B. INVESTIGATORY TECHNIQUES

INQUIRY GUIDELINES FOR TRANSNATIONAL ADOPTIONS

Communicating with the Adoptee

1. Thank the adoptee or the adoptive family or both, as the case maybe, for contacting HRC and/or ProBúsqueda in light of their interest in searching for their biological family.

2. Provide the adoptee with a brief description of the project and more information about the organizations involved in the project. If available, provide the adoptee with the links to the organizations ’ websites.

3. Clearly state the selection criteria (given at the start of this chapter) for investigating cases so that the adoptee understands that his/her case may not be investigated. This ensures transparency and minimizes the potential for adoptees to feel frustrated with the organization.

4. Provide the adoptee with the Intake Form and briefly describe what it entails. Encourage the adoptee to complete the form and send it to the appropriate person.

5. Offer the adoptee further assistance and let them know you are there to answer questions, provide resources, and support them.

6. Follow-up with the adoptee 15 days later and after that as needed.

Documenting

7. Register the adoptee ’ s given name(s) and last name, contact information (e-mail, phone, address), and any other pertinent information for the case in a database. Each communication with the adoptee needs to be recorded in the database with the appropriate date.

These guidelines provide a general framework for handling initial inquiries from transnational adoptees. It is important to be mindful of the language used and the way in which information is framed. Being courteous, diplomatic, transparent, and honest with adoptees has yielded positive results.

3.2 What information is collected from transnational adoptees?

To initiate an investigation and to determine whether the case falls under the case acceptance criteria, investigators provide the adoptee with an Intake Form to gather as much information as possible. This is a similar Intake Form to the one used for adoptees in El Salvador. For a description about what the Intake Form gathers, see Chapter V, Section B.2., and APPENDIX 1, A-1.2.

3.3 What forms do transnational adoptees need to fill out?

Transnational adoptees need to fill out and sign an intake form that asks the adoptee to provide personal information, adoption information, documents, and memories. This form also authorizes the organization to use the information provided to search for his/her biological family.

B. INVESTIGATORY TECHNIQUES

Pro-Búsqueda uses many different types of investigatory methods to determine kinship. As noted earlier, genetic tracing is the most accurate and scientifically objective tool employed.

Investigators traditionally rely initially on what is known as field research to determine kinship— investigation of public records including birth certificates, adoption certificates, and court records.