Jul 19, 2025

1981

Once upon a time, 20 years ago, I was visiting with a friend one evening who was sharing his difficulty with locating an adopted brother. I suggested we find a registry for him to join, assuming there would be an easy way to connect.

I was surprised to discover that there was nothing in place for people affected by adoption separation to simply reach out to each other directly, with their desire to connect.

A year of research at the outset went into determining how a service could be created that would facilitate such a simple and yet complex goal. The matching systems had unexpected complexities, and these have required adjustments over time to help people receive matches they might overlook. However the concept was sound, and the challenges, as they came, were easily overcome.

Along the way we discovered new value in DNA comparison, Community building, the evolution of social media, and the need to adjust to different device technology. At every turn we have kept pace, ensuring that our member base of over a million hopeful people receives the best experience possible.

Part of that very human experience included support that involves person-to-person contact, with our team, when it is needed.

Adopted.com was built carefully, with an eye always on scalability, so that what we could offer 1,000 people we could offer 1,000,000 people with the same level of service.

The continuous reunions we see now are testament to the validity of our idea as well as the spirit of our efforts to create a strong, friendly platform for you, our Members.

I asked myself, in the beginning, ‘If people want to meet each other, why should that be complicated?’ I contemplated the frustration that people feel in the experience of this search, involving incredibly challenging emotions, and this motivated me to do what I knew could be done – make it a comfortable experience to find each other.

As I reflect back on the time I’ve spent working on Adopted.com, 2 decades now, I’m amazed at how precisely we have reached all of the goals that we had for this platform!

We built Adopted.com for you. Thank you for your trust in us.