So, while a person decides if he's ready to put himself on reunion registries, I'm going to advise him to go get that non identifying information from his Closed Adoption. That information can be very useful. It can help him add more information on a reunion registry.
Non-identifying information is obtained from The Department of Social Services for your state, the state that issued your Amended birth certificate.
The non-identifying information can be like a biography. It's missing names but can give you and anyone reading your information some clues. Some files are more detailed than others. Yours might say what the ethnic identity of your birth mother is. Now that may just be one of her ethnicities, related to her surname, what she said or someone else's judgement. Or it might say that she was in her second year of college. How old the parent was - that's helpful. What their professions were. It might say she was from Iowa though she gave birth in Pennsylvania. And if they were married. (Yes, married people did sometimes give up a child for adoption.)
Why do you suppose this information was collected? Well, beyond some attempt to profile and understand the people who were giving up a child and why, adoption agencies liked to tell prospective parents why as well. For instance, some parents felt more comfortable with a religious or ethnic match. They might like the idea that a married couple simply couldn't afford another child. (I met a man who learned his parents kept the first ten children they had and put the next three up for adoption. He was number twelve.)
One of my college professors told the class that she was an adopted child whose parents used to say to her, "But don't you worry, you were a good baby." She was never sure what they meant but she knew they were commenting on her family of origin and not her behavior in a highchair.
What can you do with education information? Well, there's newspapers and yearbooks. That could be real helpful in a small town. Is there anyone in a yearbook who you look like? (Ask someone else to also look at the photos.)
So, if you're looking for a birth parent, this is a way to get the ball rolling, so to speak.
C 2021
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