Video By Fredo

Please leave a comment if you have any questions for Dave.  You can also email Dave at info@omnitrace.com or call him toll free at 1-888-965-6696.

Here is a post about  OmniTrace search methods from our youngest and perhaps most enthusiastic OmniTrace Private Investigator:

By Rachel Weiss

Hello my name is Rachel Weiss, and I am originally from Boston, Massachusetts, the home of the Boston Red Sox.  I come from a family that is made up of a set of fraternal twins, whom are my brother and sister, my mother and father, and me.  I recently graduated last year from college with a Bachelor’s Degree of Science in Psychology.  In my spare time I love to enjoy the outdoors, whether it is going to the beach, or just being outside walking around somewhere.  A big part of me is definitely still a homebody, and I love spending time with my family as much as I can.  

One of the things I love about my job is using search methods to reunite people with their lost loves,  long lost family members or friends, which is very rewarding.  For as long as I can remember I have loved helping people in every way that I possibly can.  I currently work at OmniTrace as one of the Private Investigators that does research on the many different searches we receive.  Here is one of them and the search methods I used:

Locating a lost love you were once involved is definitely a heart felt process.

One specific case was near and dear to my heart.  On the 30^thday of March a man named Steve (we’ll protect Steve’s confidentiality by not providing his last name) called  and spoke with Barbara, one of our search consultants here at Omnitrace.  Barbara took down all the essential information that Steve had on the lost love that he was searching for.  This information included the first and last name of the women,  and a possible date of birth that he thought belonged to her.  Another key piece of information that was given for the women was a last known partial address (in New York State) where she once lived in the year 1967.  There were two other key pieces of information that Steve provided to Barbara:  the names of the women’s father and sister.  (The first name of Steve’s lost love is Tanya.  We’ll protect Tanya’s confidentiality by not providing her last name.)

Barbara then provided me the details of this new search.  The first step I took in this search was to locate all the Tanyas, nationwide that happened to be in the age range that Steve provided to us, which was 1942-1945.  This in turn allowed me to correlate a list of all Tanyas in that age range nationwide.  I located all current whereabouts of these Tanyas and made contact with all of them.  I discovered that none of these women were the correct Tanya, which allowed me to eliminate all of them and move on with my search.

The next step I took in this search was to locate all Vincent ______nationwide, since that was the name that Steve gave Barbara for Tanya’s father.  So,  I located only one Vincent _______that had connections to New York, and he had unfortunately passed away.  However, I was able to locate a relative of his, and made contact with this person.

A few days went by and I received a call back from the relative of the Vincent that I located.  I spoke with him on the phone for quiet a few minutes and I told him who I was looking for, and I confirmed with him that he was indeed the brother of Tanya that I had been looking for.  I asked the brother to have Tanya please get in contact with me so that I can speak with her myself and figure out if she would like contact with my client.  This is usually the correct protocol that we take when we have a client that is searching for an old girlfriend and/or old boyfriend.

The next day I received a call from Tanya herself, whom is the subject that I have been searching for.  I spoke with her for awhile on the phone and she told me she actually was hoping that the person that was looking for her was indeed our client.  So once it was confirmed that I located the correct person, I got in contact with the Steve, and shared the great news with him and he was so happy!

After speaking on the phone with Tanya, Steve called me to give me an update to let me know how things were going, and he told me that Tanya sent him some pictures over email. He then emailed me an update, and stated that “you have started me on an adventure which may never end, and I thank you for your efficiency in finding her.  I will play it out to the best of my ability, and will keep you informed”.

A few days after that first email Steve sent another email to update me on how things were going with Toya and himself.  The client said, “My relationship w/ Tanya has gotten very warm.  I don’t know where this could ever go since I am married.  I have no choice but to follow the path, I respect & love her terribly & we retrieved so much time of so long ago.  An amazing experience.  We never forgot that long ago time.  Thank you for finding her.  She is a terrific person.”

I did receive one last email from Steve a week after the other two emails, and it was a little disappointing to hear but understandable.

 “It seems I became a bit passionate” which Tanya said, “I appreciate your passion re: our relationship,” then morphed into the fact that I made her uncomfortable, since I as a writer waxed poetic which is my way.  “For me it means termination, which was my response.  Thanks for all you did in finding her.  I no longer wish to communicate with her, & her last e-mail was cutting.  On to better things.  It was a 42 yr. odyssey.”

So overall, the search methods I used for Steve’s lost love were successful and it left the client with both happiness and sadness at the same time.  This does happen quiet often with searches, that the client is searching for a long lost love from many years ago, as the client never knows where the other person is in their life right now which is sometimes disappointing.

Please leave a comment if you have any questions about the search methods used to reunite Steve and Tanya.

OmniTrace is involved with many wonderful reunions between adopted children and their biological parents.  Most go very well and are wonderful experiences for the reunited family members.

The following reunion (not one of our cases) has a truly startling twist.  Here’s a story shown on ABC News about an adoption that took place in New Jersey.  It involves a mix-up between two people who waited their entire lives to meet, and it is absolutely heartbreaking:

ABC News Story

It’s hard to know exactly where things went wrong.  It could have been at the hospital.  In that case, the hospital records were likely destroyed years ago and the mystery will never be solved.  Or, the mistake may have taken place at the New Jersey adoption agency– the son was one of six other children adopted around the same time and a mix-up might have occurred.

Unfortunately, those agency adoption records that might help to reveal the truth are currently sealed according to  New Jersey state law.  What ABC News failed to include in their story is that  New Jersey Adoption Records may soon be opened. 

A while back, we wrote that a Bill (S611) to open adoption records in New Jersey had been passed by the New Jersey Senate and was being considered for approval by the New Jersey Assembly.  If passed, an adoptee would have access to his/her original birth certificate as long as a no contact veto was not signed by the birth parents.

 Bill S611 has been in Committee (Assembly) since March 2008 and, to date, no schedule has been set for its review.  If and when Bill S611 is approved by the Committee, it will then go before the full Assembly and, if approved, then will be signed by the Governor. 

You can obtain a copy of the proposed bill here:  S611.  You can also call (609) 292-4840 for information. 

We’ll keep you posted on anything new we hear about this important legislation.  Hopefully, if and when the bill is passed, the father and son mentioned in the ABC News Story may possibly find the answers they seek.

Please leave a comment if you have any questions.  You can also call us toll free at:  1-888-965-6696. 

We frequently speak with adoptees and birth parents about adoption reunion registries and are surprised to learn how few know what they are.   Here’s some important information about these registries:  

When searching for your birth family your first step should be reunion / adoption registries.  An adoption reunion registry can be the least expensive and quickest way to reunite you with your birth parents or a child placed for adoption.

A reunion registry is a system for matching information from adoptees with information from biological parents.  If an adoptee enters their birth information into a particular registry and the biological mother enters her information into the same registry, a match could potentially be made.

Two of the largest and most comprehensive reunion registries are administered by the International Soundex Reunion Registry (ISRR) and Adoption.com.

1) The International Soundex Reunion Registry (ISRR) is a non-profit, humanitarian agency that was founded in 1975. ISRR is the largest free mutual consent registry in the world and has reunited thousands of adoptee’s and birth parents over the years. You can obtain the registration forms directly from their website at http://www.isrr.net/ or http://www.isrr.org/. 

After ISRR receives your registration, the information you supplied is then computerized. If your data matches with another registrant and the ISRR registrar determines a relationship exists, both parties will be notified immediately. Your information will also remain on file in case your biological family comes looking for you at a later date.  The ISRR registry is not searchable by the public and you will only be contacted if they determine a match is made.  If in the future your address or phone number changes, please be sure and notify ISRR so they will be able to get in touch with you if a match is made.  The update/change of address form can also be found on the ISRR website.

2) Adoption.com owns and maintains a more open adoption reunion registry located at www.registry.adoption.com.  This registry is searchable and relies on you to locate a match for your biological family.  Through this registry, you can locate and contact potential matches for your birth family that have posted their information.  You can also post your information in case your birth family comes looking for you.  If in the future your address or phone number changes, please be sure and update your adoption post. We have seen cases where a match is made, but the contact information is out of date.  In these cases people have had to hire a search company to locate the registrant or have been unable to connect with the potential match.

A note about the Adoption.com registry:  Only your email address remains confidential.  If you supply your name, address and/or phone number they will be posted directly on their website.  If you wish to remain anonymous just list your email address so any potential matches can contact you.  Please read the FAQ’s section of this registry for more information.

Other Registries:  
Many states also maintain and administer state specific adoption registries.  Some states do charge a small fee,  but they are often worth the price.  Most states, however, offer free adoption registries.  There are also many private adoption registries that are typically free.  You should register on these websites and explore them thoroughly. 

Here is a link to our favorite state and private adoption reunion registries: Adoption Reunion Registry.  Enjoy! 

If you have any questions about searching, please leave a comment or email us.  You can also call us toll free at:  1-888-965-6696 for a FREE and FRIENDLY search consultation. 

Why not apply Yoga principles to your life to be  happier and stress-free?  Our good friend at  Yoga Awakening can help:

“Yoga is a discipline that breeds success and will release the inner powers of both your mind and body and lead to total freedom and control of your life.   

We all want one thing in life; that is to be truly happy.  We want to wake up in the morning feeling energized, and thrilled that it’s a brand new day.  We want to be enthusiastic about facing the challenges of our life, and we want to trust and have faith, that everything is going to work out for us.  We want to be kind and caring human beings and be treated with respect and kindness in return.  We want to live life with zest and derive total satisfaction from our circumstances.  We want to know how to create our own destiny and how to live the life that we were meant to live. We want to have everything that we always wanted, and be thankful and grateful for all that we have and all that we will obtain in the future. We want to know the truth about our existence and how we fit into the master plan of the universe.

But we can’t be truly happy unless we have health, strength, friendships, love, and abundance, not only to take care of our necessities, but also to provide for all of the comforts and luxuries for which we are entitled and to enable us to care for those we love.

The Yoga Awakening Training Collection will show you how to be truly happy and how to get everything that you want out of life.”

Yoga Awakening Founder:  Anthony D’Agostino

We strongly suggest that you visit:

Yoga Awakening Website

Troy The Locator has been reuniting birth family for over twenty years and is one of the most viewed shows on WE tv.  Millions of people have witnessed Troy The Locator conduct reunions between birth parents and adoptees.

A new episode of  Troy The Locator airs Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009,  9:00 PM Eastern Time and 8:00 PM Central. 

Here is what WE tv has to say about Troy The Locator:

Troy Dunn is a true phenomenon: From finding birth parents to organ donors, his brilliant investigative skills are a marvel to all who see him in action. His impressive track record for locating people means that he and his staff are routinely inundated with dozens of new cases to solve on a weekly basis.

But for one week each month, Troy devotes all of his staff and resources to one important case that they call the Angel Case. This Angel Case usually comes to Troy because there is an urgent need to find someone and because she has exhausted all other possible avenues. The Angel Case meeting begins with Troy’s staff presenting him with three to four potential cases and after a brief discussion, Troy decides which challenge he wants to take on. On his way out of the meeting, Troy assigns specific tasks to his staff members to streamline the search process.

Join Troy and his team on these emotional journeys, where everything from creative tactics to sheer luck provide breakthroughs in his quest to reunite loved ones and reconnect lives

Like Troy The Locator, OmniTrace -The Adoption Search Experts - reunites birth parents and adoptees all over the world.  We estimate that Dave Betz and his search team currently conduct more adoption related searches than any other company in the world.  We believe our success rate is unsurpassed by any other search firm!!!  

If you do not have the opportunity to reunite with your birth family via WE tv’s Troy The Locator, please contact us and one of our experienced and friendly search consultants - Sheila, Barbara, Sharla, Lisa, Michelle or Diane will provide you a FREE search consultation and answer any questions you have about your search.  You can call toll free at 1-888-965-6696 or email us at:  info@omnitrace.com.

We hope you enjoy this season’s episodes of We tv’s Troy The Locator.

Source:  ABC News
By By KI MAE HEUSSNER

You can run and you can hide.

But, especially in the digital age, do you have what it takes to disappear?

In a contest hatched by Wired magazine, writer Evan Ratliff tried to see if he could fly below the radar for 30 days with a bounty over his head.

Starting Aug. 15, he traveled the continental United States without revealing his location to a soul on the planet. Wired offered $5,000 to anyone who could find him before the time ran out, but Ratliff would pocket $3,000 if he survived the month incognito.

With just one week to go, it looked like Ratliff might outsmart the hundreds — maybe thousands — of hi-tech sleuths who had joined the hunt.

But, on Tuesday, on his way to pick up some pizza, he was nabbed in New Orleans.

“I actually thought that I’d make it back to New York. So much so that I had plans,” said the New York-based writer. “I had already plotted out what I’d do. I hadn’t quit trying. I really thought that I was going to make it.”…

To read the complete article:  Click Here

Our expertise is finding people, their assets, and their background information.   We know where to look, who to call, and what to say to find anyone’s personal information.  Who better to help you avoid criminal identity theft?  That’s the reason for this post. 

Although consumers have become more well informed at avoiding criminal identity theft, identity theft crooks are constantly updating their methods to steal credit cards, open bank accounts, obtain loans, etc. 

Here are ways you can avoid criminal identity theft:

• Carefully review your bank and credit card statements for unusual activity and make sure all your transactions match your statements.  Catching  an unauthorized transaction quickly will save you time and money, and notifying your bank within two days limits your liability to only $50.00.   
• If one of your bank or credit card statements does not arrive on schedule, notify the appropriate security department.  An identity thief might have your statement.
• Use ATM cards that carry the Visa or MasterCard label.  Your liability is limited to $50.00, no matter how long it takes for you to report criminal identity theft. 
• More easily avoid criminal identity theft by receiving your financial statements online.  This gives an identity thief  less opportunity to steal your hardcopy statements before and after you receive them.   If you need to use snail mail, shred personal and financial documents you place in the garbage.
• When conducting online financial and personal transactions, avoid criminal identity theft by changing your passwords often, and avoid easy to deciper passwords (e.g., birthdates, people’s names, dictionary words, license plate numbers, song names, words from poems, etc.). 
• Avoid criminal identity theft, by using up-to-date spam software and virus protection.  Install a firewall if possible. 
• Avoid providing personal information to anyone who telephones you.  This might seem obvious, but there are savvy identity thieves who are experts at pretexting and soliciting information by phone. 

Lastly, for a small fee, OmniTrace can run a background search on you to determine any signs of criminal identity theft.   If you are interested, please give us a call at:  1-888-965-6696 or email us at: info@omnitrace.com.

Please leave a comment with any questions or advice you may have about criminal identity theft.

Please CALL US NOW TOLL FREE - 1-888-965-6696 and mention discount code: ReuniteLaborDay2009.  We will provide you a FREE and FRIENDLY search consultation and answer any questions you might have.

You can also email me us at:  info@omnitrace.com

If you choose to email us, please include discount code: ReuniteLaborDay2009 in the subject line of your email for an immediate response.  Please be sure to supply us with your phone number and a best time to reach you.  Also, please tell us a little about your search such as:

• Is this search for your birth parents or your adopted child?
• Where did the adoption occur?
• When did the adoption occur?

Also, for a limited time only, you will also receive FREE background checks on your birth family members once we have successfully located them.

So, please CALL US NOW TOLL FREE - 1-888-965-6696 or email info@omnitrace.com.

OmniTrace Corp. is a licensed private investigation agency. We conduct thousands of successful searches every year, making us #1 in this industry.  Let us REUNITE you with your birth family today!

Warmest regards,

Your OmniTrace.com Staff

Please note:   This special promotion does not apply to our current clients.