I was recently asked for an opinion about a "free" adoption search offering by a large company on the Internet that provides databases at no charge, though they want to be credited for information they copied from original sources and own your research that you submit to them too.What's free?
Listen. I'm offering information free here hoping my readers will "scouts honor" respect my copyright and keep to pro standards as hobbyists. I mean to be helpful. I'm not rich and I know my work has value. It could be argued that I can't afford to not charge. In some cases, maybe Karma is pay.
I've done free professional genealogy. I knew why.
I knew one person to be a senior living in poverty and it was an adoption search based on information her sister had.
I worked free early on when I wanted to test myself in an area of genealogy I didn't have experience in.
I can't say that this blog or anything else I've given or gave willing turned into paying clients yet I'm not entirely skeptical about what's free. Just to clarify, these days I find myself frustrated with the unprofessional undocumented, speculative, and family rumor stuff posted on various databases (and the way it's copied into others) where there is no human supervision or accountability.
I let one person know they'd posted information erroneously, that Is been checking for documents every six months for years, and this person never contacted me and -this is scary- auto reported me as abusive. In recent months the potential source for his rumor became available in another country. I've read page by page hundreds of pages related to the church, town, villages, etc. and there is absolutely no documentation and his chart is still wrong.
Increasingly looking at other peoples' so called research work in databases and on the net is time wasting. Time is money. It's better for me not to look at other peoples' work and just start the research looking for documents and do charts of my own knowing I can trust myself.
And I'm under no obligation to submit my work to any site. Neither are you.
But this post is about BUYER BEWARE.
I have a friend that was ripped off by a genealogist in Ireland. He had her related to founding fathers. Wonder how many people he told that to? She found out when she went to Ireland with the chart and learned no such family existed. She went to the church, the archive. A priest told her the chart was impossible due to long lost documents.
Thousands of dollars spent.
She also paid an American to find a branch of her family in upstate New York. He reported finding no connection. (I've since reviewed his work and more about that later.)
Both the Irish genealogist and this American were either fakes or incompetent. This year she found the connection herself in New York.
How many ancestors have found themselves in the afterlife wondering why they've been called into a Baptism for the Dead since they know who they're related to and it's not to you? They must be so confused! (Along with Anne Frank and several others who were being given - spiritually - the option to give up being Jewish!)
You're better off working with a pro you can meet with than a volunteer you'll never meet in person. (At least on Zoom!) Why? Because while professional standards genealogists are no more psychotherapists than hairdressers are, we are told secrets and are keepers of them. On an adoption search I think you need the wisdom and empathy that comes from dealing with individuals and families who want to know about their heritage - good or bad - the truth.
Sometimes the pro thing to do is admit you cannot go further and that's a difficult thing to do, however, my primary concern re bait and switch is that free adoption searches might lead to being told to sign up for DNA testing that costs money. What private DNA test results become owned by a company and when? Will they sell that information?
Also, will your privacy be invaded when information gleaned from you and their search is placed in a database and even becomes the intellectual property of that company? I suspect freely given information will one day be sold for profit. Why not? Volunteers have done so much free labor, especially database entry, that has been sold for profit.
You see, a volunteer can't do anything more than the adoptee can so I suspect they'll suggest DNA testing. You (or a lawyer you hired) are the only person who can plea you have rights or sign papers asking for the release of information. Now, a pro can guide you to do those things and maybe a volunteer can too but ask yourself and then question them about the use of that information. Read the fine print. This is your personal business. Your family's personal business.)
You can sign up for adoption registries and DNA tests without a genealogist, paid or volunteer.
The time to take a DNA test might be after you've met someone through a registry or been given possible results by a genealogist. Then a DNA test showing you're related is an affirmation.
Ask if the information you give or are given remains FYI or if it will be entered into a database or Internet site for anyone on earth to see. I personally think that, if so, it opens you and your children to Invasion of Privacy including possibly medical privacy in the future.
Ask yourself why it's important to know who gave birth to you. If the parents who adopted you were loving and good people, maybe it's enough.
Hey, maybe you're rich and looking for an heir?
THE MAIN REASON I'M SUSPICIOUS OF THESE FREE ADOPTION SEARCHES IS THAT THE BAIT and SWITCH (when they can't do it) IS TO SELL YOU A DNA TEST and you can be those results may not be forever private.
C 2021 Ancestry Worship Genealogy
Adoption Strategies - AWG
