Resources

[adopt-ee]

2. Adoptees come in all shapes and sizes. Some were adopted as infants, some were fostered, and others placed with an adoptive family at an older age. Some adoptions happen within the birth family. Others are placed in families across state lines, across borders, or in other continents. Some adoptees learn of their adoption in childhood, and others find out later in life. Adoptees can be international, intercultural, and interracial. The adoption experience has many variations (Adoption Network - What Does it Mean to be an Adoptee).

Adoptee // noun

1. One who has been adopted

adoptee resources

1. Review and follow the procedure for your state.

2. Take an Ancestry DNA test and then transfer your DNA to the free sites (see DNA resources here)

3. Register on sites such as

4. Search out and join state specific adoptee groups on social media.

5. Read, watch films, and connect with other adoptees to prepare yourself for reunion.

6. Ask for help from a search angel or hire a confidential intermediary.

search & reunion

G's Adoption Registry,

Adoption Registry,

and International Soundex.

Want to learn more?

Birthright: The Guide to Search and Reunion for Adoptees, Birthparents, and Adoptive Parents

Finding Family: My Search for Roots and the Secrets in My DNA

It's Not About You: Understanding Adoptee Search, Reunion, & Open Adoption

Reunions in Spring: Meditations for a Holiday Table

Searching for Mom: A Memoir

The Foundling: The True Story of a Kidnapping, a Family Secret, and My Search for the Real Me

Check out these resources

We recommend Ancestry DNA if you are trying to solve unknown parentage.

DNA

If you are primarily seeking health information, then 23andMe would be advisable.

Men may also want to take a Y-DNA test through Family Tree DNA, which can sometimes connect you to your biological surname.

No matter which testing company you use, be sure to "fish in all the ponds" by uploading your DNA to the free sites:

- GEDMatch

- MyHeritage

- FTDNA

- LivingDNA

How to download your raw dna file

learn more about your dna/health

How to request search angel assistance

View Additional Resources by Category

General Resources

20 Life-Transforming Choices Adoptees Need to Make, Second Edition

Adapted Podcast

Adoptee Reading

Adoptee Restoration

Adoptee Film Channel

Adoptees Come of Age: Living within Two Families

Adoptees On

Adoption Advocacy Podcast

Adoptionfind Blog

Adoption Nation

After the Truth

Akin to the Truth

Before We Were Yours

Being Adopted: The Lifelong Search for Self

Beyond Adoption: You

Black Anthology: Adult Adoptees Claim Their Space

Blank

Calcutta is My Mother

Closure

Coming Home to Self: The Adopted Child Grows Up

Confessions of an Adoptee

Dan Rather Presents: Unwanted in America

Dear Adoption

Father Unknown

Growing Up Black in White

How Does it Feel to be Adopted?

I am Adopted

Jigsaw Queensland - Adopt Perspective podcast

June in April

Lavender Luz

LGC - Lost Gentlemen's Club (MEN ONLY Support Group)

Lion

Lost Daughters

Male Adoptee/Alumni Impact Summit

Nancy Verrier

No Apologies for Being Me

Open Secret

Parallel Universes: The Story of Rebirth

Philomena

Pushing on a Rope

Second Choice: Growing Up Adopted

Secret Sons & Daughters

Secrets & Lies

Sincerely

Six Word Adoption Memoir Project

Tapioca Fire

Thank God I Was Adopted: 'Cause DNA is No Joke!

The Adopted Life

The Adoptee Next Door

The Adoptee Survival Guide

The Adopted Ones Blog

The Declassified Adoptee

The Good Adoptee

The Goodbye Baby; Adoptee Diaries

The Family of Adoption

The Fifth and Final Name

The Lies That Bind: An Adoptee's Journey Through Rejection, Redirection, DNA, and Discovery

The Lost Child

The Other Mother: A Moment of Truth

Three Identical Strangers

Who Am I Really

You Don't Look Adopted

You Don't Know How Lucky You Are: An Adoptee's Journey Through the American Adoption Experience

Journey of the Adopted Self: A Quest for Wholeness

Relinquishment Trauma: The Forgotten Trauma

Genetic Sexual Attraction Explained for Adoption Reunion Relationships

Adoption Truth and Transparency Worldwide Information Network (ATTWIN)

Late Discovery Adoptee (LDA) Resources

Late Discoveries: An Adoptee's Quest for Truth

A Story with No Beginning: A Late Discovery Adoption Journey

Late Discovery Adoptees

Late Discovery Adoptees & Family

NPE Fellowship and Friends

A Doorstep Baby's Search for Answers

DNA Detectives

The Foundling

LGBTQIA+ Adoptee Resources

Adoptee LGBTQIA+ Support Group

Loggerheads

Not Your Orphan

Other: The Unheard Voices of QPOC Adoptees

Foster Youth & Alumni Resources

Amara

Foster Club

Removed

Supporting LGBTQ Youth in Foster Care

Encompass Adoptees

North American Council on Adoptable Children

Native American Adoptee Resources

American DNA: Tribal Belonging and the False Promise of Genetic Science

American Indian Adoptees

There is no DNA test to prove you are Native American

Tribal Enrollment and Genetic Testing

What you should do if a DNA test suggests you're Native American

Adoptees & Addiction Resources

Adoptees in Recovery

Beacon Confidential, David B. Bohl

The Right Mind Media Podcast

Celia Center's "Addiction and Adoption Support Group"

Are you an adoptee from the state of indiana?

Learn more about the Indiana Adoption Registry by clicking the button below:

[A-DOP-TIVE PAR-ENT]

2. Someone who provides a permanent home to a child or children through a legal process.

Adoptive Parent // noun

1. As the result of adopting another's child

Adoptive Parent Resources

Adoptive Parent & Kinship Care

DVD Series: Adoptive Parent Training

Encompass Adoptees

National Center on Adoption and Permanency

Sherrie Eldridge

The Honestly Adoption Company

Kinship Caregiver Virtual Support Group

Center for Adoption Support and Education

Adoptive and Foster Family Coalition NY

Adoptive Parents Committee

APtitude: A Support Group for Adoptive Parents
Facing Adoption's Challenges

we're so glad you're here!

Welcome to Frankie's Kids Corner

Are you an adoptive/foster parent seeking resources and information on the lifelong journey of adoption?

Perhaps you are in need of recommended books for your child?

meet frankie! your guide here at the kids corner

Created by the National Association of Adoptees and Parents Frankie and his Friends will help the youngest of adopted children and their parents navigate through the feelings often experienced but difficult to verbalize. The narrator is a lovable character who warmly validates what an adopted child may be feeling and provides parents a springboard for dialogue and understanding.

Frankie and Friends Talk Adoption can be purchased on Amazon. Watch for his future books!

Have a question for Frankie? Email us at frankieandfriends@naapunited.com.

“Frankie and Friends is a much-needed book for young adoptees. As an adoptive mother and psychotherapist, I know that children are curious, especially about themselves. They have feelings they often don’t understand and yet wonder about. This book gives children an explanation as to what some of those feelings are about as well as permission to have them and to ask questions about them. This is very important to both the adopted child and his or her adoptive parents. It allows them to have a connection that is impossible if the questions are kept inside the child without any acknowledgment or acceptance. I have had so many adult adoptees say that they had never felt as if they could ask their parents about these feelings, so they always felt all alone in their sadness and loss. This book is a way of bringing light into those dark places and enhancing connections between parents and child.”

- Nancy Verrier, LMFT, author of the primal wound and coming home to self -

CLICK HERE to view a directory of licensed U.S. mental health professionals who identify as adoptees & work with adoptees/adoptive families in a variety of public & private settings.

Adoption Competent Therapists

Dr. Joyce Maguire Pavao

Leslie Pate Mackinnon, LCSW

Nancy Verrier, MFT

Pam Greenstone, MA, LPC

Rhonda Churchill, LPC

Janet Nordine, MS, LMFT, RPT-S

Kathy Harlow, LMT

Astrid Castro

Ron Nydam, PHD

Moses Farrow, LMFT

Pamela Cordano, MFT

Brooke Randolph, LMHC

Marie Dolfi, LCSW

Jeanette Yoffe LMFT

[BIRTH PAR-ENT]

2. A child's biological parent, regardless of whether he or she subsequently brought up the child

Birth Parent // noun

1. The natural father or mother of a child who has been adopted

Birth Parent Resources

1. Review and follow the procedure for your state.

2. Take an Ancestry DNA test and then transfer your DNA to the free sites.

3. Register on sites such as

4. Search out and join state specific adoptee groups on social media.

5. Read, watch films, and connect with other birthparents to prepare yourself for reunion.

6. On social media, use your name as it was on the adoption paperwork. Create a custom web address for your social media accounts (i.e. facebook.com/FirstMaidenLast)