Adopted and interested in starting a search? We’ve gathered more detailed information for you here and identified places to go for more. Two paths—the DNA-first route and the records-first route—are the main paths adoptees use today to begin a search for biological relatives.

Iowa joins approximately 30 U.S. states in granting adoptees some type of access to an original birth certificate at age 18.

I was adopted as a child and my birth mother never told my father about me—she only knew his first name, so there really wasn’t a way to find him anyhow. I was able to identify him through DNA testing and reached out.

Many “reunions” between biological relatives that have taken place after a DNA test discovery have led to disappointment on one, many, or all sides. Contact is refused. Contact goes great and then one party begins ghosting the other. Communications end, on a sour note or unexpectedly. Why is this?

Laura’s story gives us insight into the impact that a sudden discovery of an adult biological child has on a marriage.

Janna shares her experience and how she has coped with the decision made decades ago by her teenage mother after a high school party and an unplanned pregnancy.

Do you call them biological fathers? Birth dads? Found fathers, discovered dads, sires, or “men who fathered a child they were not aware of”?

I have people reach out through my website who are adopted or donor conceived and are at the very start of a search, asking where do I even start? It can be overwhelming trying to learn all of the ins and outs of searching whether using access to records or DNA testing.