Need Information on Non Id information

Hi Kim: Thanks so much for your question. I have seen non-identifying information vary in length from one paragraph to a 10 page very detailed amount of notes from a social worker. Some times the details can be overwhelming because they may consist of the social worker's observances. They can be amazingly over detailed. The flip side being the non-identifying which tells you so very little. Did the non-identifying give you the town in which the foster care or adoption was located? Do you have the ages? If you have some of that information you will be able to gain some leads. Searching is like detective work. Each clue leads to another clue to another clue. We discuss of options for searching in the chats that are on [url]http://www.adoptionchat.com[/url] and on the chat tap up at the very top tap of this web page by clicking on the word chat. Each Wed at 7:00 pm PsT and each Thurs at 6:00 pm PST in the search and reunion room. Best of luck to you in your search. Warm regards, Sabra

Hi! I am an adoptee, in the stateof Indiana, who is currently using a Confidential Intermediery thru the state. Yes, the use of the CI Program comes with a price tag...for me, it has been about $400......$107 for court costs, to file the petition, and $250 to the Intermediary who is conducting my search. This is how it works..... I located a website about the CI Program, and from that site, I chose an Intermediary. There were several listed there, with brief profiles about their backgrounds. I chose one at random....and I e-mailed her. She happened to be on line at the time, so we exchanged a volley of questions and answers and the next morning, she put the papers in the mail to me. I filled them out, and mailed them back to her, along with $50. She took the papers to the Howard County Court House -- which apparently is one of only two courts in the state that will allow someone to file without an attorney....if you have to use an attorney, you can tack on another $1500. This paperwork was a petition to appoint Lori as my Confidential Intermediary. Howard County sent me more paperwork to fill out, which I did, and returned it with the $107 filing fee. Once they received that, they sent the petition to open my files and appoint the Intermediary, to the Attorney General's office at the State House. Apparently, it can take up to six months, sometimes longer, for the Attorney General's office to grant the petition, but miraculously, in my case, it all went thru the system in about two and a half weeks. I received notice from them, granting the appointment....my Intermediary received the same notification and called me. I sent her the rest of her money ($200), and she is picking up my records from Howard County any day now. She may have them now. Once she has them, she will conduct a search for my birthmother/birthfamily. She has done over 100 searches and only came up empty handed three times.....in each instance, the birthmother gave bogus information when she arranged the adoption. Once she locates my birthmother (IF she locates her), she will make contact on my behalf, and explain that I have filed for identifying information. If my birthmother wishes for me to have access to this information, she will need to sign a consent form, and then Lori will share my information with her, and her information with me. If my birthmother is not in a place where she is comfortable with contact, my records go right back to the State House, and I will know nothing. Until I started this whole process, I can honestly say that Ihave never had a bitter bone in my body where adoption is concerned. Now, I find myself feeling a little bitter about the fact that the State of Indiana can take MY money, unseal my records and hand them over to a stranger, who can have all of MY information at her finger tips...she can know everything about me and where I came from, but I can't. My records are free.....my information is out there, in the "world" for the first time in 38 years, because I PAID for them to be.....but yet I am still denied access. It feels somewhat like being in jail, and having an attorney come to my cell and tell me that the judge has granted my body clemency, yet my heart must remain encarcerated -- maybe forever. Bitter as I may be about this fact, it is the only way, in this state, to have a chance to know what's in those files. If you were born before 1993, your records are SEALED TIGHT, and short of being terminally ill, no one is going to open them. I feel that this is my best chance....and it is far cheaper than hiring a private investigator or going thru one of those "you too can find anyone" websites. It is legal, and it goes thru the proper channels. I have been pleased with the expediency of the process, and with the Intermediary. I know what you mean, Kim, about the non-id info you received. When I received mine, it was a single sheet of paper with 10 items listed down the center. Of the ten precious bits of information that they chose to share with me, they found it imperative to use two of them up by telling me that I was born (1) a female and (2) that I am white. WOW!!! I doubt I could have gotten thru life with out THAT! LOL They shared with me the day I was born, the time I was born, how much I weighed and how long I was.....all of which I already knew. The only thing I got from it that I did not know before was that my birthmother was 21 when I was born and that she was a native of Indiana. Anyway...that is the scoop on the CI Program. Hope it helps! Hugs, Sally