Once you have located your adoption records you may decide to take the next step and search for your birth relatives or an adopted adult. In this section you will find advice about searching and making contact, and some information on what to expect. Anyone who does not wish to be contacted by a birth relative or an adopted adult will also find help in this section.
Searching and making contact
There are a number of different routes available to you:
Reunions
The article Approaching Reunion will help answer some initial questions that adopted people and/or birth relatives might have on how it feels to be approached by an intermediary and and what might happen when a reunion takes place.
Search and reunion tips
Ten tips on searching and reunion from The Adoption Reunion Handbook by Liz Trinder, Julia Feast and David Howe (Wiley, 2004).
Contact not wanted
If, on the other hand, you are an adopted person or a birth parent who does not want to be contacted, then you should have a look at the section called Contact not wanted