How does a late discovery find out what county you were adopted in?

Your county of birth should not change with an adoption however many years ago they would sometimes change dates and places to "protect" the birth mothers.I ended up getting the county, date, and case number of my adoption through the agency that finalized my adoption. Once I had that, the state was able to retrieve my non identifying information which tols me my bmoms age, the date of my birth, and the name of the hospital where I was born.Do you know the name of the adoption agency that handled your adoption? That is the first place to start imho. Once you get the county, date, etc... then you have more available options including petitioning the court to open your file or allow the appointment of a CI.

bakerjw, Thank you for your reply. This is a very difficult situation to be in. I do not know the name of th adotion agency, and more likely than not it was a private agreement, with no agency involved at all. I would have no idea what county to start looking in. Do you or does anyone know if the court records in custody changes are open as public record? My birth mother was only 14 and bdad was 21 and married to someone else at the time I was born. His mother and step father took custody of me and I believe that is was under the laws of abandonment or hardship. Are Legal Name Changes and Custody issues within the family a public court record? I do not believe that it was an agency adoption. Do you or does anyone know? Thank you very much. Warm Regards.

Access to birth and adoption records vary by state. Some states do allow individuals to get copies of the original birth certificate. By all means get a certified copy of your birth certificate. Mine is an amended certificate where my adopted parents names are in place of my bmom and biological father, but it has all of the other specific information such as city of birth, etc... If it was just a custody change, then it might have been handled differently than an adoption would have been. I do not know if the courts make those public record. You might talk to some adoption agencies and see if they have any lawyers that deal exclusively with adoptions in the are where you adoption might have been finalized. They might point you to the right court (circuit, county, etc... I don't know) for a small fee or possibly even free. As to where to start, were you born and adopted in the same state? Newer records are also easier to be tracked than older ones too. I was born in one county and my adoption finalized in another county. My records are in the county where I was adopted. Keep trying.

bakerjw, Thank you for your help. I know that I was raised by my birth father's mother and step father, however how the legalities of it were actually handled are still unclear to me, and they all have taken a "hand's off" approach with me. They act as if I have the plague and all I want is the truth. They can't deal with the truth, and that is unfortunate for all of us. I am left to figure it out alone with no family. It's not a good place to be. Citizenship issue is more the thing. Since I live in the US and the BC is from Alberta Canada, it is possible that I was born in the US (Indiana) and have a birth record there, but I haven't checked yet. I was wondering if that birth registration would have been pulled or sealed from the Indiana records if there was an adoption order in Canada. I am having a really difficult time financially and don't have the money for any fees or roaming charges that it costs me on my cell phone right now to call Canada. I got some names of "agencies" in the county that my BC is issued from, the county isn't even on the uncertified photocopy of my "Registration of a Live Birth" that I have. I had to dig around to find out what county the hospital was even in. It's hard since I am in the US and Alberta is such closed off place to have your records in. They seem to be an entity of thier own. Anyway, I am so very frustrated and with no one to assist me, and my DH has no idea about what to tell me, and he doesn't have the money to pay for this stuff either. Nor does he really understand why I would like to know for sure what date I was born, and whether it was in the US or in Canada. I generally feel very misunderstood. I hope this makes sense. Thanks for your help, when I get the funds to make the calls I'll have a better place to start. I was silly enough to think that the Vital Statistics would have some information for me. What a waste of my time, and how demeaning. Finding out at 43 is devastating, my present DD, DS, and DH and in law family just have no idea what to think, and with my "adoptive/kin/family" pleading the fifth, this puts me in such the horrible place with everyone. I used to have some respect in my family, but now I feel as if I am just some loser with no family, and I how could have I missed it for over 42 years. I guess that is one of the hardest things to deal with. It's all hard... Thanks all for listening, having a really sad time this week.

For anyone to not be understanding of your mental anguish caused by your finding out that you were adopted at 43 is absurd at best and despicable at worst. Won't any of them even tell you if you were born in the US or Canada? That is the first place to start imho. find out where to start looking first and use it as a toehold. If you were born in Indiana and the adoption took place in Canada, then I doubt anything was done to your birth certificate in Indiana. If that is the case check here for the information on how to request an original copy if you haven't already. [url=http://www.in.gov/isdh/20444.htm]ISDH: Birth & Death Certificates[/url] I'd have to look into what is required in Alberta to get a certified copy. Best wishes.