is unbelievable. Thank you for responding.

Mike

[Decision]

It will not take ten years in Alberta, They now have a mandated time to reply, I believe it is 30 working days/six weeks to reply with your adoption?birth records. Also they have just passed a bill allowing adoptee's and birthparents access to first and last names at time of birth/adoption. Here is a link for you
http://www.child.gov.ab.ca/whatwedo/...n%20Registries

[roxanne89]

I believe you can get an "order of adotion" from the Alberta Vital Statistics Agency which would provide you with your birth parents names.

[lazie1]

Your first step is to go to the main library downtown. There they have Henderson Directories for Calgary until 1986. You birthname is fairly common so you may not get info that you want, but it is a place to start. The Henderson Directories list names, whether the person owned or rented, and what they did for a living. It also lists the spouses name. Since your birthmother was so young, chances are that she still lived at home. Did your non-identifying information tell you what HER parents did? If so, occupations are listed in the Henderson directories. You may be able to figure out what her parents' names where from there. Also try and guess which schools she may have gone to by the area that you were born in. This may be hard, but for instance, chances are slim that a person lives in the NE if the baby is born at the Foothills Hospital. The main library also has a good selection of yearbooks from the sixties and seventies. You can try figure out what grade she could have been in and look up the pictures in the yearbook. This is a long process, and not even sure to work, but it is a lot cheaper than paying for outside help.
There is a yahoo group called Alberta Born Adoptees which might be able to help you. Just make sure that you are willing to divulge any and all information about yourself. I wasn't so I was asked to leave. That was fine though, I just wasn't ready to tell people that I had just 'met' about myself. It is easier for others, and I think that the group could be really helpful for you.

The library also has voter's lists dating way back. They could be of some help. Good luck in your search.