Hi, I am a US citizen and I adopted a little girl in 1996 from Bulgaria. She is now 17 and has been asking questions about her biological parents. I have no idea how to find them. The only information I have is her original birth certificate with her parents names and the name of the orphanage that she was adopted from. My daughter wants nothing from her biological parents other than to say Thank you for making the decision that allowed her to have the life that she has now.

Neither of us speak Bulgarian therefore we cant communicate with any officials over there. Is there anyone on this blog that may have some ideas on how to find her parents? We are not even sure where her parents lived. All we know is that my daughter was sent to an orphange in Sofia when she was 5 days old. She lived there until I adopted her almost 3 years later.

Kris

I suggest you contact the Bulgarian Embassy in Washington, D.C. Perhaps they could help you.

Contacting the Bulgarian Embassy is probably the best way to start. One of the questions you will want to ask is if Bulgaria will release adoption records. In the US, many states (if not all)birth will not release adoption records due to confidentiality. Some exceptions are made, i.e. for medical reasons.

You said that you have an original birth certificate with the biological parents' names and the name of the orphanage. Try writing to the orphanage in English. They should be able to translate your letter. Also, if the original birth certificate has not been translated into English, you should try to do that and the basis that the birth certificate might list the name of the hospital, the name of the doctor, or the town that your daughter was born in. It may not have been Sofia. If you have a university in or near your town, contact them to see if they have resources that can help you.

To continue, there are online genealogy sites that might offer some help. (Personally, I would avoid pay sites -- they are often not worth the cost.) One site you might want to start with is www.genealogy.com, but I make no recommendations.

By the way, did you adopt privately, or did you use an adoption agency? If an agency, can I assume that you already contacted them to see if they can help?

Best of luck to you. Consider taking your daughter to Sofia, even if the search for her biological parents is less than satisfactory.

She should also try to learn the Cyrillic alphabet so she can read and recognize the words, even if she doesn't understand them. It could help in her search.

you can contact the orphange ,there is an archive with info of the mother

I live in Bulgaria, not in Sofia, but have many friends there, who may be able to help out. Can you give me the Mothers name by any chance as it is on the birth cert and your daughters date of birth.

Regards
Ja'mir

Hmmm just thinking that might not be so nice for the Mum , can you private message it from this forum, if not you can look for my name on FB and send me a private message with Kristen E in the title so I'll know it is from you . .

JamirG: KristenE is no longer on Fodors - this 2010 thread was the only post she ever made.

You have some good basic information. On this site you can write as much info as you have and people in Bulgaria will try to help. While you have to sign up, there is NO CHARGE. Good luck. genforum.genealogy.com/bulgaria

OPPS, Caught again.

iris - it happened to me recently too.

I keep wondering how/why these old threads get resurrected. sometimes it's obvious [eg advertising] but other times, not so much.