FAQ & General Guidelines

Can you provide the name of my biological parents?
We cannot provide any identifying information without proper documentation. Catholic Charities was in a unique position of representing the biological mother, the adoptive family, and the adoptee. Please review the SC laws here. The documentation needed would be an affidavit from the adoptee and birth mother or father. Even though we are not able to provide searching services, we do attempt to send a notification to any last address on file. 

Can I see a copy of my file?
Not at this time, without proper documentation. Proper documentation would be affidavits from both the adoptee and the birth mother and/or father. In some cases, the adoptive parents would also need to sign and provide affidavits. 

Can I search the archives for my own file?
All adoption files have restricted access due to the confidentiality of the contents. Searching for your specific file can actually take some time, even though some files are digitized. We try to be extremely thorough in our search to make sure we have captured all of the information. 

Why don't you have my file?
In some cases, Catholic Charities was a brief facilitator or referral agency in some adoption cases. Which basically means that even though a Catholic Charities case worker/staff member might have been briefly involved, Catholic Charities did not facilitate the adoption. This happens quite frequently where an adoptee's adoptive parents have mentioned the name Catholic Charities and not the other adoption agency. In that case, we do a search of our records. If the adoptee's informaiton is not showing up, we refer them to the DSS Adoption Office There were several adoption agencies that have since closed, but the state now manages their files.

I'm helping my friend find her birth family. Can you send me the information?
We appreciate friends helping friends as this process goes much more smoothly when an adoptee or birth family has the support of friends and family. We can not provide any information without proper documentation, which must be filled out by the consenting parties. The party needs to contact our office directly.

General Guidelines
Please allow generous timing in our return of your request. We do not have a dedicated staff member that handles only adoption requests and share this very important responsibility with members of our main office. We are very grateful for your patience. 

Any affadavits or applications will need to be notarized at the expense of the requesting party. Notarization is required and ensures confidentiality.