Take Precautions



Before beginning to broadcast to the world that you are starting a search, you should be aware that there are certain ways that unscrupulous characters take advantage of adoption searchers. These include:

  • Identity theft – Identify theft has become all too common in the United States. Protect yourself by limiting the amount of information that you post on public forums on the Internet. In some instances, people scour registries and then pretend to be intermediaries. They may ask many questions to try to steal someone’s identity.

  • Birth Family Members –There have been a few rare instances of stalker adoptees or birth parents! It is also possible to encounter a birth family member who might be unstable or have mental problems. Proceed slowly just in case.

  • Scams – Some people pretend to be birth family members in order to take advantage of searchers. Their ultimate goal is to convince people to give them money because they believe them to be a birth family member. Read this warning about possible scams.


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Credits: Jan Baker