XVI. After the Adoption Order, Page 5
Tracing the Birth Family
What is Tracing?
A study carried out for the government estimated conservatively that fully a third of all adoptees either have received or will receive their original birth certificate information — and that only applies to those adopted before the age of 10 and adopted outside their extended families. No one knows the full figures for sure, because, especially since the 1970s there have been both official and unofficial channels for that information. No one knows how many of those people will go on to trace their birth families, either. What is known is that the reaction to the opening up of access to birth records in England and Wales (Scotland has always had open access) in 1976 opened the floodgates to many more applications for those records than had been anticipated, and that women request their birth certificates in substantially greater numbers than men do.
Tracing is the process of using whatever information is available, often only the original birth certificate and the agency’s contemporary records as a starting point, to find out where someone in the birth family is now. Adoptees who trace generally look for the mother first, both because her name is often the only one on the birth certificate, but also because mothers have a special significance for them. Tracing can extend beyond the birth parents, especially if they have died, disappeared or are unavailable for contact, to include other members of the birth family. Where there has been continuing contact between the families during childhood, tracing in adulthood is either unnecessary or much easier.
Tracing the birth family can be done independently, using the information supplied by the birth certificate and any additional information available. It can be done using the services of a private investigator or organisation which specialises in this (NORCAP is the most prominent), by advertising in the press or on the Internet, or by using one of several contact registers set up for that purpose.
Tracing is overwhelmingly done by an adult adoptee, but it can be done by the adoptive parents while the adoptee is still under age, or, rarely, by the birth family. Successful tracing (and not all attempts result in a relative being found) usually results in contact with someone in the birth family, but not necessarily: the birth family may refuse contact, or the adoptee may be satisfied with simply knowing where they are and that they are well, without going on to make contact. Tracing can take place at any age; even middle-aged adoptees trace and may be reunited with aged relatives.
When Can Tracing Begin?
Although the legal right to the original birth certificate comes at 18, it is increasingly common for the adoptive parents to be in possession of all the necessary information from the time of placement: the original birth certificate, identifying information on the court adoption application, old social services records, medical and social workers’ reports, all can form part of the documentation given or loaned to the adopters. Any such documentation loaned to you should be photocopied and kept. The information will often be more complete than what the adoptee will be offered officially later.
Tracing in Childhood
With this information it is often possible to trace birth families during childhood, even without the help of the agency. There may come a time during when your child really needs to trace his birth parents for his own peace of mind, and there is nothing illegal about doing it, although you must be careful to be sensitive in your approach to them, using an experienced intermediary. Some agencies will help, others will stonewall you, if you are tracing for your child before he turns 18. An adoptee who intends to marry is entitled to be told by the Registrar General whether or not the intended spouse is a relative within the prohibited degrees of kinship, even if the adoptee is under 18.
Tracing in Adulthood
Many adoptees decide to trace around the time of some major change in their lives, particularly their own marriage or the birth of their own first child or after the deaths of their adoptive parents. Some tracing is undertaken in order to find out urgent medical information. They certainly do not all rush out to the adoption agency the day after they turn 18. It is also common for tracing to be suspended once the relatives have been located but before contact is made. For some adoptees it is enough simply to see the documents. Others will even drive repeatedly past the mother’s house, maybe watch her come and go a couple of times, and decide to leave it there, possibly for years, before taking up the process again, or maybe never make the final contact, because of nervousness, fear, or simply that their curiosity has been satisfied. Some will be happy to carry on contact by letter or phone and never want to meet face to face. Others will fly to the other side of the world the day after finding out that their birth mother wants to see them again.
Research by the Children’s Society and the University of East Anglia found that women trace twice as often as men. The average age for beginning tracing is about 30. Eighty percent of those who enquired about their birth records received new information, and 85% proceeded to actually search for birth relatives. Of the searchers 91% were looking for their birth mothers, and 40% of those had located them within a month, with another 20% having success within the following two months. Searches for birth fathers were almost as successful. Of those who located a birth relative, 93% went on to meet them, while 7% of the birth relatives contacted refused contact. That is, of all adoptees who had their birth records and searched, about two out of three succeeded in making a first contact, and about one in 26 had her contact rebuffed. Most felt that the contact was a positive experience. Even those who were rejected again had no regrets about searching, on the whole.
© Roger Ridley Fenton
