No.  This service is free to all eligible petitioners.

1. Successfully register with the Illinois Adoption Registry and Medical Information Exchange
   • Illinois law requires most petitioners to file with the Illinois Adoption Registry and Medical Information Exchange before utilizing the CI program. The birth relative you are hoping to locate may have already filed making a CI search unnecessary.
2. E-file the petition with the Court
   • The petition can be filed in any county in Illinois. Most petitioners successfully file their petition without an attorney.
3. Petition Granted & CI Appointed
   • The Judge will review your petition and will appoint a Certified Confidential Intermediary to your case. The Court will send the Order of Appointment to our agency.
4. Complete the Service Contract
   • After your CI receives your case from the Court, she will send you additional information about the CI program and a contract and questionnaire for you to complete to proceed with services.
5. Search Assessment Prepared
   • Your CI will request and receive information pertaining to the birth and adoption to which she has legal access. Based on that information, she will tell you what your search options are through this program.
6. Search for Birth Relatives
   • Your CI will search for and outreach to the birth relative(s) you select and try to reach an agreed upon outcome.

No.  Your CI cannot by law give you any identifying information (such as your birth relatives’ names, addresses, phone numbers, or dates of birth) without the written consent of that person.  Instead, your CI can describe your birth relatives by relationship to you, what kind of information was received for each person, and the general probability that your CI could locate that person.  If your birth relative is located and agrees to have direct contact, you would receive their name and any other identifying information they decide to release.

Your CI would request identifying information from various agencies and organizations in order to create a Search Assessment.  In some cases, information is requested and received from many of these sources.  In other cases, information is only available from one or two of these sources.  Your CI would use some or all of the following sources of information to create the Search Assessment.

• Amended birth certificate
• Birth certificates, death certificates, marriage, and divorce information from the State of Illinois for any of your birth relatives
• Identifying information including names, dates of birth, and last known addresses for your birth relatives from the adoption agency’s file, if there was one involved in the placement
• A copy of the impounded court file
• Social Security Death Index information about any of your birth relatives, using names and other information obtained from above sources

Your CI will do her best to complete the Search Assessment as quickly as possible.  However, the process is entirely dependent upon other agencies, people, and organizations responding to your CI’s request for information.  For example, it might take two months for a Court Clerk’s Office to provide a copy of the impounded adoption file.  Or it might take the adoption agency up to a month and a half to provide the identifying information from their records.  We have developed excellent working relationships with many of the agencies, people, and organizations that provide the CI with information and work with them to complete this process as efficiently as possible.

It is rare that an adopted or surrendered person is not aware of their birth and adoption story, but sometimes the contact from the CI is the first they learn of their adoption.  Each CI is a trained adoption professional who will provide your birth relative with empathy, support, and educational resources.  Your CI will explain why they believe your birth relative is the correct individual, and will ultimately accept and support whatever decision is made regarding contact.

Your CI will ask you for all of the information you have obtained about the person you believe is your birth relative.  She will also request vital records and other information pertaining to the adoption to increase the likelihood that the outreach will be made to the correct person.  By law, your CI cannot confirm or deny whether the person you located is your birth relative.  Your CI will attempt to contact your birth relative on your behalf, explain the reason for contact, and facilitate a connection as agreed upon by you and your birth relative.

It is impossible to accurately estimate how long it could take to locate your birth relative and then receive their response to your request for a connection.  Some cases are completed within a few weeks after the active search begins.  Other searches are rather difficult and can require many months of work.  At each step in the process, your CI will proceed as quickly and efficiently as possible, and you will be notified immediately when your CI has received a response from your birth relative.

The CI is prohibited by law from giving you any information that could be identifying concerning a deceased relative including name, residence, or date and place of death.  If the sought after adopted or surrendered person is found to be deceased, your CI would try to determine if there is a relative of your birth relative who could be contacted on your behalf.  That individual may be willing to share information with you about your deceased birth relative.  If your CI receives information that your birth relative died of a genetic medical condition, Illinois law allows your CI to give you the cause of death.