WHICH SERVICE DO YOU NEED?
When it comes to Search Angels, there are many types. Essentially these boil down into two major kinds, paid, and free. Note that "free" angels may still incur charges on your behalf. If they call or write or pay a fee for information, these charges can be billable to you. Make sure the terms are agreed on in advance. If you expect them to make calls, then expect to pay for them.
Private Detectives and Skip Tracers
There are plenty of these advertising in and around the adoption sites. Most offer a fixed fee but no guarantees and there is usually a significant wait for results. In my experience, you can access all the same info if you do some serious legwork.
Angels for Hire
There are 'professional' search angels as well. Just like attorney ads, some offer payment options only if someone is found, others may charge a flat fee. Look at their records and Google them carefully, you will be entrusting them with quite a bit of very personal information.
Volunteer Angels
Google Alerts
You may find these groups on FaceBook, Yahoo Groups, or on various adoption sites like G's Registry. They concentrate on searches and data and when they find something you will be notified by email, but you must make the connection yourself.
It always pays to punch in a Google alert with your search terms. Let Google keep an eye out and email you if you get a hit.
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Shotgun approach
Sometimes you may find a mix of several of these options to be the best bet, especially if this search is time critical.
