Today, we are sharing two resources for searching-one from the US and the other from the UK.
US
Adoptee-Birthparent Support Network is “an all-volunteer search and support group serving those in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC and related areas, whose lives have been affected by adoption. ABSN is an affiliate organization of the American Adoption Congress and is active in adoption reform efforts locally and nationally.
They have a recommended search reading list and information on searching in Maryland, DC and Virginia.
UK
This event described at the link happened a few weeks ago on UK’s Mother’s Day, but it gives some good information about the NORCAP and 192.com organizations and food for thought as we approach US Mother’s Day.
“RCAP, a leading adoption support charity for adults effected by adoption is hosting a Service of Reconciliation in Coventry Cathedral on March 17, the day before Mother’s Day.
Hundreds of adopted adults, birth relatives and adopters will attend the event, which is an open invitation to all adults affected by adoption.
A memorial service for those whose relatives have died, and for those who do not know who their relatives are, will start at 2pm. At 2.30 the main service will feature readings from adoptees, including a reading from Sue Elliott, author of Love Child.
“Mother’s Day can be a difficult time for people who’ve been adopted,” explains Jean Milsted, CEO of NORCAP. “The event will show how we can help people affected by adoption and encourage those looking for family members lost through adoption to register with us.”
Many of the congregation will have benefited from NORCAP’s use of 192.com, the UK’s leading people-finding website. 192.com uses the edited electoral roll to reconnect missing family and friends.
“Through using powerful databases like 192.com we are able to reconnect relatives” explains Ms Milsted. “Our specialist researchers find over 90 per cent of the people they look for and provide support for over 300 families each year, securing a successful reunion in most cases. Without services like 192.com many such reunions would not be possible.”
A recent beneficiary of NORCAP and 192.com was Sarah Brynes from Melbourne who found her half-brother after a 49 year separation.
“As all adoptees must ask, what are my parents like? Do they look like me? It’s aninstinctiveneed to know who they are. For me itmore than simple curiosity, it was an overwhelming, all-consuming desire that had to be resolved.”
Using the 27 million edited electoral rollson
192.com Sarah was able to track her birth mother’s movements from her last known address in Sussex.
“Without192.comI’m not sure if I ever would have found them. This is a life changing event for me and the end of a very long road,” Sarah said.
Sarah made contact with her half-brother using NORCAP as an intermediary service, which helped Sarah make contact with her birth-mother.
Dominic Blackburn, Product Director of 192.com, said: “192.com helps reunites hundreds and families a year, and we are delighted to have been of assistance to NORCAP and other adoption charities.”
AAA NORCAP is home to the UK’s longest established Contact Register. Thousands of relatives have been successfully approached by NORCAP on behalf of adoptees over the years. The charity started in 1982 and offers a people-finding and intermediary service.
NORCAP’S ‘ribbon ceremony’ will also feature at the March 17 event, accompanied by local singers and musicians. Each year the service is held, participants write on a piece of ribbon the name of the person they want to think about.
The ribbons are tied together and joined to hundreds of ribbons from previous years. At the end of the ceremony, the ribbons are gathered to take to the next year’s ceremony.”
Adoption charity AAA Norcap and 192.com helps reunite familes
[Journalism.co 3/16/12]
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