SEARCH AND REUNION SERVICES
We have a small waiting list.
In the CHS Adoptions Archive Unit, our professional staff understands the uncertainties our clients feel about search and reunion. We are committed to excellent service and make every attempt to help you in this important process. We applaud your courage in making this major step in your life.
In proceeding with search and reunion, we recommend that you familiarize yourself as much as possible with this emotional process by reading and joining adoption groups. You also may wish to consider consultation with a counselor who is familiar with adoption issues. While our counselors are trained professionals, we are not able to provide these services on an ongoing basis.
What We Can Do For You
If you were part of an adoption triad (a birth parent, adoptee, or adoptive parent) whose records were finalized through Children's Home Society of Florida, we have your archived record and are able to search for your relative. As your intermediary, CHS professionals will search and help you make contact with another member of the triad. We do this by providing you with opportunities for contact:
- Exchange of letters
- Conference telephone calls originating at a CHS office
- On site visitation at a CHS location
Please be assured: Release of any identifying information is done by you, not by CHS.
While we have access to your adoption records and can serve as intermediaries to facilitate a more successful reunion, we also encourage you to register with Florida's Reunion Registry by calling 1-800-96-ADOPT (in Florida) or 1-904-353-0679 (Out of Florida) or with the International Soundex Reunion Registry at (775) 882-7755.
Who Can Be Served and How
Adult Adoptee
If you are at least 18 years of age,
- you may request non-identifying information or begin search and reunion services. Adoptive parents would not be notified of your desire to contact your birth parent. (However, we suggest that you seriously consider discussing with them that you are going to search for your birth parents.)
Please contact our office or complete the Request for Services form (click here for form).
Birth Parent
If you have been providing updates of your circumstances to the adoptive family through the CHS division office that coordinated your child's adoption,
- you should continue to contact the CHS division office for that service.
If your birth child
- has reached the age of 21, and
- you want non-identifying information from the archived record about the adoptive family in which your child was placed, OR
- you want to search for possible contact with your child,
Please contact our office or complete the Request for Services form (click here for form).
Adoptive Parent
If you have been providing updates of your circumstances to the birth family through the CHS division office that coordinated your child's adoption,
- you should continue to contact the CHS division office for that service.
If your child is
- under 18 years of age, and
- is requesting non-identifying information, OR
- there is a reason that you need this information, OR
- desire to search for the birth parents,
Please contact our office or complete the Request for Services form (click here for form).
If your child is over 18 years of age, please refer to instructions for Adult Adoptee.
For answers to Frequently Asked Questions, click here.
For information on the cost of services, click here.
How To Contact Us
Please do not hesitate to call or write us if you have any questions about the search process. Our professional staff is always pleased to help you in any way possible.
You may mail all correspondence, applications and fees to:
Adoption Archives Unit
Children's Home Society of Florida
P.O. Box 5616
Jacksonville, FL 32247
Telephone: (904) 493-7780
Fax: (904) 348-2848
