Resources are available for birth parents and adoptees who are trying to find each other.

In Utah, the Adoption Registry is a starting place. For $25, the registry, in the Bureau of Vital Statistics, will feed information into its data base. If both birth parent and adoptee register, the registry will provide information to make contact.In operation since 1987, the registry has 580 people in its data base and has matched 28 sets of birth parent and child.

The registry also provides any nonidentifying information about birth parents it has. The law now demands the information be gathered before adoptions can go forward. Adoptive parents are given the information at the time of the adoption, and the child can request it at any time, for $10.

"It has taken a while for attorneys to realize they now need to get the information," bureau director John Brockert said. "We get the birth parents' histories and that of their parents and siblings, so it's a fairly comprehensive look at the health of the birth mother's family, although there's often little information on birth fathers. Some are more complete than others."

The bureau will file information for adoptions that took place before 1987, but most people don't know it, so little is available on older adoptions.

For information on the registry, call 538-6363.

The most comprehensive national registry is located in Carson City, Nev., where people do searches eight hours a day. The International Foundex Reunion Registry is free. Sharlene Lightfoot, director of the Adoption Connection in Salt Lake, will mail forms to anyone who is interested.

The Adoption Connection (see related article) also provides information on support groups or searches. Call 278-4858.

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The American Adoption Congress can be reached at 1000 Connecticut Ave. N.W. Suite 9, Washington, DC 20036. Phone 1-800-274-6736.

To contact the Council of Equal Rights in Adoption, call (212) 988-0110 or write CERA, 401 E. 74th St., suite 17D, New York, NY 10021-3919.

The Adoption Forum is accessible through America Online. For free AOL software, call 1-800-827-6364.

Books on adoption offer a valuable resource. Lightfoot recommends three available locally: The Birth Bond, by Judith Geidman and Linda Brown; The Adoption Triangle, by Arthur Sorsky; and The Other Mother, by Carol Shafer.

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