Hello All!
I thought this would be good time to review 2020 and see all that has happened in the Adoption Angels Project.
This year we put a new process in place so all applicants would receive help in a timely manner. Now, instead of waiting on a list for a long time, they get a message from a Mentor Angel within 3 weeks who checks to see what they've done in their search and helps them move forward. The applicant is then referred to a Family Finder Angel who helps them finish the search (usually using DNA) or a Researcher Angel who helps them with a paper trail or tree building. The new process is going very well and is allowing us to take care of the easy needs immediately and start searches more quickly.
We have also been working on new help pages for adoptees and others searching as well as improving current help pages.
We now have 4 types of Angels. 1) Mentors who are the first contact for all applicants 2) Family Finders who work alongside the applicants to find family 3) Researchers who help build trees and do look ups for applicants and other Angels 4) Educators who keep up with topics about adoption, DNA, and finding birth family and share this information with others as well as writing and maintaining help pages.
Stats:
*We currently have 52 Angels
*We are currently working on 121 searches
*We solved 61 searches in 2020 (many of these involved finding more than one parent or family member, so more than 61 people were found).
*31 Angels now have the Earned Wings badge for finding birth family. 10 of those were earned in 2020.
*To date we have had 1600 applications (many of these we helped with specific questions, getting set up on WikiTree, and helping them help themselves in their searches)
Goals
Adoption Angels seeks to find birth family for those searching, up to the great grandparent level, and to help them create or update their trees at WikiTree based on the new information. For adoptees who have recently found their birth family, we help them create their trees at WikiTree so they can connect to the Tree. Adoption Angels also seeks to provide help pages for those searching to make the process easier.
Challenges
As more and more people are applying from outside the USA, we need Angels who are experienced in researching in other countries. It is helpful if they have DNA knowledge, but not necessary. We are now pairing up Angels with DNA experience with others who have the country-specific research experience.
Going Forward
We are looking to change our project's name to better reflect the fact we don't only help adoptees. We help all who are searching for birth family.
We hope to continue to add and improve help pages as well as our processes. Wouldn't it be amazing if we could help more people more quickly?
None of this would be possible without the amazing Angels who help our applicants. A big thanks to all of them!
Would you like to join Adoption Angels and help with the most rewarding job of finding birth family for those searching? Please sign up on our g2g post.
