Hi Listers, This may be a little off topic but I need the help of native RI'ers. I was born 3-1-69 in Prov and adopted around April. I've put my name in the voluntary registry with no luck. I believe my birthmother's name may have been Karen (and that's a guess) and she would have been a junior in HS. I've contacted the adoption agency and have received non identifying info. My record indicates that my record has been "updated with identifying info" but by law they cannot supply it to me. Obviously I'm frustrated that 2 adults who would like to meet.cannot. I've gone to the adoption agency and even asked if they could call my birthmother and tell her about the passive registry.sadly that is against the law and they cannot. I've put an ad in the Prov paper 2 or 3 years ago with no results. Any ideas anyone? Is there access to yearbooks in any of the local libraries? I subscribe to adoption.com and have registered again with no luck. Any help appreciated. Deb Milford, CT

Deb, I don't know anything about adoptions in RI, except about a situation friends of mine faced about the same time you were adopted. Following a divorce, the new husband wanted to adopt his wife's daughter by her previous husband -- this was accomplished and a new birth certificate issued that replaced the girl's birth father 's name with that of her adopted father, without explanation, and thus making her appear illegitimate. They were not happy with the solution, and that record will certainly confound genealogists in the future. I know someone who used to do a lot of adoption work here in Mass., but I don't know if he knows anything about RI or is still able to -- but if you want to contact me off list I can give you his e-mail address. He might have a suggestion. Years ago it used to be possible to "cheat" while looking at records at the Mass Vital Registry in Boston, and many of us did it from time to time, using various techniques to peek at "forbidden records." I managed to identify my son's [then] girl friend's mother that way, and got mother and daughter together, but it never worked very well because the mother (who was the absolute image of her daughter) had had later children and didn't want them to know she'd had one before her marriage. These things can be tricky, even as late as 1969. Attitudes have changed so much it's difficult for the younger generation to understand. Best of luck to you .. Jane ----- Original Message ----- From: "Deb & Chris" <dcsoracco@optonline.net> To: <RIGENWEB-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, February 05, 2006 8:21 PM Subject: [RIGENWEB] adoption > > > Hi Listers, > > > > This may be a little off topic but I need the help of native RI'ers. I was > born 3-1-69 in Prov and adopted around April. I've put my name in the > voluntary registry with no luck. I believe my birthmother's name may have > been Karen (and that's a guess) and she would have been a junior in HS. > I've contacted the adoption agency and have received non identifying info. > My record indicates that my record has been "updated with identifying info" > but by law they cannot supply it to me. Obviously I'm frustrated that 2 > adults who would like to meet.cannot. I've gone to the adoption agency and > even asked if they could call my birthmother and tell her about the passive > registry.sadly that is against the law and they cannot. I've put an ad in > the Prov paper 2 or 3 years ago with no results. > > > > Any ideas anyone? Is there access to yearbooks in any of the local > libraries? I subscribe to adoption.com and have registered again with no > luck. > > > > Any help appreciated. > > > > Deb > > Milford, CT > > > > ==== RIGENWEB Mailing List ==== > Search the RIGenWeb Mailing List http://www.rootsweb.com/~rigenweb/mailsrch.html > RIGenWeb Surname And Query List http://www.rootsweb.com/~riwashin/state/qryindex.htm > >