My father was adopted and I would like to find his birth parents. He passed away of cancer and my grandfather has passed away. I do know he was adopted in Richmond and I know his birth name. I had a good life but I have health problems and so do my brother and we do not understand why. I would also like to know my heritage.

Unless your health problems are critical and life-threatening, your only real options are to post on reunion boards with your father's information and hope that some of his biological family is searching as well.

Please remember that back then, people did not talk about adoption, and you certainly did not talk about having a child out of wedlock. Searching for and finding your birth-grandmother could open a huge can of worms that could damage her current life if she never told anyone.

You also have the option of hiring a licensed private investigator, but your odds are low and the cost is somewhat high---and you STILL have the possibility of wrecking someone's life and peace of mind.

This is not to say that ALL reunions end badly. However, I really recommend that people use the reunion websites out there if they want to search, because then someone from BOTH sides has to be actively searching for a reunion to happen, which really lowers the odds of an unwanted reunion.