Contact the Indiana State Department of Health,Mary Hinds at 317-233-7253 or 317-233-7280. Ask her for the forms for you to get Identifying info, Non-Identifying Info, and the Medical History form. They are free, I believe. All you need to do is request those forms and give her your address so she can mail them to you.


Register with

it is free. Visit their site to read about it.



Any adoption that was final before 07/07/41 is still part of open records. Keep that in mind when you are requesting or looking for birth records.


You need to register with the State Registry and need to have heard back that the other party isn't registered. After you find out that no one is registered,(abt. 6 weeks) then try and contact the agency that handeled your adoption. You can find agency information on this pageYou can call them and ask for more information pertaining to your birthfamily or adoptee's family. They can unite you, IF they want to with out a court order.


If you were adopted from an adoption agency like

Coleman from Indianapolis
call Katrina at 1-800-886-3434 that is for inside Indiana only
or 317-638-0965 out of Indiana
their Email address is Colemanadopt@iquest.net

St. Elizabeths in Indianapolis
contact Therese Maxwell
1-800-499-9113 in Indiana or
317-787-3412 out of Indiana.

Catholic Charities in Fort Wayne
Deb Schmidt
at 1-800-686-7459 or 217-439-0242.

They can search with out petitioning the courts. Last time I checked, it was $200 to search.


If you have names and places, you can do some genealogy searching (fun!)Or if you live out of the area, contact theVolunteer Search Network Read about how they can help you.


You can petition the courts. See web page Petitioning the Courts
Filing fees can vary from county to county and some counties require an attorney to file a petition, not a private individual.

You can use a Court Intermediary too. I believe it would cost you $50 more. Fees for a CI vary. Maybe they want more than 200.00 upon filing. You may want to note this. You may want to contact the CI you are requesting prior to filing the petition to make sure that that person is agreeable to doing that. Contact Kris She will supply all the forms you need and then after getting court approval will search for you. Total cost is $350. That is for $100 to file, and $250 for the search. Kris is up north in Merriville, and is well respected by the Judges there. Her number is 219-736-5515. So If you are scared to do it alone, and want her help, I would recomend that you use Kris. It is well worth the $50 extra to be practically guarenteed. :) IT doesn't matter that it is not the county the adoption was handeled by either. IF you have a good reputation for searching, usually the Judge will allow the search.


Join a support group if you have one close to your area. Some places do have them close by and some don't. But you certainly do need someone to guide you and be there for you along your journey.