<\/p>\n
November is National Adoption Awareness Month. Every year in the U.S. upwards of 10,000 children are adopted by American families. These adoptions come from all over the world, but most actually take place exclusively with\u00a0American parents. Some studies estimate as many as 2.5% of <\/span>all <\/span><\/i>American citizens are adopted.<\/span><\/p>\n Open adoptions \u2013 agreements that give more visitation rights to biological\u00a0parents \u2013 are becoming increasingly common, particularly as private adoptions rise. The good news is, these adoptions mean children can get questions about their natural\u00a0parents answered, find out more about their medical history, and maybe even get to know their extended biological family if they wish. Many adoptions though, especially those that happened 10+ years ago, were more \u201cclosed\u201d in nature meaning adopted children are left with little answers about their biological history.<\/span><\/p>\n Thankfully, digital resources are making it easier than ever before for adoptees to find and identify their biological\u00a0families. Particularly in cases where <\/span>both <\/span><\/i>the families\u00a0and the adoptee are searching for one another, success rates are high thanks to a slew of publicly available information. Here are some of the most common ways adoptees are finding their loved ones in the digital age\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n People search engines like Spokeo are perhaps the best place to start when looking for more information about people. In many cases all you need is a first and last name to find everything from current contact information to public records like marriage licenses and property records. Since sites like Spokeo dig through thousands of digital records in seconds \u2013 focusing on white pages, publicly available records, and social networking sites \u2013 you can gather a lot of data at once. And the best news is, people search engines usually don\u2019t charge per search so you can expand your quest to include grandparents, long-lost friends, or anyone else that might help you drill down on a specific name.<\/span><\/p>\n There are dozens of active, worthwhile adoption organizations in the U.S. alone. Each focuses on a different aspect of the process, from the emotional consequences to the logistical hassles of locating a birth parent. Some of the most popular organizations with large online presences include PACT, the Adoptee Rights Coalition and American Adoption Congress. While most of these groups don\u2019t focus on reunions they can provide valuable information on services that do. They also specialize in matching adoptees with helpful articles, counselors, and peers to work through their experiences.<\/span><\/p>\n It should come as no surprise that Facebook (and other social sites) are one of the best ways to reunite with relatives. There are over 1.3 <\/span>billion <\/span><\/i>people on Facebook and it only takes a few minutes for information to spread far and wide. Adoptees are joining Facebook adoption groups in droves in an effort to locate their birth families\u00a0\u2013 the only catch is that they need at least some information for group members to go on like a photo, a name, or other identifying info. A single wall post in a group like \u201cFind My Family Adoption Reunion Registry\u201d or something more specific like the \u201cGeorgia Adoption Reunion Registry\u201d can set off a chain reaction of people hoping to help.<\/span><\/p>\n Sometimes an adoptee is able to quickly find the information on his or her own online, and sometimes they need some assistance.\u00a0We’re major supporters of volunteer search angels who help point adoptees in the right direction and often help adoptees with the searching themselves. To learn more about search angels and how Spokeo supports their work, visit www.spokeoangels.com<\/p>\n Publicly available data is making it easier than ever before for adoptees to locate their biological families if and when they\u2019re ready. For better or worse, thanks to the locked-down nature of closed adoptions, this kind of info doesn\u2019t necessarily make it easier for the\u00a0parents to find adoptees. Privacy is still paramount during most adoptions and when adoptees become adults the ball is usually in their court.<\/span><\/p>\n Do you have an amazing adoption reunion story to share?<\/span><\/p>\n Leave your story in the comments \u2013 we love to hear them!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" November is National Adoption Awareness Month. Every year in the U.S. upwards of 10,000 children are adopted by American families. These adoptions come from all over the world, but…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":11245,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[626,644],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-businesses","category-family-advice-how-to"],"yoast_head":"\nPeople Search Engines<\/h3>\n
Adoption Organizations<\/h3>\n
Social Networking Groups<\/h3>\n