Origins Searches

PLEASE NOTE: OUR ORIGINS SEARCHES PROGRAM IS CURRENTLY PAUSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. WE APOLOGIZE FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE THIS MAY CAUSE. WE WILL POST ANNOUNCEMENTS TO OUR SOCIAL CHANNELS AND REMOVE THIS MESSAGE ONCE THE PROGRAM RESUMES.

WE ARE CONDUCTING A LARGE ORIGINS SEARCH THIS SPRING 2024—A SEARCH TRIP TO FOUR CITIES IN HUNAN PROVINCE. INTERESTED ADOPTEES MAY FIND OUT MORE HERE.

We at Nanchang Project are excited to announce a new initiative known as Origins Searches!

Launched earlier in 2023, this program is available to all adoptees of any age from any part of China. How this works: we facilitate future searches and assist with document collection and communication with our trusted Search Partners in China. Our organization sponsors the costs of testing any birth family who comes forward as a result of these efforts. We are currently offering Small Group Searches. It is our goal to make participation in these services as affordable as possible for our community, so we are covering our Search Partners’ expenses and have negotiated discounted rates for participating adoptees. (Travel not involved for adoptees, only the searcher is traveling on their behalf.)

Small Group Searches: This type of search includes around 3-5 adoptees at a time, all from the same area. Our Search Partner will follow up on specific clues related to each adoptee's information. Search trips take at least 5 days in total. Flyers will be included for each adoptee and we will be providing an autosomal DNA test to any interested birth families (DNA tests sponsored by Nanchang Project, results to be added to GEDmatch). Price is set at $400 USD for each participant. Small Group Searches are a more personalized searching approach for each participant than group flyering.

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Overview & Purpose

Hiring a searcher provides adoptees the opportunity to have a representative visit areas on their behalf that are relevant to their personal history. This may include the adoptee’s finding spot, the police station where they could have records of the adoptee’s finding, visiting local residential areas, or contacting the finder (if named in the file). Ultimately, the goal of hiring a private searcher is to learn more about your origins and to locate your birth family. While we cannot guarantee successful results for any search, please know our Search Partners are hardworking and always put forth their best efforts.

Travel not involved for adoptees, only the searcher is traveling on their behalf.

Who are the Searchers?

Nanchang Project has been working in China since 2018. In that time, we have developed close relationships with many volunteers throughout the country. We have identified a small group of people who are honest, trustworthy, hard-working, and who we feel truly understand the complexities and sensitivities surrounding family separation and reunion. Our trusted Search Partners all have previous experience working with adoptive families via guide work for adoptions or heritage tours, as well as experience in birth parent searching. More detailed information for your assigned Search Partner will be provided at the time of sign-up and you can read their shortened bios in the Search Partners section of this page.

What to Expect from Your Searcher

Origins Searches will include a small group of adoptees (3-5) all from a shared area. The searcher will spend at least 5 days in the specified area. They will begin by focusing on the information provided in your file (finding spot, police station, finder, etc.) to see if any more clues can be discovered that would be helpful in locating your birth family. They will also be handing out flyers and speaking to local people to see if anyone has more information that may lead to your birth family. Please understand that due to the unique searching circumstances of each search area (i.e. level of support and cooperation from the local government), the actual areas visited during your Origins Search is ultimately up to the discretion of the searcher. Due to present-day political relations between China and the West, we have found that some areas are less open to featuring searching adoptees in Chinese media. Our Search Partners will pursue media coverage if the opportunity presents itself, though it is not guaranteed. Search Partners will be provided DNA kits by us (DNA results will be added to GEDmatch) to test any interested birth family members. In the event the searcher does not have access to a kit, one will be provided by mail to the interested party as soon as possible. Once the search is complete, the Search Partner will provide a post-search written report that will include information and/or photos of who they spoke with, what information they learned, places they visited, and anything else relevant to your personal search.

What to Expect from Us

Nanchang Project will serve as an intermediary between both the adoptee and the hired Search Partner. We will assist by collecting all required documents and by providing communication/updates/etc. before, during, and after the search, as needed. In order to make searching an obtainable service to as many people as possible, we have negotiated lower search fees with our trusted Search Partners and our organization is partially funding your search. We are able to extend this discounted rate of $400 USD per participant via our Origins Searches program. You are paying the Search Partner directly for your search flyers and their time searching. Nanchang Project is covering the costs of all travel, hotels, and meals for our searchers. Historically, those expenses would be paid for by the adoptee. We additionally will provide free DNA kits to any interested birth family members that may come forward during your search. 

In the event a DNA match is made at a close level (birth parent, sibling, grandparent, aunt/uncle), we will provide you with the contact information to the birth family at no additional charge.

We are actively planning Origins Searches! Details below!

The following list includes areas in China that our Search Partners have identified as regions they are most interested in searching for a number of factors. Nanchang Project will prioritize these cities/counties/districts and begin organizing a group search once a minimum of 3 adoptees have committed to participating. Group searches may accept 3-4 participants per search and, for all areas except Jiangxi province, up to 5 adoptees. You may form a group on your own or apply as an individual and be added to a waitlist until the minimum 3 commitments have been reached for your finding city/county/district.

Note: All adoptees should be signing up for the city or county/district they were “found” in, not adopted from. Because adoptees may have been adopted from an orphanage/welfare home that was hours away from where they were actually “found,” please consult your adoption documents if you are unsure of the location.

Don’t see your finding area listed?

You can still form a group on your own and sign up once you have at least 3 committed participants OR sign up as an individual and wait for others to sign up. We will then reach out to our Search Partners and review this potential Small Group Search with them. Agreement to visit your area for an Origins Search is subject to the discretion of our Search Partners. We can accept applications for prefecture-level cities, but search efforts will be most effective if groups are formed for counties or districts, which are geographically smaller or have fewer residents.

Join our Origins Searches private group on Facebook!

You can use this resource to connect with other adoptees and adoptive parents to form/join a group for a future Origins Search! Remember that each city or county/district needs at least 3 participants to commit before we can review the request with one of our Search Partners. Be sure to answer the screening questions at the time you wish to join.

Alternatively, you can search the group name: Origins Searches by Nanchang Project - Chinese Birth Family Search Group

All participants who are seriously interested in an Origins Search must submit one of the below applications. These applications are brand new as of June 8th, so if you previously completed our original Origins Searches Interest Form (January-June 6), you must submit a new form to be considered. Applications are submitted for city OR county/district. Application options:

• I’m an Individual: If you are unable to find at least 2 more adoptees to commit to an Origins Search in your area, then you can submit the application as an Individual. We will notify you at a later date if at least 3 individual adoptees sign up for your area and a Search Partner wants to go there.

• I have a Group of 3-5 Adoptees (**preferred method**): If you have formed a small group on your own with at least 2 other adoptees who have committed to join an Origins Search with you, then you can submit a Group application on behalf of the others. NOTE: Jiangxi searches are limited to 3-4 adoptees, while all other regions may have 3-5. Only one person from your committed group should submit a Group application—duplicate Group applications will significantly delay the review process. Please have each participant’s information ready to input on the form:

  • Contact name

  • Email address

  • Adoptee’s legal/current name

  • Adoptee’s birthdate

  • Adoptee’s Chinese name

  • Location found (Province, City, AND County/District)

  • Finding spot, Date found

  • Orphanage adopted from

  • Registered DNA in GEDmatch already?

  • Optional: Any specific requests for the Search Partner?
    

Our volunteers work hard on their limited free time. Please only apply for an Origins Search if you/your child are fully on board to participate, committed to paying the $400 USD fee, and are prepared to submit all required items by a deadline, should you be contacted with plans for a search in your finding area. Thank you for helping us keep the process efficient!

Our passionate Search Partners are bilingual Chinese natives, possessing over a decade of experience in international adoption and helping adoptees seek out their origins. Sharing a deep commitment to reuniting families, each member has signed a written working agreement outlining the expectations of conducted searches, ensuring professional and competent guidance for your own search. Meet our active search teams below!

Team 1: Mr. Zhu

Mr. Zhu resides in the central part of China and has been working with international adoptions, heritage visits, and birth family searches since 2012. Through his work and visiting many welfare institutes in China, he understands adoptees’ feelings for wanting to find their biological family. Some provinces he has helped international adoptees search in are Anhui, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, and Sichuan. Mr. Zhu has assisted in more than ten confirmed matches and helped test ~90 birth families. Today, his favorite hobby is traveling, seeing different local customs, and trying new delicious foods.

Team 2: Mr. Liu & Mrs. Liu

Mr. Liu is from southeast China. In 2007, he began his first job in adoption with an org that helps adoptive parents discover more information about their children (birthplace, finding spot, caregivers and foster parents, former residence, etc.). Since then, he has accompanied many adoptive families and adoptees on their return visits to China to reconnect with their heritage. Besides this work, Mr. Liu has assisted in several surprising reunions.

Mrs. Liu has been involved with adoption work and heritage trips since 2009. She has also accompanied countless adoptive families back to their children’s birthplace to search for their roots, visit, and appreciate things from their childhood and people who cared for them when they were babies. Although she was never part of their past, Mrs. Liu feels very grateful to them for sharing their stories with me and feels deeply moved by them—while also feeling empathetic with those who suffered unfair experiences. Mrs. Liu also facilitated some unexpected reunions, and has served as a guide and interpreter for previous Nanchang Project trips in China.

Team 3: Mr. Yan

Mr. Yan lives in southwest China and has been guiding adoptive families and tourists for over 25 years in several regions, including Chongqing, Guizhou, and Sichuan. After participating in hundreds of foreign adoptions in Chongqing, he looks forward to this opportunity to help adoptees look for their other parents in China. Mr. Yan has led heritage tours, taking adoptees of all ages back to their welfare homes and local police stations for DNA testing and file checking, along with asking local media to cover their search stories. Earlier in 2023, he assisted in a beautiful birth family reunion between twins and their Chinese family in Chongqing. He is glad to help others achieve this.

This is a list of the items needed from each participant. Once you commit to the search and the trip is confirmed, we will send you a checklist with further details.

• Certificate of Adoption (Chinese copy) - this sometimes has a family photo & red border 

• Certificate of Abandonment (Chinese copy) from the white booklet with Chinese & translated copies 

• Any additional documents relating to your finding or adoption that are relevant to a search

• Authorization Letter - provided to partcipants for signature/completion once the search is confirmed

• Pictures of the adoptee (including family photos)

• Written paragraph from the adoptee’s perspective introducing themselves and reasons for wanting to find birth relatives

• Verify DNA test - tell us which DNA test you’ve used (23andme, Ancestry, etc), and if added to GEDmatch (all potential birth families will be uploaded to GEDmatch, so participants must have their DNA there already or be willing to add it)

• Video recording of adoptee (optional) for potential media coverage and use during the search

• Payment to the Search Partner is $400 USD + any transfer fees. We personally use and recommend Wise.com, a money transfer site that offers lower exchange rates and transfer fees than other large companies like PayPal. Once you are confirmed for the search, you will receive the details and instructions on how to send the payment.

So far, we have completed or are in the process of coordinating searches in Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Jiangsu, and Jiangxi. We can’t wait to cover more areas in China! All images and videos featured on this page were documented during past Origins Searches that were organized and sponsored by Nanchang Project.

It is possible that your question may have already been answered in the Origins Searches section of our FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions. For other general questions about our Origins Searches program, please ask in our new Origins Searches group on Facebook or privately email us at origins@nanchangproject.com. One of our volunteers will respond to you as soon as they can!

To continue offering discounted search rates and free DNA tests for birth families, we rely on donations from our supporters. If you would like to financially give any amount, we thank you in advance!

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