United States Adoption Research Strategies, 1900s-2000s

Assembling information and documents

 * adoptive parents
 * adoption agency used
 * talking to an attorney or facilitator involved in the adoption
 * gather documents
 * amended birth certificate
 * An amended birth certificate, which is issued after an adoption is finalized, lists the names of the adoptive parents as if the child had been born to them. Most people who were adopted will not have their original birth certificate but will have an amended birth certificate. ***About half of all States allow adults to have access to their original birth certificates, which provide the names of their birth parent(s).
 * In other States, an original birth certificate may be obtained through a court petition.
 * hospital records
 * other identifying and nonidentifying information.