Adoption Search Services :: Adoption & Pregnancy Counseling :: Catholic Charities

Adoption Search Services

Adoption search services can connect adult adoptees, birth parents, relatives and siblings. The process includes a pre-search counseling session, guidance through the legal process, the search, making contact and opening the doors for a reunion.

Who Can Request Searches?

• Adoptees
• Birthparents
• Siblings
• Relatives of Birthparents

Criteria for Search:

• Must be 21 years of age
• Must have been adopted through the Christ Child Home/ Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Des Moines
• Must be willing to participate in a one hour preparation session prior to the search

Search Services:

• Updating file ( no fee)
• Medical & Background Information ($ 50.00 fee) - This is non-identifying information which would include: medical and social history, birthparents ages at the time of the adoption, physical descriptions, educational background, occupations, religious, and ethnic backgrounds, marital status, relatives. No identifying information such as: names, date of birth, addresses, cities, states, school names, church names are revealed.
• Filing an affidavit (no fee)
• Intermediary Services ($ 100.00 fee)
• Court Ordered Searches ($350.00 fee)

Why Search?

At some point in all our lives-whether we are adopted or not, we reflect and review our life. It gives us the opportunity to admit mistakes, learn, and move on. For the adoptee, this reflection often leads to getting stuck in the past that offers no closure. We all question our self-identity and the issues of ‘Who am I?’ Without reuniting with the birth family, the adoptee is left with no closure to that question. For adoptees, identity becomes a lifelong journey and for birth mothers a constant search for reassurance and contentment regarding their decision.