The enactment in February 1987 of the New Child Care Act, 74 of 1983, has allowed the adult adoptee to obtain information about her family of origin.
The Act stipulates that an adoptee over 18 and under 21 must have received permission from her adopters.
If she is older than 21, she can do this without consulting them. The adoptee must be assessed and adequately counselled by a professional social worker.
The adoptee who needs to know more about her origins is usually not a teenager with an identity crises. A large proportion of enquiries are received from adoptees in their 30s and 40s.
The feelings of the adoptive parents are most important to most adoptees who consider searching and they may delay searching until after the deaths of their adoptive parents.
Others search secretly and never tell their parents about it for fear of hurting them.
The desire for information about their genetic and social origins does not reflect abnormal adjustment to adoption.
Many are not looking for a mother and father, but merely for information and they feel the best way to obtain this information is from the birthparents directly.
Significant life experience
Some are merely curious to see what the birthparents actually look like while other may need medical information.
For a very small group of adoptees the goal of the search is the development of a relationship with the family of origin.
An adoptee is most likely to search after a significant life experience such as marriage, divorce or the death of the adoptive parent.
The birth of a child forces the adoptee to think about her genetic makeup and what she may be passing onto her child.
In addition, adoptees say that the birth of a child makes them aware that this is the first human being they have seen to whom they are truly related and this causes them to think about meeting other biologically related people.
General dissatisfaction
Losses such as death and divorces may cause the adoptee to seek out as many sources of comfort as possible and the adoptee's awareness of advancing age reminds her that if she delays the search, her birthparents may die before she finds them.
Of course a general dissatisfaction with life may also promote a search.
Most adoptees who search are looking for information about the circumstances of their adoption including the reasons why they are placed.
Information like this can be obtained from a written history, but direct communication is needed to learn of the emotions and subtle pressures involved in the decision making.
A person's personality is also more quietly ascertained in a face-to-face meeting as well as seeing what their birthparents look like and if they share any physical characteristics.
Delicate and sensitive situation
The adoptee's social worker assists with help and advise before the search.
They are usually level headed, thoughtful people, but they need to be made aware of how delicate and sensitive a situation this is.
The adoptees are assisted with the search and are prepared for the highly emotional meeting if it materialises.
She helps the adoptee recognise her expectations of the birthparents and the possibility that the meeting with them could be unsatisfactory.
She acts as an intermediary during the meeting and provides supportive sources to both the adoptee and the birthparents once they have met.
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The adoption records are kept for 70 years.
Resources such as voters roll, telephone directories and medical military registers are consulted. If this is not successful, then a subtle advertisement is placed in the media.
Locating a natural parent may be a torturous way in which to resolve an adoptee's identity problem or conflict, but the process can have a positive effect on all parties, given sufficient time and support. - Zoe Cohen