Find Birth Parents, Siblings, Adoptees and Family
This is a private Facebook group that helps domestic adoptees find and reunite with lost relatives, adoptees, birth parents, and siblings.
Resource Tag: Birth Search
Birth Parents Only: Our Journey to Heal
This is a private Facebook group that was formed by and for birth parents. It’s a place to freely share thoughts and feelings about adoption…
Korean Adoptees searching for their birth families
This is a public Facebook group for Korean adoptees who are searching for their birth families. Its’s open to all Korean adoptees to publish photos…
Chile Adoption Birth Family Search
The Chile Adoption Birth Family Search Facebook group is for helping Chilean adoptees to search for their birth families in Chile and reconnect with their…
American Adoptions: “Your Adoption Relationships”
This is a beginner-friendly resource for adoptees who want to understand how adoption affects their relationships. The webpage features guides about friends, birth family searches,…
CCI Birth Parent Searching and Reunion Group
This private Facebook group provides information, resources, and encouragement for adult Chinese adoptees who are seeking their birth family or are already in reunion. They…
Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Boston
This organization explains the steps and information necessary for a birth family search. Adoption information disclosures, genetic test consent forms, and more are available to…
International Child Search Alliance (ICSA)
This organization was founded in 2018 by an all-volunteer international group of adoptees and adoptive parents. They offer reliable information and promote awareness in China…
Chilean Adoptees Worldwide
This organization is a global platform for Chilean Adoptees. It strives to bring awareness about and connect adoptees and birth families in Chile. Birth family…
DNA Testing for Asian Adoptees
This document is a guide on DNA testing. It explains how DNA testing applies to Asian communities, including Asian international adoptees and adoptees of mixed…
The Nanchang Project: “Chinese Adoptee DNA”
This Facebook post features a flow chart about adoptee DNA, genetic databases, and birth family searches. This is a beginner-friendly resource for Chinese adoptees who…
23andMe
23&Me is a popular genetic testing service and using this service is a good start for adoptees on their birth family search journey. Their website…
Ancestry DNA
Ancestry DNA is a popular genealogy company. They offer clear-cut historical insights, rich geographic details, connect you to the places in the world where your…
FamilyTreeDNA
This is a well-known genetic testing company and is a division of Gene by Gene. It was founded in 2000 and pioneered the field of…
MyHeritage
MyHeritage is another popular genealogy platform. They search for people whose DNA matches users. Their technology reveals the percentage of DNA you share with your…
WeGene
WeGene is a Chinese DNA company. Their Personal Genome Service test generates genetic health risk reports using qualitative genotyping to detect select clinically relevant variants…
GEDmatch
GEDmatch is a free DNA site built for genetic genealogy research. They offer users opportunities to engage in forums, compare DNA files with all testing…
Journey Across Forever – China Birth Parent Search Group
Journey Across Forever is a private Facebook group for adoptive parents with children from China who are searching for birth parents, foster parents, finders, etc.…
China Family Search
This is a resource page for Chinese adoptees interested in searching for birth family. It offers information and resources for both the adoptive parent and…
China DNA
China DNA is a public Facebook group that assists with DNA analysis to help adoptees connect to their Chinese ancestry, genealogy, and heritage.
Research-China
This website details the sociopolitical circumstances of China. It examines the causes of the One Child Policy, as well as recent causes and events regarding…
China – Birthparent search
Birthparent Search is a private Facebook group for Chinese adoptees and adoptive relatives. The goal of this group is to provide support and resources for…
The Roots of Love
This is a Chinese adoptee family reunion project with multiple professional searchers working in China. They offer free DNA testing for potential birth relatives and…
Family Ties: Chinese Adoptee Birth Family Search
Family Ties is a private Facebook group that offers guidance and support for people searching for birth families in China. While this is not an…
Birth Family Search Russia
The lawyer who heads this organization has undertaken more than 600 birth family searches throughout Russia and former Soviet Republics. This is a great resource…
Korea Adoption Services
KAS allows birth families to search for the biological children and adoptees to search for their biological family. They offer post-adoption services, including birth country…
NPR: “I Found My Birth Mother. It Didn’t Rock My Life — And That’s OK”
This is a short, narrative story about an adoptee’s experience meeting her birth mother. This story will benefit adoptees who are considering conducting a birth…
ReunionEyes
This blog shares an adoptee’s experience about reunion with her birth family. It offers insight about how the experience has impacted her identity and how…
A Family in China
An archive of a podcast that discusses the (birth family) searching journey in multiple perspectives (adoptees, birth parents, & searchers). This is a great resource…
Nikwi Hoogland
In an Instagram page in blog-like format, this resource offers a personal look at an adoptee’s thoughts and experiences about her identity and reunion experience.…
“2018 I WENT TO CHINA TO SEARCH FOR MY BIRTH FAMILY * 2018年寻找中国亲生父母”
In this short YouTube documentary (link to the full TV documentary is in the description), an adoptee shares her experience of going to China to…
Bao Bei Hui Jia
Bao Bei Hui Jia is a Chinese birth family searching site where users can post searching posters for free. Users are encouraged to provide information…
CCI (China’s Children International): Searching Resources
This resource guide is a compilation of birth family searching resources for thee Chinese adoption community. It offers various tips, precautions, strategies, platforms, etc. for…
Nanchang Project
The Nanchang Project is a program for creating community and sharing resources for Chinese adoptees searching for birth family. Their goal is to provide adoptees…
A Mother for Choco
This is a children’s book about a young bird (Choco) who journeys to find a mother who looks just like himself. Eventually, he is taken…
A Single Square Picture: A Korean Adoptee’s Search for Her Roots
This book is about a Korean-American adoptee who returned to Korea at 20 to search for her birth mother. The author cites feeling conflicted, shattered,…
Stellaluna
This is a children’s book about a lost young bat who finds her way safely home to her mother and friends. It explores themes of…
All You Can Ever Know
This is a memoir by Korean-American adoptee Nicole Cheung. She tells the story the search for the people who gave her up, which coincided with…
Palimpsest: Documents From a Korean Adoption
This is an illustrated memoir by a Swedish-Korean adoptee about her life as an adoptee. The author (Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom) explores her feelings related to…
Adoption Literature for Children and Young Adults: An Annotated Bibliography (Bibliographies and Indexes in Sociology)
This is an annotated bibliography that covers adoption literature published from 1990 to 1991 suitable for children and young adults. There are 503 titles in…
Lucky Girl: A Memoir
This is the true story of Mei-Ling Hopgood, one of the first wave of Asian adoptees to arrive in America. She never identified with her…
ICAV Post Adoption Services
A list of intercountry and transracial, adoptee-led, post-adoption services located in the US. It includes search reunion services, counseling and therapy services, mentorship programs, and…
Child Welfare Information Gateway: “Adoption”
This webpage offers resources on for all aspects of domestic and intercountry adoption, however it focuses on adoption from the US foster care system. It…
Found (2021)
The story of three adopted Chinese-American girls who discover they’re cousins on 23andMe. Their online meeting inspires the young women to confront the burning questions…
Approved for Adoption (2012)
An animated film about a Korean adoptee joining a Belgium family and his return to his birth country. The story follows him over the course…
Somewhere Between (2011)
A documentary following the lives of four teenage girls adopted from China. The film explores their struggles with racism, identity formation, belonging, race, gender, and…
First Person Plural (2000)
A documentary about an 8-year old girl who was adopted by an American family. She later discovers that she has a birth family in Korea.…
Searching for Go-Hyang (1998)
A film about twin sisters who are adopted into the US, but return back to Korea 14 years later. They hope to explore and reconnect…
aka DAN: Korean Adoption Documentary
A documentary about a Korean adoptee who journeys back to Korea to reunite with his biological family — including a twin brother he never knew…
Twinsters (2015)
A documentary about identical twin sisters who were separated at birth and find one another online. They meet, confirm their relationship with a DNA test,…
Blue Bayou (2021)
A movie about a Korean adoptee raised in Louisiana. He struggles to make a better life for his family. However, he must confront his past…
Off and Running (2009)
A movie about an African-American adoptee with white, Jewish lesbians parents and two other adopted siblings beginning to become more curious about their roots. Her…
International Child Search Alliance (ICSA)
An international, all-volunteer group of adoptees and adoptive parents offering sources of information to help Chinese adoptees search for their birth families. There are guides…
Closure (2013)
A transracial adoptee finds her birth mother and meets the rest of her family who did not know she existed, including her birth father. This…
Lion (2016)
A movie about a birth family search based on a true story. A child from India gets lost, taken thousands of miles away from home,…
Twin Sisters (2013)
This heartwarming documentary is about twin sisters who are adopted by different families. They find their way back to each other via social media. This…
Twisted Sisterhood
A podcast for birth moms, by birth moms. The hosts discuss their emotions and experiences with adoption. They also feature other birth mom as guests…
Adoption Network: “Understand Your Adopted Child”
This article explains how adoptees have felt loss and experienced trauma. Additionally, it talks about birth family searches and the shortcomings of some of the…
Adoption: The Long View Podcast
Host Lori Holden is an adoptive mom and her children are in contact with both of their birth parents. Lori examines the various aspects of…
Adoption Associates: “Openness in Adoption”
A brief article offering suggestions to prospective adoptive parents and current adoptive parents for maintaining transparency in adoption. It discusses birth families, the search and…
Who Am I Really?
A podcast where adoptees of all different backgrounds discuss their adoptions and attempts at reunion with their biological families. Episodes range from 30 minutes to…
Vox: “Genes aren’t destiny, and other things I’ve learned from being adopted”
An adoptee speaks candidly about their adoption experience — dealing with other people’s expectations and the ways in which birth family connection can be powerful.
Adoptees On: “33 [S2 E10] Marni – A Model Reunion”
Although this podcast episode is full of hard and honest conversations, it’s ultimately about the joyful reunion between birth mother and adoptee. The episode walks…
Adoptees On: “24 [Healing Series] How Do I Tell My Adoptive Parents I’m Searching?”
This podcast episode is about how to talk with your parents about searching for your birth family. The episode discusses how it’s normal for adoptees…
Adoptee Hub
This organization is dedicated to connecting, collaborating, and preserving adoption legacies through community, culture, and post-adoption services.
Amanda Baden, PH.D.
Dr. Baden is a licensed psychologist in New York City. She specializes in adoption, but also works with clients struggling with racial, cultural, and identity…
