Searching For Birth Relatives In Russia, Ukraine & Belarus

Are you adopted from Eastern Europe? Here we are focusing on adoptees from countries like Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. While "Eastern Europe" includes many other nations, this space is specifically for those connected to the Russian language — whether as a first language, second language, or through family/cultural ties in these regions.

Like many from the early 1990s onward, thousands of children were adopted internationally from Eastern Europe amid post-Soviet transitions and orphanage systems. In the US alone, Russia was a major source, with over 19,000 adoptions in the 1990s and a cumulative total of roughly 58,000–60,000 from the early 1990s to 2012. New Zealand had over 700 Russian adoptees during this period. Other Eastern European countries like Romania (tens of thousands in the early 1990s–2000s), Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Bulgaria also sent significant numbers to the US, Western Europe, and beyond.

It is difficult for some as everything is different. The language, the culture and the size of the countries. Many adoptees have revisited their Birth Country in these areas to experience the culture and the people and a lot of them have gone back to meet their Birth Parents.

Searching for Birth Relatives in a country like Russia or countries that are near takes time and patience. You should never put yourself in a direct timeline of expecting how long it will take. I always recommend that, adoptees should take some time to learn about their birth culture and the country before searching. That is just a bit of advice from my end as it’s important to learn about these countries a little bit first.

Before I did my search for my Birth Parents in 2013 I knew a lot about Russia already but still not enough. I knew that it was going to be a totally different Country than where I am in New Zealand. But I still didn’t know what to expect.

There are different ways for any adoptees to search for their Birth Parents in Russia or Ukraine. Remember to think about searching for them - first. Do it when you feel it’s right and take your time. Decide on who you would like to get help from before searching too. It all comes down to yourself if you want to search for any of your birth family.

This Note is a little different from my usual writing. I created it as a guide for adoptees who may be searching for answers or looking for birth relatives. I hope it helps.

This guide will eventually move to our Guides and Tools section. For now, you can find everything here.

Here are some tips that can help you on your search. I have also created some tools that can help. This is in no order.

Find yourself a friend who speaks Russian or Ukrainian who can go over what information you have with you. This way you can sit down and look at what you can find online on your birth parents. You may even have the chance to learn the language with them. Words like ‘Свидетельство о рождении’ or ‘Свидетельство об усыновлении’ you may see on your papers. First few words mean Certificate of Birth and second few words mean Certificate of Adoption.

Russian & Ukrainian Search Helper

Searching for birth relatives can be difficult when names, places, and documents have been translated into English. Many adoptees discover that the same person may appear under several different spellings depending on who translated the records.

To help with this, I have created a free Russian & Ukrainian Search Helper.

This tool can help you:

• Convert names into Cyrillic (Russian and Ukrainian where available)
• Understand common alternative spellings
• Convert birth locations into local spellings
• Understand Russian patronymics (middle names)
• Generate names and locations that may be useful when searching social media, records, or documents
• Link through names to VK.com or OK.ru

Please remember that this tool is provided as a guide only. Results may not always be accurate and should not be treated as proof of identity, family relationships, or official records. No information entered into the tool is stored, saved, or transmitted. Tweaks and updates on the tool will be updated as I update it.

Access the Russian & Ukrainian Search Helper →

Use DeepL for some assistance with word translations or Google Translate if you need access to a Russian keyboard. This way you can get some information if you look closely at any papers or documents you may have. Try to match up any names correctly instead of relying on Google Translate. ChatGPT can also be great with name translations.

Don’t message people right away if you may think you have found someone. Slow down and take your time. The best way about it is once you have an idea that you may have found someone, think about what you want to say first. We recommend mentioning that you’re trying to look for some relatives. Explaining that you want to simply connect.

Another option is hiring someone to search for you. Though we don’t have an official list of services or people, we know there might be some options with doing a search on Google. We aren’t affiliated with any PI or searchers found outside of I'm Adopted.

Going to your adoption agency is also an option. These people may be able to help you with your search for your Birth Parents. They may be able to guide you to the right people to help you search.

ust on a side note – Learn a bit about the culture. Take your time!