FAQ
From the information that you supply we can then decide what the cost of your search would be. It is impossible to quote someone or to even give an estimate when we know nothing about their case.
Once a cost is determined you will contacted with a fee quote, at that point you can then decide if you would like to proceed.
We do not have a flat fee for all cases.
We strive to find out as much information about the person as we possibly can through public records. Marriages, children, parents, addresses, extended family etc. But the degree of information varies greatly from case to case and it is impossible to tell you beforehand the specific information you will receive.
We do believe that the more you know about someone the better you can judge how to approach them. Therefore, we do all we can to get as much information for you as possible.
In the event that your case is extremely difficult and will take a
long while to solve we will notify you of this.
As soon as we are aware that this is so in your case you will be
given an estimate of the time we feel it will take.
We never close a case you initiate with us, unless you ask us to.
We don't know until we start the search. Sometimes we can give you a guess if we have done several cases in that particular area. But even then, it is just a guess. If your birthmother's name is Ann Smith and she was from a major metropolitan area she is going to be far more difficult to find her than if her name was Opediah Narcissus Spedeldunk from Ittybittyville, USA.
You may be on every registry, however!
Registries are wonderful but they only work if BOTH parties are looking. For many this will simply never be the case. The other party could be deceased. They could have registered with the agency years before and be under the belief that agencies share their information with a state registry. This is not the case. A great many birthmothers and sibling have the wrong date of birth. Some only know a year. Some states change the place of birth. Some states at one time issued a birth certificate from the state of placement instead of state of birth. This was rare but it indeed did happen.
Registries can't make a match with incorrect information. Up until recent years most agencies discouraged birthmothers from searching. If a birthmother called in they truly did all they could to discourage them from going any further. This was also true of adoptees.
How many registries are there? Before the age of the Internet the main registries in the country
were ISRR (International Soundex Reunion Registry) and ALMA. Beyond these almost every state had a group or groups that kept registries. Next came the State run registries. The groups that had been around and keeping registries certainly did not hand over their records to the state nor would the states have accepted them. Thus 20/30 years of someone's registry sitting idle as people only registered with the state and not with groups any longer.
The number of registries on the Internet is unknown. Many have come and gone and the information filed on them has disappeared as well. In 1 day to get a somewhat accurate count of the number of registries available we found hundreds of registries available on the Internet.
Is it even possible to find them all? For us it was not. Some of these registries only had a few hundred entries. Most had thousands and several had 40,000 plus entries. The numbers of entries on these registries is staggering.
If registries were the "only" answer then why are hundreds of thousands of people’s names and information sitting there? Why are there so many people not matched? Yes, registries work. Many, many people are matched on registries. But certainly, the number of people on registries prove that they do not work for the majority.
Therefore we advise that until you do know at least some basic facts about the person you don't have your mind set as to how you intend to make contact.
We do talk at length to our clients and try to advise them of the do's and don’ts of contact if they would like us to. We can also offer intermediary contact services, and do this in a way in which we discuss before any contact is made. We cannot, nor do we pretend to tell anyone what they must do. We believe that choice should be yours and yours alone. We do however hope that you will consider all that you have found out and that you will at least listen to some advice.
And we strongly advise that you sleep on it!
The Search Enders believes that all birth records should be open to adult members of the adoption community. To adoptees when they reach the age of majority. To birth families when their child becomes an adult. To adoptive families at any time they deem beneficial for the adopted person’s health and well-being.
It is our belief that every adoptee has a right to know who they are if that is the adoptees choice. We believe that every birth family has a right to know who and where their family members are if they so choose. And that adoptive families should have access to all records that would benefit the adoptee.
If not then you need not go any further.
