Sign Up On Reunion Websites
You never know, maybe your father or his relatives have tried to find you. Even if they havent, the International Soundex Reunion Registry is an organization that arranges reunions among estranged relatives. You will have to download an application form and fill in your details. It is free to use this website.
The ISRR has been reuniting families for over forty years so you can be sure that the match will be accurate. They have the largest passive registry in America. Adopted children over 18 years, birth parents, and adoptive parents of adopted children under 18 years are eligible to use this service.
Note that the ISRR is a passive registry meaning it does not actively search for your birth parents. However, there are active registries that charge a fee to do the work of finding your relative.
We hope our tips help you in your search to find your birth father. If you do find him, keep in mind that finding your father does not mean that you have to contact him. A lot of emotional preparation is required for such an event.
Take your time to find out everything you can about him before deciding to take that final step. It is not easy seeing your dad for the first time or after a long time. Finding your father might be all that you need to be able to move on. Take it one step at a time until you are ready to make contact.
How To Find The Father Of An Illegitimate Child
In most families, sooner or later you will encounter a child born to an unwed mother. Finding the fathers of these illegitimate children can be difficult, but not necessarily impossible.
Ive researched dozens of these cases, both in my own tree and for clients. In four cases, I have been able to prove who the father was. In two other cases, I have developed good theories which I hope to prove through DNA. In the majority of cases, I ended up with a list of possible fathers, but no clear candidates. With the growing popularity of DNA testing and advances in tools for exploring DNA matches, it may be possible to solve these cases in the future.
While working these cases, I developed some strategies that may help you with your own cases too. I will use anonymized examples from my own research to illustrate how you can find out who the father of the illegitimate child was.
Strategy : Research The Men In The Mothers Life
Try to find out who the men in the mothers life were, especially around the time of conception. Who was she living with? Who was she working for? Who were her neighbors? In one case, I discovered in the population register that the man who later married the mother was already living with her before the child was born.
As sad is it is to say, do not automatically exclude family members as potential fathers. I once found a court case where a stepfather was found guilty of sexual assault of a minor, his 16-year-old stepdaughter. A year after he got out of jail, she had an illegitimate child while still living at home. The stepfather was the informant on the childs birth certificate. This does not prove that he was the father but the circumstances make him a likely candidate. I recommend that any adult man in the mothers life be treated as a candidate to be the father, regardless of whether he was related to the mother or not.
Records that can reveal which men were in the mothers life are:
- Population registers and census records which show whole households and show the neighbors
- Baptismal, marriage and burial records of churches
- Tax records which show the neighbors
For each of the men, try to find out where they were in the period seven to ten months before the birth of the baby to see if you can rule any of them out.
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What Happens After I Register
During your registration we ask you ten simple questions. The answers you give to these questions will be instantly compared with more than 1,027,416 profiles, giving you a report of how many profiles match your responses and to what extent. Our advanced search algorithms, applied to the world’s largest Adoption Registry, give you amazing odds for finding your parents.
How Do We Help
Adopted.com uses an industry-leading search tool to reunite you with your biological father. By registering you enter the largest adoption reunion registry in the world, offering you the best possible chance of connecting with your birth father. New DNA Matching features are also available to further increase your chances for success.
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Get Listed On The International Soundex Reunion Registry
The International Soundex Reunion Registry facilitates the reunions of family members separated by adoption, divorce, institutional or foster care, and other circumstances. If you and your father both register for inclusion on the ISRR database, you will receive one anothers details. The ISRR will keep your file active until you find your father, even if it takes years, unless you request its removal.
What Do You Already Know
The first step to finding your birth father is to write down all the information you already know about him. Where were you born? When? Whats your mothers full maiden name? Any details you know, big or small, could prove helpful, the first step is to gather all that information in one place.
If you know your fathers name already, this information can make your search quite short thanks to the internet. You can go to the CheckPeople.com people search and start your search instantly. Through our service, you just visit the people search page and enter your fathers name in the search box and wait a few minutes for the results.
CheckPeople.com will search through dozens of public records to get all the information available about your father. The biggest issue might be if you get multiple matches for the name. If thats the case, you might have to try to rule out some matches based on age and other information.
If you only have a phone number, CheckPeople.com can do a reverse phone lookup to get information about your dad, including his name and his address. You will also find criminal records, lawsuits, and any other information on your birth father that is available on the public record.
You can also search for your mothers name. CheckPeople.com will show the results of people who are close relatives to your mother, and one of them might be your dad. It might take some time to do a search for all those people, but it will be worth it if you find your birth father.
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What Will The Court Records Contain
The court papers may contain a variety of information. They’re likely to contain the following:
- a copy of the original birth entry
- an official report, called the curator ad litem report. This is a report written to the court at the time of the adoption. It’ll have been written by an independent person, such as a solicitor or a social worker
- the adoption petition
- the consent form signed by the birth mother
- the name of any adoption agency involved
Court papers tend to include more information about the adoptive parents than about the birth parents. However you may still find it useful to read the records. Your birth father may be named in the court papers even if he’s not named on your original birth certificate.
How To Find Out Who Your Father Is
If you dont know who your father is, start by gathering the information you know. The best way to track down your dad is by getting a name. Start by checking your birth certificate or asking family members. If you’re not sure who he is, gather a list of potential candidates and any other information you can find. Look for:
- A first and last name
- The city he was last living in
- His age
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How Do I Find My Birth Parents For Free
With advances in DNA technology and the ever-growing giant that is social media, it is easier than ever to locate long-lost friends and relatives. This is especially useful in adoption situations that have previously been closed, especially if DNA or a name and location is all you have to go on. While it is often good to hire a private investigator to look into an adoption or submit information to a DNA registry, these avenues can be costly. With adoption records becoming more readily available and accessible on the Internet, people who were adopted are finding that a reunion with their birth parents may only be a click away.
If you are looking for your birth parents, the first and easiest step will be to search social media. Depending on the information you have, even just the name of your birth parent and the place you were born may deliver some promising results. Social media also provides the benefits of a virtual word of mouth. Many people have posted information about their adoption, such as names and dates, and these posts have been shared globally. Many of these posts have resulted in the reunion of birth parents and even whole birth families.
Why Isnt My Fathers Name On My Birth Certificate
There are three primary reasons your fathers name might not be on your birth certificate. He was not present during the birth or your parents werent together at the time. Another reason is that a legislation error may have omitted his name.
Purposeful Omission If your parents were not together, your mother may have chosen to leave your fathers name off your original birth certificate. In most cases, the hospital or vital records office will require that the father and mother sign an Acknowledgement of Paternity to put the father on the birth certificate. The father signs the form to agree that he accepts paternal rights and is legally the childs father. The mother signs to agree that the man is the father and wants him to have full parental rights. Two uninterested parties, typically provided by the hospital must witness and sign this form. There are many reasons why one or the other party may not sign. For example, if the father was not present at the time of birth and your parents never updated your birth certificate. That means the fathers name would not be on the original birth certificate.
Legislation Error In some cases, your parents may have signed an Acknowledgement of Paternity after the original date. Your copy may not have your fathers name, but the version at the vital records office may. In other cases, it may have been omitted completely because of a legislation error.
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Hire A Genealogist To Find Your Biological Father
Are you trying to find your biological father? Whether you are starting from scratch with no information, or you already have a potential candidate, our experts can help you confirm and make that connection.
There are various reasons why someone might not know the identity of their biological father, and historically, unless a family member or other person knew the answer and was willing to tell you, you might not ever find out. Because court records are usually sealed and vital records are protected by privacy laws, paternity secrets often died with family members, and the paper trail to learn that information can be impossible to track down.
Find Your Dad With Instant Checkmate
Once youve found a full name, run it through Instant Checkmate. If you have more information, like his age or the state he lives in, you have the option to add that too. If all you have is a name, dont worry. You can still potentially find him.
If your father’s name is a common one, like John Smith, narrow down the search results based on his age and location. An Instant Checkmate membership comes with unlimited reports, so you can pull as many reports as you need to help you find your father.
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Searching For Your Birth Father
Finding your biological father can be a strenuous and complex process. Sometimes even with a name, it can be difficult finding people through social media networks or directories. This is why here at adopted.com, we use an innovative search process that gives you the best results while respecting your father’s and your privacy at every step.
Adding Traditional Research To Dna Results
Through standard genealogical research, we found that Juliet Higgins , from Saint Andrew, Jamaica, was allegedly the daughter of John Higgins, although we could not find a birth record to prove it. We also confirmed that Cousin 3 was the granddaughter of John Higgins and Charlotte V. Graham of Saint Andrew, Jamaica. Additional research yielded convincing evidence that the great-grandfather of Cousin 2 was the same John Higgins as the grandfather of Cousin 3. Correspondence with the son of Cousin 3 indicated that John Higgins was a ladies man who had many children with multiple women.
Since Cousins 2 and 3 both reported a common ancestor with the Higgins surname from Saint Andrew, Jamaica, we expected that Lisa also had a Higgins ancestor from the same place, perhaps even the same John Higgins.
Given that the marriage of Douglas Alexander Clarke and Angeline Higgins represents a union between the Clarke family and the Higgins family, both of Saint Andrew, Jamaica, we proposed that they were the most likely grandparents of Lisa.
Through additional family collaboration, Lisa was able to learn that her father is still living, just eight hours away from where she lives, and that she has five other siblings, including the half-brother she had heard about. Furthermore, Lisa was able to confirm that our DNA research was exactly right, since her fathers mother, Angeline Higgins, is still living at the age of 102!
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Strategy : Get To Know The Mother
To speculate about the situations in which the mother may have gotten pregnant, it is important to try and get to know her. What was she doing for a living? How rich were her parents? How old was she when she got pregnant? What were her circumstances? A teenage servant girl who worked on a farm would find herself in different situations than a 40-year-old widow of an innkeeper.
For one of my ancestors who had two children out of wedlock, I investigated if she might have been a prostitute. To maximize your chances of finding the father, it is important not to make any assumptions or judgments and keep an open mind to all possibilities.
Info For Other Family Members
If you are not a birth parent but you believe a family member was adopted and you would like to provide information for them or would like to make contact with them, when you contact us you will need to provide your own identification and evidence of your connection with the person you are seeking.
You are welcome to join the National Adoption Contact Preference Register Here
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How You Can Use Ancestry Dna As A Tool To Find Your Biological Father
Since this post is primarily about whether Ancestry DNA can tell you who your father is, I will assume that you havent yet done your DNA test.
Your DNA matches and their family trees can help you learn what you need to know in order to identify the immediate family of your biological father .
I dont want to get too technical into the details about exactly how to use Ancestry DNA for finding unknown family, but I have written a few posts that you might find helpful if you are trying to decide whether to do a test:
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Arlene
Sunday 26th of September 2021
When I took my DNA I put the persons name that I thought was my father,for 65 years! He is not. Ancestry keeps giving me matches related only to my mothers side. How can I further my search. I know the first name of my biological father and where he lived, but not much else. Where do I go from here.Thank you
Jamie Smith
Thursday 2nd of September 2021
yes I am looking for my biological parentsas rescently it was shown that the parents named on my birth certificate are not my real parentsand the same with other members of my family my two brothers and sisteris all different today except my sister has the same mother the fathers are new and the mothers are new and it is that I would like to find my Mum and Dad
Gregory Pattakos
Monday 30th of August 2021
Cary Narveson
Saturday 14th of August 2021
Sunday 25th of July 2021
Strategy : Find Out What Was Going On
Sometimes local events influenced how people behaved, which could result in pregnancy. A good example is the wave of liberation children left behind by allied soldiers in World War II.
In order to understand if local events played a role in the conception, find out what was going on in the town about seven to ten months before the birth. Things to look out for are:
- Presence of soldiers, for example an invading army, liberating army, soldiers quartered in houses.
- Presence of a carnival or traveling show.
- Was there an annual market or fair? This brought in people from several surrounding villages and also would have come with festivities and drinking that may have lowered inhibitions. The mother may have brought a local boy to the fair with her so just because there was an annual fair does not mean that the father had to come from somewhere else.
- Was it harvest time? Often, when the harvest was over, the workers celebrated. The father may have been a fellow farm hand.
- Criminal behavior, like rapists, in the neighborhood.
Local newspapers are a great source of information for these types of events. Many Dutch newspapers can be found at Delpher.nl. Alternatively, annual reports to the government by the municipality or police reports can shed light on what was going on. Magazines or books by local historical societies can also be a great source of information.
Two drunks at Amsterdam market. Peter Paul Joseph Noël, 1821. Credits: Rijksmuseum
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