Letter from Austin

I got a letter from the Texas Department of State Health Services a couple of days ago, letting me know that I've been put into their adoption registry database and that no matches have been found there. That's no surprise--these registries match people maybe 10% of the time. Thus, a few weeks ago I petitioned the court for the unsealing of my adoption records. It's ridiculous to think that the basic information about my birth is some kind of state secret, and, as I previously wrote, I have some interest in knowing about my genetic makeup. Anyhow, the letter discusses possible reasons for people deciding not to search or put their names into the voluntary registry. The final sentence was a little harsh--"Last, to quell any probing questions from older siblings, the birth parents may have told them that their brother or sister died at birth." Ouch! Apart from the paragraph containing the quoted sentence, my interactions with that agency have been pleasant.

Off-putting language aside, Texas has made a fair amount of information available to the public, and much of it is available online. Unfortunately, I am listed under my adopted name in both the annual birth book and the abstract of births, so I'll either need to have records unsealed or see about paying a private detective service. After I struck out in the available records with my own information, I ran my former sister's information through, and, within an hour, I had a pretty full family tree for her. If I really wanted to mess with her, I'd draw it up all nice and send it to her. She was convinced, based on nothing, that she had met her birth mom 10-15 years ago--a woman who was as nutty as she is. Actually, it was a different gal entirely.