Step 2

Step 2 – Plan Your Strategy

Key Elements For Planning Your Strategy

Gather and organize your  information

Write down everything you know about your subject. No detail is too small.  This will be your starting point in planning your strategy. 

Include relatives, friends, places and dates.  Make a note of any affiliations such as military and any places you think your subject might have been employed by.

Make a list of possible contacts

 Include names from your previous list that you can ask for information, such as family members, old friends.  Anyone who ever knew your subject should go on this list.

Make a list of your own information

List information about yourself as relates to your subject.  This is mostly if you are searching for a birth parent/adoptee.  Start with your date of birth and place of birth if you know them.  Make a note of any numbers on your birth certificate.  If this is all you have, it is still a good place to start.

Once you have all of your information together, you will start to organize it and create a profile of your subject. 

Organization and Information

 Start With Basic Information And Organization You must have some basic information Name and date of birth are the two most important pieces of information to have.

Often during adoption, names are changed and in cases of fraud people use aliases or AKA (also known as).  Few successful searches have been done without these two essentials.

Subject’s Full Name

First, middle and last; correctly spelled.   Successful searches are done without full names but not usually by the layman.  If you do not have the names that a person is licensed with, votes by or gets credit with then it might be best to hire an investigator. 

If a birth name has been changed during adoption your search will be much more difficult but not impossible. 
 Subjects date of birth (DOB)

Place of birth (POB)

Name duplication is common in the United States.  Having the date and place of birth helps to distinguish between people of the same name.

Social Security Number

Also helpful but not necessary is having the subjects SSN.  This number was established to identify people for tax purposes and to determine eligibility for Social Security payments upon retirement. 

Overuse by banks and credit card companies has turned this into a serial number for identifying people.  This goes far beyond its intended use and has made identity theft an epidemic.

Organize Your Information

Keep good records of your search.  Maintaining both a file and a journal will help you to stay focused and keep you from repeating steps.  Review your progress periodically because sometimes just seeing the information written down can spark a new direction to take.

Stay organized during your search.  Index cards with the names, addresses, phone numbers and dates of every contact along with any other data will be a valuable resource as you progress through your search.

If you are computer literate, a database can take the place of index cards.

Be neat and accurate as if you were compiling the information for a court case.  In some instances, your notes might need to be used just that way if your search is for legal reasons. 

Good record keeping also allows you to track your progress and helps to keep you motivated. 

A legal pads or hard covered journals work equally well.  It might be best to keep not only a detailed list of activities but also a more personal journal of your feelings as you embark upon your search. 

When you find your loved one, you might feel overwhelmed at your first meeting, bring your journal to help keep you focused.  

Start with your basic information, and then hone your organization skills and you will be well on the road to completing your search.

Create A Profile

A Profile Is Essential

Create a profile of the person you are searching for.  This will be an invaluable tool in finding them.  A good profile includes as much of the following as you can supply: Name-First, middle, last, maiden, confirmation, nicknames and any other known aliases Gender- M/F Vital Statistics- Day, month, year, place of birth; Social Security Number Physical Description- Height, weight, hair/eye color, glasses, facial hair, accent, lisp, tattoos, deformity, limp, scars, moles etc. Descent- Caucasian, African American, Asian, Latin, Middle Eastern, Polynesian, etc. Last Address- and any previous if known Education-Grammar, high, college, trade; years attended, dates of graduation Occupation- Business, trade, profession, last employed as, retired etc. Organizations- Labor, social service, trade, professional, religious,etc. Religion-Denomination, frequent service attender Military- Branch of service, period served, where, when, rank at discharge, serial Number Licenses- Driver (state, number), pilot, barber, contractor, doctor, lawyer, etc. Hobbies-Fishing, knitting, golf, hang gliding, etc. Subscriptions-magazines, websites etc. Possible Locations-Where you have been told the person is, where you think the person might be Search Reasons-Legal/health crisis, friendly/loving desire for contact, financial/credit Relationship-Birth parent/adoptee, immediate family, other relative, lover, friend, priest, doctor, etc.Make copies of your profile, include any photos you might have.  If you don’t have all the information, just put together what you can and know that you will fill in the rest as you talk to people and agencies.  Remember to update the profile every time you learn something new.