Every adopted person has the right to know its origins, its past and most importantly, its biological family. The action to search is very natural. “To know WHO you are, you must first know where you came from”.
What you need to remember is that everyone’s adoption story and circumstances were different from the others, so therefore each search is likely be different too.
The length of time taken to find your biological family depends on the information you have at the beginning of your search, but also on the resources and channels that you use. There are several ways to find your birth family from Romania, however, all of them fall into two main categories: private or public.
PUBLIC SEARCH
Searching for your Romanian roots has never been easier due to the fast growing internet technology, the social media platforms, and the power of local, national and international media.
The fastest and easiest way to find your relatives is by agreeing to go public with your search. With your personal consent, we post your search on both our website and the community Facebook page, “The never forgotten Romanian children”
https://www.facebook.com/theneverforgottenromanianchildren.
This is also our most successful approach to family searches, counting for an incredible 75% success rate. Before you decide to go public, please sign in HERE, to access the complete terms and conditions of a Public family search.
PRIVATE SEARCH
Should you decide to go private with your search, the one main option open to you is to contact the Romanian adoption authorities on the following link:
http://www.copii.ro/activity/adoption/contacting-birth-parentsrelatives/?lang=en.
They most likely have all the records of your adoption from Romania. You are required to download and fill in an application form from their website and email it back, together with proof of identification and adoption documents, should you have any. By law, this government organisation, must and will help you find your biological family. However, if you do not have any information about who your biological parents are, they may not be able to help you and will very likely suggest an alternative route. Sometimes, your family may not be possible to locate or, in extreme and rare cases, they may not wish to be contacted. The procedure is totally private and free of charge!
FAMILY REUNIONS
Nothing and nobody can fully prepare you for the beautiful and mysterious process of reuniting with your biological family from Romania.
Finding your birth relatives and getting all the answers is an important and major decision. It often brings great rewards, such as fulfillment, excitement, knowledge of what happened in the past, the discovery of close family members that you never knew existed and a whole new world. However, it can also bring mixed feelings, disappointment, stress, anxiety and generally “too much to deal with”. The best thing you can do on this journey is to SHARE it with a close family member, partner or friend.
Often family reunions can be best described as a roller-coaster, with ups and downs, good and bad times.
Many family reunions have gone wrong because of the initial approach or lack of understanding of the reunion process. We recommend that you do a research, connect with and get to know other adoptees that have already found their family from Romania, listen to their experience, get a good knowledge of the complexities of the family reunion and prepare yourself for the challenges ahead.
COMMON FEARS
It is quite natural to develop some FEARS associated with your family search and reunion. For almost every adopted person from Romania, reunions can be frightening, emotional, but don’t worry a bit, these fears are very normal and very, very common. It is really the fear of the unknown, what we will find, and how all of this will affect you and your adoptive family. In our 5 years of activities reuniting over 1,000 adoptees with their biological families from Romania, we have identified many fears among the adopted person and here are a few:
The fear of being rejected again, that the family may not want to know them.
That their biological parents have died, are ill or may not be able to be found.
The possibility of the family being very poor and in high demand of need and financial help.
The fear of disturbing and affecting the new life of the biological mother that she may have built for herself.
The fear of hurting their adoptive parents, not being understood or even ending up being somehow disowned by them.
That the timing of the family search may not be right.
Fear of the language barrier, how will they understand each other and communicate along the way.
That they might discover having adopted siblings and that their reunion could lead to multiple other searches.
Fear of discovering the past generally.
The fear of finding genetic health issues within the family.