Up until this point you have had only few options to search and many of us had to do it alone. It’s almost been taboo to talk about searching. Most of the baby-lift children were brought over together so why not search together?

Start looking online for the person you believe to be your mother or siblings. There are many sites available to start searching for numbers and addresses. Vietnamese communities throughout the United States and France are great places to start. It’s easier to narrow the search down to a state or region in the United States or France. When I knew my family had relocated to Michigan, I scanned the internet white pages for anyone in Lansing, MI under the name of my mother or my oldest brother. After contacting all of those names and not having any luck, I broadened my search to the state of Michigan and eventually to the entire North American continent. I called everyone who had my mother and brother’s name. Some of the people didn’t even speak English, so I had my Vietnamese friends call them for me. Be very careful doing this exercise. Most of the people you speak with will have very heavy accents or might not understand what you want. Don’t get disappointed during this process. Print out the phone list via www.yahoo.com or www.infospace.com and cross out or eliminate any number that doesn’t give you an exact match. Ask the people questions that have meaning to your past. If they can not give you direct and concise information then eliminate them from your list. Don’t get upset if someone says that they might know who you are talking about but can’t give you exact information. Just make a note next to that name and call someone you know with more knowledge of the Vietnamese language to make the call again. Remember don’t give them all the information. For example, if they knew someone with the same name as who you’re searching for, then ask for more details like the year they were born. Make any information you have work for you. Don’t get personal with these people, just do this process like you are an outsider. Ask questions and move on. This is a shot in the dark but it gives you a way to get started while you are in the comforts of your own home. It’s easier to search when you are in your own home instead of a foreign country. Emotions can become very intense so give yourself a break every so often. Do your homework before making plans to visit Vietnam. Your family might be in the United States or another country. Don’t waste your time and money if possible.

It goes without saying that discretion is necessary when contacting other people in order to locate birth family members. Say you’re trying to locate an old friend of the family. Respect each individual’s privacy as much as possible. If you think you’ve found a potential match, track that person through subsequent years. Did she move? Did she suddenly disappear? Could that mean she married? If she married an American her name might change but if she married a Vietnamese man she will usually keep her Vietnamese last name (Although most people are named Nguyen after the Nguyen Dynasty).

If you find that your family relocated to the United States you can write a letter to the address you have. Again, be careful every step of the way. This is what I wrote to my family initially:

I didn’t mean to be so cold but who knows who knows who will get the letter. It’s better to be careful then over emotional. I used my time wisely while waiting for a response from that letter by contacting Universities, schools, and churches in the surrounding area.

I realized that in order to come over to the United States there must be some Immigration records available somewhere. I called the government number to ask how someone would relocate to the United States. (My Vietnamese classmates actually made me aware that there is a process of either being sponsored by a family or an organization.) There are actual relocation offices that are still set up to help people resettle into the United States. They were the most helpful people throughout my search and that was the breaking point to finding everything that I needed to know about my entire family. They faxed me over the entire folder filled with data regarding my family members. My first picture of my mother came through the fax early one morning. My husband and I were absolutely frozen with joy and disbelief. I had social security numbers of all my family members. I had birth dates. I had passport pictures. I had the exact day they relocated to America. I even talked to the gentleman who helped them relocate. Below is a link to all of the relocation office in the United States.

Relocation Offices in the United States

With this information, I knew that part of my family had moved to either NY or Kansas. The social security numbers enabled me to do credit checks on all of them. I actually thought my mother was dead since nothing came up with her name as far as credit goes. I cried many tears thinking that I had come all this way and yet she had already passed away. I still wanted to meet my siblings so I moved forward.

My adoptive father is a private investigator and he helped me track more information. My oldest brother was the first person I was able to contact. I found his last address on his credit report and cross referenced a phone number with the same address. I called the phone number and asked him my usual questions to see what he knew. Before I was able to even finish my questions he said, “This must be Thu (my Vietnamese name). Mom has been waiting to hear from you. Call her now. Her number is ….”

I learned a key lesson here. I personally had been digging under every rock and also had a number of other people helping me in my search. However, to avoid invalid calls, potential scams, or harassment, I had never left my phone number anywhere. It ultimately would have been easier for me, had I left a number with my mom’s old neighbors in Vietnam. My Vietnamese family always stayed in touch with their friends in Vietnam even after moving to the United States. They actually return to Vietnam every year or so and visit family and friends. My mom had known that I was looking for her since the early stages of my search but she didn’t know how to get a hold of me.

Lesson learned. Hand out business cards with your name and a number, email address, or mailing address on it. You can get free business cards at www.vistaprint.com. You may want to use a PO Box and a cell phone so as not to have your personal information floating around. You can set up a free email address at www.hotmail.com.

It can pay to advertise. By placing an ad in the classified section of a newspaper from your search area, you may be able to have immediate and direct contact. An ad might read:

Have the same advertisement translated into Vietnamese. Where should you place the ad? In any newspaper of a locality where you believe your birthmother or other birth relatives might reside. When? In Vietnam they do not celebrate birthdays so you might want to place it near the day you were relinquished.

Places to advertise in Vietnam and the United States:

We spoke to some people in Vietnam and they suggest advertising in the following newspapers/magazines:

Vietnam Airlines Heritage (magazine)
Tuoi Tre (newspaper)
Phu nu (newspaper/magazine)
Vietnam Now (English newspaper)
Vietnam News (English newspaper)

Or possibly on TV—HTV7 or VTV (www.vietnam.net)

We also have a contact person by the name of Van Le. He’s the advertising director of Viet Bao in Westminster, CA. His number is (714) 418-5099 and his email address is vanle@veitbao.com

DNA testing is an incredible way to make sure you are matched up exactly with your birth family. There are no questions involved. The DNA database will automatically match your DNA together with another. You get accurate information that cuts out the frustration of not having all your information. The only problem is that the people in Vietnam don’t know about it and they won’t be able to afford it. That’s why we encourage you to purchase a DNA kit for yourself and one for someone in Vietnam. It might not be for your birth family but it might lead to a match for another adoptee. Operation Reunite will set up stations in Vietnam and in the United States to administer these tests to people who are missing a child through adoption.

Princeton, NJ, Aug. 26, 2004 - Orchid BioSciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: ORCH) today announced that it has signed an agreement with the Kinsearch Registry to provide genetic testing services to create DNA identity profiles for registry participants. The Kinsearch Registry was established by the Center for Information and Research on Adoption, Inc. to help adoptees identify and locate biological siblings and other birth family members. This registry is believed to be the first of its kind specifically focused on using genetic profiles to reunite siblings following adoption.

Under the terms of the agreement, Orchid will analyze samples submitted by participants and run the resulting DNA identity profiles against profiles in the participant database to identify any “matches.” The Kinsearch Registry will inform each participant of the initial search result as well as about any subsequent match as additional participants join the Registry. Counselors are available to Registry participants to help guide and support them during the search process and with family reunification in the event a match is found. Orchid will confidentially and securely maintain the genetic profiles in a permanent database. Participants may request that their profile be withdrawn from the Registry at any time. Additional terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

“Genetic identity testing is increasingly being used by individuals to confirm relationships, and we are pleased to have been selected by the Kinsearch Registry to play a critical role in this pioneering initiative designed to help unite both child and adult adoptees with their biological siblings,” said Paul J. Kelly, M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Orchid. “This agreement speaks to our strong reputation for quality DNA testing and illustrates how we are leveraging our established market position to capture new segments of genetic identity testing, while providing a valuable service to adoptees and their families.”

The Kinsearch Registry will initially include adoptees from China, Russia, Guatemala and South Korea, which are the countries that represent the largest sources of international adoptions. Other countries that are significant sources of foreign adoption are expected to join over time, and discussions with several are already underway. “Siblings adopted by foreigners are often adopted and relocated from their homeland separately, yet many of these adoptees want to be able to find their biological brothers and sisters as they grow older,” said Barbara Rappaport, Director of the Kinsearch Registry. “This new service, which enables siblings to be matched solely on the basis of DNA, is a groundbreaking initiative in the international adoption community, and we seek to provide a worldwide database through which biological relatives separated by circumstances may easily, reliably and inexpensively find one another and be reunited.” Rappaport continued, “We are pleased to have formed an alliance with Orchid, which has a reputation for providing accurate, reliable results and adhering to the highest standards, for the creation and maintenance of our Registry database. In addition, Orchid shares our commitment to providing international adoptees a heretofore unavailable opportunity to find members of their birth families wherever they are in the world.”

A total of 21,616 foreign-born children were adopted by U.S. citizens in 2003, with 75%, or 16,186 of them coming from China, Russia, Guatemala and South Korea, the four countries included in the database currently maintained by the Registry. This data is based on information published by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, and the Joint Council on International Children’s Services. The Kinsearch Registry is currently finalizing its website, www.kinsearchregistry.org, for launch within the next few weeks.

The Kinsearch Registry was formed, after consulting with experts in bioethics, gene banks, and adoption counseling, by the Center for Information and Research on Adoption, Inc., a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to furthering adoption and an understanding of the adoption experience. Many adoptees experience an emotional, psychosocial or medical need to locate members of their biological family as they grow older, a quest made especially difficult by their movement to another country after adoption. Those adoptees often have no information on the identity or present location of their birth parents or other family members. Through the Registry, adoptees will have the opportunity to contribute a DNA sample that will be profiled and entered into a database specific to their country of origin. Participants pay a one-time fee to cover the cost of the DNA testing, banking and the program’s expenses, and will be notified if a match is found with existing or future Registry participants. Because the process of locating birth family members can be profound, emotional and complex, the program provides the assistance of professional counselors to assist participants who are matched in understanding the significance of the test results and in preparing for contact with their newly-identified biological relative. Participants may withdraw from the Registry and DNA database at any time.

Please consider donating money even if you aren’t actively seeking a birth family. Charitable contributions are tax deductible and you might help bring peace to those relatives who were separated during the war.
DNA testing (purchase one for yourself and then another for someone in Vietnam who might not be able to purchase one) @$300-$350 for two test .

When I was searching for my family, I never really thought about the fact that I had a father. I always just wanted to find my mother. I guess the likelihood of finding someone without a name is very slim. You really can’t jump over the mother step unless a father tries to find you. I’m sure there are men out there that had two lives. I’m sure that there are men that experienced one night flings but I’m also sure there are men who loved these Vietnamese women and tried everything they could to get them out before the fall of Saigon. Many of these men had families in the States and couldn’t separate from them. Some fathers might not even know about their unborn child or children since their term of service was usually less than a year.

My search for my dad was kind of a second thought after my reunion with my birth family. They gave me specific information that allowed me to piece everything back together. My birthfather passed away several years ago due to natural causes. I accept the fact that I will never meet him but I would like to know more about him. Sometimes I wonder if I should contact his surviving daughter and son. Would this be selfish of me? Do they know about us? I want to respect their privacy but I also want to make sure that I have a complete knowledge of who I am and I would like to find out a lot more about him. My father makes up 50% of my DNA and I am who I am because of him. I’ve acquired his diplomatic skills and hope he understands that what I’m doing with “Operation Reunite” is to honor him and his efforts during the war.

Learn more about the war and why the Americans pulled out.

http://www.a2zcds.com/cds/history/vietnam_war.htm
http://wire.ap.org/APpackages/20thcentury/75fallofsaigon.html
http://www.mca-marines.org/Leatherneck/freqwindarch.htm
http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/2000/0424/history.vietnam.html

You never want to think that a member of your birth family may already be dead. But if you want to cover every angle you have another way to search.

There are investigative companies around the United States that have copies of the “Master Death File” from the Social Security Administration. This database contains the records of the majority of deaths that have occurred in the U.S. since 1962—over 46 million names. Each record contains the name, birth date, and date of death of the decreased and the zip code of the place of death. These pieces of information can prove very valuable to locating next of kin of the deceased. One company that has this data base at very reasonable fees is:

Cambridge Statistical Research Associates, Inc.
23 Rocky Knoll
Irvine, California 92715
714-509-9900

If your birth father was an American GI, your mother might only know his last name or first name. Books like “A Dictionary of Surnames” can help sort out which names are Czechoslovakian versus Yugoslavian, which names are English versus Irish, which are Russian versus Polish. Identifying the national origin of a surname can give you great comfort as far as narrowing down the list of possibilities. Anyone who is searching for the father side can contact me directly for specific search methods.

Military Records

If you have their names, request their records from:

The National Personnel Records Center
9700 Page Boulevard
St. Louis, MO 63132

There is a wonderful comprehensive guide that is useful if you believe that anyone you’re related to might have served in the U.S. Armed Forces. I highly recommend you purchase “How to Locate Anyone Who Is or Has Been in the Military”, by Lieutenant Colonel Richard S. Johnson. For information call: 800-937-2133.

If money is no object, I recommend that you pursue every angle on your own first before using the services of an individual or organization. Why?

There are two reasons. First of all, an investigator’s time is expensive. Searches can easily run several thousand dollars, particularly if you’ve done no footwork ahead of time. If an investigator is starting from scratch, piecing together your whole puzzle might take hundreds of hours (or one hour). It depends on the specific circumstances of your case.

The second reason is that I believe the act of searching is very empowering. Certainly it carries its frustrations and emotional ups and downs. But it can also be healing. You are taking charge of your own destiny.

A computer network in New York called Kin-Quest-BBS can also assist with referrals, including modem access to lists of independent search consultants worldwide. For information call: 718-998-6306.

If you have been thinking about reconnecting with your roots, we encourage you to consider joining this year's trip. This is an opportune time to visit Vietnam while enough of the old is still there so that you can see many of the original buildings in the company of the childcare workers who nursed you. Vietnam is constantly and rapidly developing; some of the buildings Rosemary Taylor and FFAC leased do not now resemble where we lived and worked. We want you to see as much of what it was like in pre-1975 days.

If you are considering joining the trip but have not sent in your reservation and deposit, please send an email confirmation so we can get estimate of the total number of people joining. Please note that the tour will only operate with a minimum of 10 people.