Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Using the Web to Find Birth Families

The exciting story of a Chinese father's reunion with his kidnapped son, accomplished through various social media inside China, has adoptive families understandably excited about how they also might be able to leverage internet databases, etc. in their own search for the birth families of their children.

It seems, from a perusal of many birth parent search groups, that most adoptive families are still working under the assumption that the orphanages have been forthright in presenting information, and continue to believe that abandonments are the usual means by which children come into the orphanages. Such an assumption, if in fact untrue, will cause the adoptive families to utilize means of investigation that will almost always lead to failure. For example, if one assumes that a birth family left a child at the gate of the orphanage, one might also expect that the birth family might be curious enough to add their names to a database. This would be a natural assumption to make if one assumes a child was in fact abandoned as we are so often told.

But the growing realization is that such true abandonments are, in fact, very rare. It is important for adoptive families, when they are starting a search, to realize that everything they know about their child may, in fact, be a fiction. This statement will offend some adoptive families, who have invested their adoption story with emotional baggage that in large part makes it difficult for them to search with an open mind. They fiercely seek to cling to the "China myth", the idea that their child was wanted, even loved, and that cruel circumstances prevented the birth family from keeping their child. While this may sometimes be true, adoptive families must realize that the probability is that their child was relinquished for other reasons, including for money, promises, through deception, and a myriad other reasons. It is important for adoptive families to start a search realizing that any of these reasons may play a role in their child's history. To emotionally refuse to accept any one of these possibilities will impose artificial limitations, which will almost always significantly reduce the probabilities of success.

It is probable that between 2000 and the present, in excess of 80% of the healthy infant children adopted came into the orphanages through incentive programs. An adoptive family may scoff at this figure, refuse to accept or believe it, and continue their search assuming that their child was truly found abandoned. That is certainly their right, but they should realize that by such thinking their search will, in most instances, be doomed to fail. They will employ means of searching that are inefficient, will not adequately target the birth family of their child. These families will "go through the hoops" of a search, not realizing, or perhaps in fact hoping, that the search will not be successful.

If one allows for the possibility that a child was trafficked into an orphanage, one can readily see how ineffective certain search methods such as databases, market fliers, and other "top-down, shotgun" approaches would be. One of the peculiar aspects of most stories dealing with trafficked children inside China is that even with substantial and sustained publicity, the birth families for the children retrieved from trafficking rings rarely come forward. Certainly most adoptive families would feel that having their child on TV all across China would be an effective way to locate a birth family, yet time and time again it has been shown to be very ineffective. Why? Because the children captured in trafficking rings were almost always willingly sold by the birth families to traffickers, and they have little interest in coming forward and reclaiming that child.

The idea that instituting a database that can be used to "match" with searching birth families is, from the outset, fatally flawed for this simple reason. Most birth families will not be interested in coming forward. This reluctance will be partially emotional, partially legal, and partially out of ignorance. Many of the birth families that we have located had no idea that their child even ended up in an orphanage, but were told the child was being adopted locally. Thus, even if a birth family had an interest in reuniting, many would not suspect that their child ended up in a foreign family.

If one assumes that a child was truly abandoned, one would expect that the birth and finding information would be as accurate as possible, and that this information would allow a birth family to "search" a database and find their child. But evidence shows that this assumption is often misplaced. One adoptive father of a child from the Qichun orphanage in Hubei recounted a conversation where the orphanage director “admitted to us that this orphanage deliberately changed the date of birth, so that no family could later come back (though none ever did so) to claim a child that they claimed was born on a particular date: no such child would ever be recorded in the orphanage registry.” On a research trip we made to a Jiangxi orphanage, the foster family caring for the child had the hospital birth record giving the birth date of the child as three days earlier than the "official" birth date, even though the orphanage had provided the foster mother with the hospital record. Thus, inaccurate biographical information would prevent, even if the birth family and the adoptive family both accessed the same database, a match from being made.

Adoptive families understandably hope for a simple method to locate birth families -- a DNA or other database that will allow them to put in their child's information, push a button, and out would come the birth family information. Certainly if such a service existed that was open and free to use, there would be little to lose by participating. But in reality, given the "complexities" surrounding most children adopted from China, such a program will result in failure in nearly every case. Technological barriers inside China, birth family participation rates, information accuracy, and many other reasons will prevent successful matches except in rare and very specific instances (kidnapping, Family Planning confiscations, etc.)

Is there a magic panacea for finding a birth family? No. It takes hard work. It takes an open mind willing to follow the trail wherever it goes. It takes sleuthing skills, determination, and an ability to accept information that runs contrary to one's preconception. Adoptive families unwilling to put in that kind of energy will largely fail. Hiring "investigators" unfamiliar with the situation in a given orphanage will meet with failure in most instances if the methods employed do not match the circumstances. Posting fliers in a market belonging to a trafficking orphanage will produce few results. Adding information to a database requires a 1 in a thousand stroke of luck. These avenues can be employed as a last, "hail Mary" attempt at finding birth families, but there are many more targeted approaches that should be employed first. Generally, the most success will come from a "bottoms up" approach -- quiet, discreet, focused attention to an individual child's birth family. Other methods can be used, but they will almost always meet with failure, and represent a poor use of limited funds and energy.

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Families wanting to gain a deeper understanding of their child's orphanage and abandonment circumstances should seriously consider purchasing our "Birth Parent Search Analysis". Available for under $50, this report outlines the patterns in a given orphanage, and how those patterns would impact a search for birth parents. We believe that conducting even a basic search without having as much information as possible can seriously undermine your efforts.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Where does the 80% figure come from when you refer to incentives? What provinces does this refer to because it is a bit hard to fathom this is an accurate figure for all provinces. Just wondered how you arrived at this figure.

Research-China.Org said...

On our subscription blog we have been digging into the individual orphanages submitting children for international adoption. Press stories, witness statements, biographical data analysis, and other criteria show that a majority of the children from Chongqing (>70%), Jiangxi (>80%), Hunan (>60%), Guangxi, and the other Provinces come from orphanages involved in baby-buying and other incentive programs. The detail is much too complicated to go into in a comment. In the next year we will be publishing a comprehensive listing of the orphanages that have the highest probability of incentive programs.

Readers may assume that birth families that relinquished due to an incentive program may still wish to participate in a database-type opportunity, but there are several reasons why this will probably not be the case: Many don't realize their children were adopted internationally; many will not want to revisit their decision by re-initiating contact; legal concerns about discovery of their act of relinquishment; lack of access, trust, and ability to use the internet. These barriers make widespread participation in a database by birth families in China unlikely.

Brian

Anonymous said...

Off subject (not so much really).

What do you think of Xinran, writer's new book "message from an unknown chinese mother".
Do you think it is a accurate vision of Chinese mother's feelings? Is it, in your opinion, worth reading it or not?
Thanks.
Camilla

Research-China.Org said...

I haven't read her book, but find that most of her experiences are from the early 1990s when things were much different in China. Her stories have not overlapped my experiences very much.

Brian

Shelle said...

Could you, or have you, elaborate further on the bottoms up approach?

Thank you.
Michelle

Research-China.Org said...

Most families that consider a search look at "top down" approaches such as fliers, posters, databases, etc. These methods are like throwing a net over a pond and hope that the one fish you are searching for gets snared in the net. It is inefficient and usually fruitless. These methods are "top down" because they also rely on the birth family initiating the contact by coming forward.

A "bottom's up" approach is to specifically target the birth family you are looking for. Finder interviews, birth records, employee and foster family interviews, etc., draw information out that allows a searcher to locate the birth family even if they don't want or don't know to come forward.

The later method is much more successful if done correctly than the former.

Brian

Lisa said...

I am visiting my daughter's birth city in June. I hope to spend a few days there and wonder if you have any advice for beginning the search process while I am there. We have the name of the person who found her (at least we have a name, not sure if it's legitimate). Would you suggest trying to contact this person? Where would we even begin with this? I just feel as though I should be doing something while I am there to begin the birth-parent search process. By the way, she is from a province that has evidence of high involvement in incentive programs.

Research-China.Org said...

Yes, contacting the finder could be very important, but any interviews with this person must be done discreetly and away from the orphanage. It would be helpful to know if an incentive program is used in your daughter's orphanage, and if the finder is listed repeatedly, who they are, etc. Our BPA report goes into researching the answers to those questions.

Anonymous said...

For a while I read this blog as a source of information. However, real information providers use transparent methods, verifiable by external sources. That is not the case here. I now see this blog as a cynical marketing tool for its owner's business of selling information. I hope you will post this comment. -Philip Cohen

Research-China.Org said...

I'm not sure what you are specifically referring to, but sources of information are provided to families that display a sincere desire to learn. But I find many people seek to get information for free, unwilling to even partially contribute to the cost of obtaining that information.

Brian

Anonymous said...

Do you know of anyone doing similar research for Vietnam? I know about EJ Graffe's research but don't know if anyone is assisting with searches for background information on children. I know there are companies in Vietnam you can hire to do a search but I'm not sure they understand the intricacies of the situation (read "unethical nature"). If you want me to email you directly - let me know.

Research-China.Org said...

Unfortunately, I am only familiar with China, but there are "uninitiated" searchers in China also. "Xixi", one such "roots searcher", is a common avenue used by families, although she is completely uninformed as to the state of things inside China, and produces very few results. for families. In fact, in one Guangdong area she recently researched, she had a significantly negative impact on research opportunities in that area. A searcher MUST be familiar with the state of things on the ground before researching, otherwise substantial damage is likely.

Perhaps a reader is aware of resources in Vietnam?

Brian

kantmakm said...

For anonymous asking about Vietnam:

http://www.operationreunite.com/Search/Begin-Search.aspx

Anonymous said...

you make the 80% figure sound like fact but it really isn't. It seems a bit difficult to come up with an actual number for illegal activities, especially in a country so guarded as China. But then you interviewed 3 birth mothers and then told the world what a Chinese birth mother was like...so I'm thinking you're not really into facts so much.

Research-China.Org said...

I would strongly suggest you sign up to our subscription blog, where you can get the "facts". It will give you some good insight to make informed conclusions.

Brian

Anonymous said...

My daughter was found, and given to a policeman to take to the orphanage. Is it a good idea to start by writing the policeman? The policeman's name, and district he worked in are all in our adoption papers.

Thanks. Debbie

Research-China.Org said...

My experience is that the policemen named in finding reports rare have anything to do with the finding. They are added by the orphanage to add authenticity to a finding (Most adoptive families incorrectly assume that if a policeman is named, it must have actually occurred. This is almost always incorrect.

That said, it is possible, so one can't ignore the possible information from a policeman. But one should contact them directly, without involvement of the orphanage. If there is some information, that is the best way to get it.

Brian

Anonymous said...

Brian,
We adopted our daughter from China in 2006, from the Jiangxi province. She is SN (cleft lip/palate). I am just beginning to look into birth parent research. (Honestly, I didn't think this would ever be a possibility) Is there a better or worse possibility of finding the birth parents of a special needs child than NSN?

Research-China.Org said...

Any difference would be small, if at all. Jiangxi Province is a very successful area for searches. Our Birth Parent Search report would give you a very good indication of your challenges.

Brian

Anonymous said...

You have great knowledge and understanding on the issue of searching, however denigrating other individuals who also have deep understanding, eg Xixi, unfortunately makes you sound mean spirited and in business competition mode. I have the utmost respect for Xixi and how she quietly goes about her business, achieving great results for searching families, such as our family. Her "fee" is extremely fair and she shares everything she knows from the start and then as it unfolds. Searching families are never fed small tantalizing pieces of information and then asked to pay-up to subscribe, to find out more.