One of the perhaps lesser-known services offered by Finders International is that we can help you search for birth parents or relatives if you were adopted as a child.

It is thought that throughout the 1940s and 50s, some 60,000 children in Ireland were adopted – but the laws of the time meant that the adoptees did not have access to the names of their birth parents or any information about their medical histories. In some cases, it was very difficult for adoptees to obtain a copy of their birth certificates.

But the rules surrounding adoption are soon to change. The Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill provides for structured and regulated access to information and tracing services for those who are affected by adoption.

It will provide access to adoption information for adopted people, their birth parents and others, and it operates on the basis of a presumption in favour of disclosing information if it is legally and constitutionally possible and the new laws have been signed off by the Cabinet.

We foresee that the changes proposed will open the floodgates for many people who have spent their lives wondering about their birth parents or other relatives.

Finders International welcomes the opportunity to help in the search for adopted birth parents or other relatives. Only recently, we took on a case where an adopted brother Frederick O’Donnell had searched for five years for his other brother, Jimmy O’Donnell who had also been adopted. They had lived their entire lives into their eighties without ever having met and within weeks we had united them for the first time.

Another case we also dealt with recently that featured adoption was that of Richard Lay, who died in the UK in August 2013 without leaving a will (i.e. dying intestate). Mr Lay had been adopted as a baby in 1945 and had not discovered that he had been adopted until his 30s.

As far as the legalities of inheritance are concerned, an adopted family are the rightful beneficiaries when a person dies intestate.

Finders International investigated the case and discovered there were no heirs on Mr Lay’s adopted mother’s side, but that his adopted father had five brothers and Mr Lay had a number of cousins. His death brought together people who hadn’t seen one another for many years and they expressed their gratitude for the “magical” reunion that resulted – concluding another successful case for the Finders team.

In addition, the family members received a share of Mr Lay’s estate which was valued at about £300,000. The story of Mr Lay was broadcast in the last series of the popular BBC’s Heir Hunters programme.

If you were adopted and you would like us to help you to find your nearest living relative, why not contact us today for a quote on this service? You can get in contact with us by calling +353 (0)1 691 7252 or through our contact page or by email: [email protected]