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Any adult adopted person, adoptive parent of a minor and birth parent touched by an adoption that was legally completed in Illinois can request the court to appoint a Confidential Intermediary to conduct a search for a biological relative. Certain other relatives may also use this program, but they must explain to the Court the reason the search is being requested. DCFS has contracted with Midwest Adoption Center to train and certify individuals to serve as Intermediaries and to provide the service throughout the state. All CIs are employees of MAC who are specifically trained and then are certified by DCFS to provide this service. When appointed by the court, the CI will attempt to locate the sought after individual, explain who is making the outreach and what options are available and facilitate any contact that is agreed to by both parties. The confidentiality of all parties is protected and no identifying information is released without written consent. Detailed information is at www.ci-illinois.org
Birth parents, siblings and other relatives who want to locate a family member who was adopted in Illinois may use the Confidential Intermediary program. When an Order is issued by the Court, the CI is given the sealed Court adoption file, information from the file of any adoption agency involved and documents from the Illinois Department of Public Health. Using that information, we attempt to locate the adoptee.
Since you received a letter from us, we believe that you may be the adopted person for whom we are searching. The Confidential Intermediary has access to many information resources and we do not send this kind of letter out unless we believe there is a good chance you are in fact the correct person. The letter you received states what relative is trying to locate you.
However, in some situations we have only a little information and the search can be quite difficult. In those cases, many letters are sent to people whose name and other identifying information is the same or nearly the same as the adopted person we are trying to find. So it is possible that you are not the correct person, but that your name, age or location is similar to that of the sought after adopted person.
Please contact our agency – by phone, email or letter – so that we can know whether we have located the correct person. If you are the person for whom we have been searching, we will explain what your choices are. Your decision will be respected. No information about you will be given to anyone without your permission.
Click here for Frequently Asked Questions
A person who was adopted in Illinois, or born in Illinois and adopted in another state may use the CI program to locate birth parents, a brother or sister, aunt or uncle, cousins or grandparents. When the Order is granted by the Court, the CI is given the sealed Court file, information from the file of any adoption agency involved and documents from the Department of Public Health. Using that information, the CI attempts to locate the relative the adopted person is hoping to find. The information we were given indicates that you may be that person.
Your first reaction to reading the letter may be to think that you can’t possibly be related to this person. However, it may well be that you are in fact related but were unaware of the birth. We hope you will contact the Confidential Intermediary who sent you the letter so that we can explain more about the situation and together try to determine whether you are the birth relative for whom we are searching.
Please contact our agency – by phone, email or letter – so that we can know whether we have located the correct person. If you are the person for whom we have been searching, we will explain what your choices are. Your decision will be respected. No information about you will be given to anyone without your permission.
Click here for Frequently Asked Questions
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