I ask this because so many of you seem to have a wide breathe of knowledge.

How is it possible to find background information on someone when you really have no information. Our daughter in law was born in Vietnam. She is very dear to us. As a toddler she was found by American soldiers -- her parents were dead they presumed -- and taken to an orphanage in Danang. Her papers say her age and birthdate were unknown, as was her name and the family name. She celebrates her birthday as the day she came to the US adopted by an American family. She would love to know "who" she is and if she has any family in Vietnam. We have promised her and our son (with us, of course) a trip (hopefully a cruise) to Vietnam, but we have no idea how to start searching. Going through the State Department, I was able to get her citizenship paperwork that had been lost but other than the date she came to the US and the name given her at the orphanage, it has no information. Everything else is unknown. When they went on a cruise for their honeymoon (just after 9/11) the port authority in Miami would not let her board the ship (she didn't need a passport but she needed proof of citizenship which she didn't have). They had to get a judge to sign her affidavid that she was an American citizen -- at the time, her paperwork had been lost.

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. Judith

Judith

I haven't done any research on this but often there will usually be a book called something like, "How to find your ancestors in such & such Country"
Call your local library's geneological room and ask what is available there. Call any historical societies in your area and also see if there is some sort of Vietnamese organization or society in your area.
Sometime today I will see what I can find on World Cat for you as to book titles that might help. When records are lost it can sometimes be impossible, but do not give up without trying. It could take several years.
When my first husband was in Vietnam, one of his jobs was to place babies of his men in orphanages. Often the mothers never told their families they had a baby. These were women that had left the farms to find work in the cities.
Also, once records are destroyed there is almost no way to find anyone. In the US the 1890 census was destroyed (fire in the COmmerce Bldg) and so were many military files that were housed in the St Louis area ( from a fire c. 1970) These are gone forever.

Thank you, Betty. It has already taken us three years to get enough paperwork to get her a passport and Florida driver's license (she got her NY one as a teenager without a problem). I spent a long time chating with someone at the Vietnamese Embassy who just said she should go to city hall in Danang and check there. But without a birthday date or family name, there seems to be nothing to check. It is very important to her, so whatever help you can give is greatly appreciated. By the way, at their wedding (which we made in Maryland), we asked the Rabbi to do a Vietnamese tea ceremony (to honor her biological parents) as well as the Ketuba ceremony. He obliged and said that was a first for him.

Judith
I am having trouble finding anything that might help your family. I do know that there are books at the library that will list different sources for each count ry. If the Boca Library doesn't have anything, try the Miami-Dade Co system. I did find this one book that you could check to see if your library owns. I would be surprised if it can be checked out. I also found a web site that might help. http://www.icasn.org/resources.html
Asian American Genealogical Sourcebook (Genealogy Sourcebook Series)
by Paula K. Byers (Editor)
Hardcover Published by Gale Research
Publication date: September 1995
Sorry I couldn't find anymore. But I know there will be more information at a library. Hopfully you get a good librarian to help you.

Judith, I really feel for you with your challenge. As you know, we have a lot of experts here in many fields, but when you don't have a name, birthdate or anything else it is really hard. I hope you will find an agency that will help you through this to a positive conclusion. I can't imagine if I were your DIL trying to search for my roots and not being able to get anywhere! Betty the librarian would have done anything she could to help you. I wish you the best in her quest to find her extended family.

Judith, even if your DIL never finds any other information, the fact that you are so supportive of her speaks of your respect and love for her. I know she must be so appreciative of your efforts.

Our thanks to you Betty and to Olivia and Donna. It has to be difficult to go through life not knowing anything about yourself, and we would do anything to help her. Usually adoptees can find out something about their past but in this case everything, including the orphanage in Danang, has been a dead end; a little malnourished toddler was found sitting in a street, not able to tell the soldiers or nuns anything.