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How to Find Your Biological Father Even If You’ve Never Seen Him

clock Updated: 1 month ago

How to Find Your Biological Father Even If You’ve Never Seen Him

Find Your Father by Name

Enter your dad’s name and get tons of useful information about him!

Father is an important role in our family. While some of us grow up with our biological father by our side; others thrive under the care of their adoptive parents or stepdad, or sometimes without a father figure. If you belong to the second camp, at some point in your life, it may strike you that it’s time to track down your long-lost father. Luckily, with modern-day tools, it is not so hard at all – even when you haven’t spoken to him for months, years, decades, or never met him since birth…

Finding a long-absent family member is a potential emotionally overwhelming process. Added to this, it may lead you to discoveries and truths that you would not expect. So before you embark on this journey, it is important that you get yourself ready- both mentally and emotionally.

Also, ask yourself why you want to find or meet your birth father. Do you have a lingering curiosity in your mind about your origin? Do you want to inquire about important medical information from your biological father’s family? Or have you been estranged from your father for so long and now wish to make peace with him? Regardless of your motivations, make sure you keep your head cool and approach with a clear goal.

Since any kind of results could come out during your search, it’s best to keep an open mind and set realistic expectations. Don’t assume that your father pushes you away or he doesn’t want to hear from you. On the contrary, don’t automatically take it that he would reciprocate your feelings and wishes. The best way to navigate the situation is to open yourself to the outcomes – positive or negative – and make the best out of it.

Method 1 – Use a people search tool

If you have some personally identifying information(PII) with you, such as your papa’s name, phone number, email address, photos, or social media user name, you can put the information into a search to see if it yields something useful.

Remember, it doesn’t have to be your father’s PII – any acquaintance’s information that can provide insights about his whereabouts or current status would help.

To help you determine if the person is really your father, you’ll need some minor details, e.g. the schools where your dad attended, eye color (it never changes!), his profession, and so on.

Once you have all the information in place, it’s time to dive in.

1. Search for your father’s name by TruthFinder

If you know his name, you can search it with TruthFinder, one of the most powerful people search engines in the US. A detailed TruthFinder report could potentially reveal someone’s name, contact info, social media profiles, assets, possible family members, job history, professional licenses, criminal and traffic records, and a ton of other useful information if available.

Alternatively, you can head to TruthFinder’s public records search page:

  1. Go to TruthFinder’s official website, enter the name of the person, then click SEARCH.
  2. Within a few minutes, you will receive a results page with matches to the person you searched for. Select the report that most closely matches what you know about the individual. To access the report, you will need to pay for a membership plan. Then, you can compare what you know with the report results. If it is him, you may be able to learn a summary of his life up until so far.
    The above image is from a sample TruthFinder report. Actual TruthFinder reports may contain more or less information. 

2. Run a background search on your father with BeenVerified

BeenVerified bills itself as the go-to for everyday information. With BeenVerified, you can enter a name, phone number, address, email address, or even social media username to try and locate your father and get detailed background reports about him.

Here is how to run a background search with BeenVerified:

  1. Go to BeenVerified People Search.
  2. Choose a search method, then enter the information you’ve got hold of your biological father, and click SEARCH.
  3. Sit tight and wait for BeenVerified to search its public record sources. Once ready, you may receive a detailed snapshot of the man you’re trying to locate.

What customers are saying about BeenVerified:

“Thanks so much! You guys are awesome, with your company’s assistance, I have found my biological family.” Pamela S.

“Been Verified has put me in contact with so many people who were lost to me!” Joel

There are 4 more reliable people search tools you can use at your disposal, such as Intelius, PeopleLooker, Social Catfish, and Spokeo. They offer versatile lookup methods such as email/username/address/photo lookup to help you dig up a wealth of information with just one search.

3. Google®

Google® is a good friend if you’re looking for free information. But if you just randomly search, it may crank out a glut of results – making it hard for you to sort out. Here are a few tips to keep in mind to pinpoint your search:

  1. Use PII as your main search query.
  2. Enclose your main search keyword with quotations (e.g. “518000000”). In doing so, Google® will return to you only results exactly matching your query and in that exact order.
  3. Brainstorm a couple of minor details and add them strategically to your query.
  4. Use site:abc.com to search sitewide.
  5. Once you do find a lead, put the bits of information together and search further until you’ve gleaned all you want to know.

Bonus Tip: How to acquire information if you’re adopted

If you’re an adoptee, you can try asking your adoptive family to see if they can provide any document from the adoption that may help you learn about your roots.

Another option is to obtain adoption records through childwelfare.gov (under the premise that you’ve reached 18 years of age or have adoptive parental consent).

Method 2 – Take a DNA test with Family Finder

If you have little to no information about your father or your efforts of searching hit a brick wall, consider taking an autosomal DNA test with FamilyTreeDNA’s Family Finder. All you have to do is to collect a sample of your cells, send it to FamilyTreeDNA and wait as it updates you with the results. Normally, your data will be compared to others in its database (1 million and counting) to find relatives from either side of your ancestral lines.

If your father has taken the test, then congratulations – you’ll get a direct match. Even if he doesn’t, a close relative may have, and Family Finder will constantly update the database as more users join.

  1. Go to FamilyTreeDNA and order a DNA test kit.
  2. Simply swab the inside of your cheeks and mail the sample back.
  3. Within 4-8 weeks, you will be able to access your results online.

How we chose our recommended products

When recommending products to help find biological fathers, we looked for tools that are reputable, accurate, and easy to use. Specifically, here are the criteria we used:

  • Reputation – We only recommend established companies with a solid track record of providing accurate information. This includes tools like TruthFinder, BeenVerified, and FamilyTreeDNA.
  • Database size – The bigger the database, the higher the chance of finding a match. That’s why we favor tools like BeenVerified with access to billions of public records.
  • Ease of use – The process should be straightforward for users. We look for simple user interfaces and clear instructions. DNA tests that only require a cheek swab are ideal.
  • Privacy – People use these services to find sensitive information, so data privacy is critical. We only suggest companies that encrypt data and have clear privacy policies.
  • Cost – While paid services often provide more detailed information, we try to include free options like Google® searches when possible. For paid services, we aim for reasonable prices.
  • Features – More search options, report details, and family tree-building tools give you a better chance of connecting with lost relatives.

With these criteria in mind, we feel our recommendations provide the best chance for users to safely and successfully find their biological fathers, even with minimal information to go on.


That’s it – 2 methods to help you trace your biological father, even though you may not know his name. Hopefully, it has helped. What are your experiences or stories of finding your biological parent(s)? You’re more than welcome to share with us in the comments, below. Thanks.

Find Your Father by Name

Enter your dad’s name and get tons of useful information about him!

Image by Drazen Zigic on Freepik

Image by pikisuperstar on Freepik

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exclamation-blueThere’s no guarantee you’ll find the information you’re looking for with the tools discussed in this article. They all source their information from publicly available data sources, such as county, state and federal courts, government departments, and police records, and those sources may contain incorrect or incomplete data. It’s illegal to use these tools to make decisions about employment, admission, consumer credit, insurance, tenant screening, or any other purpose that would require FCRA compliance. Read the Fair Credit Reporting Act to learn more....

About this article

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Meet Enya – a passionate content writer who loves crafting insightful and helpful articles. Since 2018, she's built a reputation as a reliable source of knowledge. She explores topics far and wide, from online dating and people search tools to new streaming platforms to identity theft protection services and the latest tech.

When researching, Enya digs in deep. She sees to it that every article is backed by first-hand testing, rigorous analysis, and/or thorough investigation. Her commitment to in-depth research and comprehensive testing ensures her articles deliver trusted guidance readers can count on.

Embracing both quiet and thrill, Enya is a reserved extrovert who happily cruises between me time and socializing. Outside of writing, you can find her soaking up sights and sounds, chilling with friends or lost in a good book.

About this article

round-success 177 Revisions

file-success Reviewed by BeenVerified

Enya Zhang

Writer

Meet Enya – a passionate content writer who loves crafting insightful and helpful articles. Since 2018, she's built a reputation as a reliable source of knowledge. She explores topics far and wide, from online dating and people search tools to new streaming platforms to identity theft protection services and the latest tech. When researching, Enya digs in deep. She sees to it that every article is backed by firs [...]

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