Looking for birthparents. I was born in Dunoon, Scotland.

hello exmarine. wow, that's really interesting that we both were adopted in similar circumstances. did you ever locate your birth parents if i may ask?

I've never contacted them.. not yet. I did alot of research via the [url=http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/]Genealogy Scottish family birth records census ancestry Scotland uk - ScotlandsPeople[/url] website. I found my original birth certificate there... on it was listed my bio mother and father. I did some research and found out I had 2 older brothers and a older sister. I also found out that my Father was a American sailor. I think I've tracked him down... I just haven't had the courage to send him a letter yet. I probally should hurry up. Neither of them are getting any younger and are in their 70's now. I also found my bio mom's maiden name... and I knew that she was born and raised in the area north of Dunoon. I went on Facebook and searched for her last name... I found a few 100 people .. all in Scotland, all in the area she's from. I sent a few messages to them explaining who I was and if any of them knew my biological mother.. I never heard anything back from any of them.. not so much as a "No ... never heard of her."... I have a sneaky suspicion that my email found a few of the right people.

exmarine, go for it and write your natural dad a letter before it's too late, you'll only regret it if you don't. My son found my family before we reunited and they basically kept up the myth of why he was adopted. My mum even went as far as writing my son telling him to accept I didn't want to be found. This wasn't true and she knew I wanted to be found. When we did eventually reunite he found out the extent of the lies my family told him and that I had in fact been coerced into surrendering.

I'll start writing... I'll let you know what happens.

I was born 1970 in Greenock and adopted, my mother Scottish and my father an American sailor. I have just found my birth mother, which is incredible. She has given me the name of my father and told me he was an american sailor. I would like to find him but have no idea where to start. Any help?

hey exmarine.... just curious about your search. did you ever approach your birth parents?

No.... I cannot locate them.... I have paperwork on them all ... that lead up to the early 1970's. I found a death certificate for the oldest bio-brother, he passed away a few years ago... plus my Bio-Sister got married in 1986... but that is all the info I can find. I think I may just have to fly back to Scotland and find the correct government beurocrat and look him in the eye and ask him for assistance....

I contacted the editor of the Dunoon Observer. He posted a story in their newspaper, one that is probally like everyone elses here. And I got a hit. A lady by the name of Anne wrote a letter to him and told him about how she use to work in the child welfare office and handled quite a lot of adoption paperwork between 1967 and 1997 when she retired. She also mentioned that: 1). As Scottish adoptees we are all entitled to "Statutory right to counceling under Scottish adoption laws". 2). Even though most voluntary adoption agencies are now defunct, a record of adoption should have been filed with the authority, and a petition should have been filed with the local sherriff. 3). We should contact the local "Social Work Dept" where we were adopted from and also the local Sheriff. 4). During the whole adoption process, there would have been a 3 month welfare supervision period where social workers would have interviewed and observed your biological parents as well as your adoptive parents. Also a curirator would have been appointed to handle paperwork and perform a independent report. I'm guessing that there is a warehouse somewhere in Dunoon/Glasgow/Edinburogh that has all of our adoption paperwork as well as these written reports. And I"m also guessing that they can be viewed by us. Ok... TAG!!! YER IT!

The editor sent me a PDF version of the newpaper where the story was written... I can't post attatchments on this forum, but heres a link to the PDF. The article is at the bottom of page 3. [url]http://timwardphotography.com/Files/Aug_01.pdf[/url]

There are a few groups on Facebook you could try , just put in a search for Dunoon like Dunoon memories Dunoon Argyll Scotland Dunoon Weebay Dunoon , also you could try facebook groups- Navy in Holy Loch or Submarine Refit Site One Holy Loch, Scotland or Holy Loch Memories Group

I have a very interesting update. I recieved another email from the story that was posted in the Dunoon-Observer. A lady in Scotland who discribed herself and a amateur geneologist did some research on my behalf. She located my older bio-sister and brother, as well as a younger 1/2 sister I never knew I had, plus my bio-mom's address in Scotland.. And as of at least Feb of this year... they're all still alive. On top of that she was able to give me a ton of info on my bio-dad, his home address from 1966, as well as his job discription, my bio-grandparents names, locations, job titles, etc. I was able to use this to locate my bio-dad in Kentucky. Technology is a wonderful thing... I googlemapped his address and found a "Streetview" of his house.I wrote a 2 page letter to him and mailed it 2 days ago. I'll let you all know what happens.

I have a very interesting update. I recieved another email from the story that was posted in the Dunoon-Observer. A lady in Scotland who discribed herself and a amateur geneologist did some research on my behalf. She located my older bio-sister and brother, as well as a younger 1/2 sister I never knew I had, plus my bio-mom's address in Scotland.. And as of at least Feb of this year... they're all still alive. On top of that she was able to give me a ton of info on my bio-dad, his home address from 1966, as well as his job discription, my bio-grandparents names, locations, job titles, etc. I was able to use this to locate my bio-dad in Kentucky. Technology is a wonderful thing... I googlemapped his address and found a "Streetview" of his house. I wrote a 2 page letter to him and mailed it 2 days ago. I'll let you all know what happens.

Hey guys... ExMarine here again... I wanted to give you all a update. I had written a letter to my bio-mother a year ago and never heard back. So a few weeks ago, I wrote a letter to each of my 2 bio-sisters. And a few days ago, one of them sent me a txt msg on my phone. Seems they got the letters on the same day, called eachother and then went to confront bio-mom. She fessed up to everything. I had bought tickets to Scotland before I sent those letters, so even if I didn't get a response, I was going to tour the country for 10 days. Well, it seems the 2 sisters never knew about me. And now everyone in the family... uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces/nephews, etc all all excited to meet their long lost American family member. I can't say that I'm not nervous about this, but I am very excited. MY SEARCH IS OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Nothing left now except to get on that plane in 13 days and fly back to Scotland.I want to extend a special thanks to whoever it was that suggested I write the editor of the Dunoon-Observer, that email spawned a flood of responses that ultimately led to me finding my biological family.

Wow... looks like this thread has died. Nothing since I posted my note about contacting my family. Well... I made it to Scotland.. after 14 hours on a plane. Met both of my sisters first thing. They wanted to check me out first to make sure I wasn't some huge jerk before letting me meet my mother. I passed their test. I met my mother, both my sisters, my older brother, and a few neices and nephews, and my aunt. There was a whole lot of crying going on... mostly me. After 2 days, my older sister told me it's time to check out of the hotel I had and that I was going to be staying with them for the rest of the time I was in Scotland. My sisters husband drove me all over the country and I got a bunch of siteseeing done. I found my family tends to have long lives, and other than type 1 diabetes (I'm safe there)... everyone is pretty healthy. And I look just like my mother (That poor lady)... and the best part, they can't wait for me to come back. Once again... I want to thank all of you for your suggestions, tips, etc that ultimately helped me find my bio-family.Tim

ExMarine here again. One last and final update, because I think this thread is now dead. I've been back to Scotland 3 times. Everyone in my Scottish family have been nothing but awesome. My bio-mother gave me the name of the guy she thought was my bio-father. I had absolutely no luck finding him by his name. So I went the 23AndMe route. Spit in the tube and mailed it off. Three weeks later I got a message from a lady who told me that I was her cousin. After a little ground work, she figured out that her Uncle was probally my bio-father. She paid for his 23AndMe kit and sent it off. Sure a shit... I got a message from the website telling me that 1/2 my DNA came from him. So with that I have finally found all of my biological parents and extended families. Last October I flew from Portland, OR to W. Virginia and spent about 4 days with my Bio-dad. Met another large group of cousins, nieces and nephews.All of this said. I once again would like to extend a heart-felt thank you... a massive one to everyone who has given me tips/tricks/motivation/encouragement to finally track all of these people down. You are the best.