George and Sandy: Thanks Sandy for the information, I am sending it on to my cousin, possibly they can trace it through the AMilitary as you have described. It is possible since this happened before the adoption was final, they never filed for Military dependence. Hope it will be a lead. George note below, did you try this route? Ira In a message dated 10/3/00 5:45:10 PM Central Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: << I don't understand all of this and may have "missed" something. The 1st set of people that tired to adopt this child were "Military". The man's military records would probably mention the adoption proceedings because this child would have been a military dependant. Can they get access to the military records? (My reason for believing the military records would help is that I know a similar circumstance. I know a young man who's mother married someone that was "retired military". He started adoption proceedings on the child and the child received dependants benefits. The marriage didn't last and the man never completed the adoption but the child retained the benefits because the man never bothered to stop them! This child didn't know anything about this man until shortly before his 18th birthday when he happened to find a check made out to him. That's when his mother told him what had happened. This incident happened in the 70s) Also, depending on the woman's age, she may be drawing benefits from the man's social security or his military benefits. Just a thought--- Sandy Ellis >>