From a father reunited with his adult son, last seen when he was age 2: “As you can see we have made some good steps toward a good relationship… how much I appreciate you and the work you do. I know God has a special place prepared for people like you who bring broken families together again.”
– Donald Smith
From a woman whose birth parents had been absent for many years, and who was terminally ill. This was a pro bono search: “Had a reunion and it was the best with my bio parents. I am headed to hospice this week but I wanted to thank you so much, you closed a huge whole in my heart. God bless you.”
– Debbie Lewis
For Cook County, Illinois (Chicago area) Adoption Searches
for Birth Parents
Search by child’s birth name and identify the adoptive parents!
This is a one-of-a-kind, accurate & legal method of obtaining this crucial information. Nearly EVERY Cook County adoption had a ‘legal notice of adoption’ and ‘petition to adopt’ in this publication.
Birthparents, Biological family members – Identify the adoptive parents of the child who was given up for adoption. From there it’s usually easy to identify your biological child’s name.
Adoptions 1934 through 1963: Immediate lookups in computer database with a photo image of the actual ‘petition to adopt’ sent to you. If yours is not found, there’s no charge, so no risk.
My late colleague, Edward “Mike” Egan, searched out, photographed and compiled every ‘petition to adopt’ from the Chicago legal newspaper for a 29 year period in order to create this database. The project took him many years and was quite costly. He assisted countless people with it in his work as an adoption searcher.
1971 through present: Some dates are searchable immediately in a database. However, most require a rather time-consuming search in the archives. Contact me for more information including instructions to do it yourself if you prefer.
“Thank you so much for all you have done for me, and your continued support. It has been very satisfying for me to have some answers. Your service is just what I was looking for—honest, empathetic.”
– Karen Adler, Corona, CA
From the daughter of an adoptee whose late birth mother was identified and living siblings found:
“Juli, what you have done will be remembered in my heart always! This has been a wonderful journey and I feel so blessed that you were a part of it…Thank you.”
– Elaine Miller, Tucson, AZ
From an adoptee whose birth mother was found:
“Thank you for your wonderful help, I really appreciate the effort you must have made. I was somewhat shocked at how fast and final the missing information came after several months of searching…I will recommend you highly. Thank you for your help and support through all of this.”
– Jay Edwards, Kansas City, MO
My Volunteer Work: A quick overview
I lobbied to help pass new legislation in Illinois releasing OBCs to adoptees and related legislation.
My local hospital contacts me to search for family members of those who are terminally ill.
I am a Search Angel on Face Book’s Search Squad and other sites.
I assist a local police detective who is working to locate surviving family of every police officer who died in the line of duty in our region of Illinois and include them in a ceremony in the state capital. These are typically people who died before 1920.
I located surviving family members of a group of Navy men who are missing from an incident in the early 1950’s. The family members banded together to push for more information from the Navy about the fate of these men and these efforts were successful. I continue to provide volunteer services related to military veterans.
Have you ever asked yourself:
I Believe everyone has the right to information about their family members and who they are. This includes medical history, ethnic background, etc.
Secrecy implies shame. An adoption in the family is nothing to be ashamed of. I believe in openness in adoption.
Adoptees have the right to have answers to their questions, know the first chapter of their story and understand why they were placed for adoption.
Birth mothers and fathers have the right to know what became of the child they gave up. They have questions they would like answered too.