[akjen]

My father died several years ago. We recently found out that he had been adopted as a newborn. No one has any further information. For health and personal reasons, we would like to pursue this and find out about his family. How can we do this?
Thanks!

[Synnen]

You're going to have a VERY hard time with this.

Adoption records from that time were closed---and may as well be sealed with cement for how hard access to them is. Add to that the fact that no one KEPT medical records on file for birthparents at the time AND the fact that the birthparents (and any possible subsequent children) may already be deceased---you're fighting a losing battle.

If you have a serious (life-threatening) legitimate need for medical records to find possible relations (as for an organ donation, or bone marrow transplant) you MAY be able to get a judge to open records, but the likelihood is low.

Most doctors only want you to go back to your grandparents for medical information anyway.

You could always hire a private investigator---but unless you can get a LOT of information on your own (the adoption agency used, the location of the birth, etc), you're going to be paying a lot of money for little to no information, in probability.