What is the International Soundex Reunion Registry and why should you as an adoptee or birth parent register with them?
The International Soundex Reunion Registry, or ISRR, is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1975. ISRR is not affiliated with any other organization, search specialist, or state agency or registry. It is a mutual consent registry meant for anyone who has been separated from a family member due to adoption, divorce, foster care, institutional care, abandonment, etc.
There are many, many different reunion registries all over the world. ISRR stands out as the oldest and largest of its kind. The idea behind registering with a reunion registry is the hope that the person or persons you are seeking to find have also registered or might register with them in the future. It is highly recommended that you register with ISRR, but also with any state registry or other registry that the person you are seeking might think to also register. For example, if an adoption took place in Connecticut, you should check to see if Connecticut has any state registry as well.
In order to register with ISRR, you must be at least 18 years old. Registration is 100% free. To register, you must be able to provide a minimum of the year of birth, country, and state or province.
Your registration stays open and active forever, unless you request its removal or you notify ISRR that you have been reunited by other means.
ISRR will notify you when a match is made. It’s that simple. Since its inception, ISRR has facilitated matches for well over 12,000 families and the information provided by ISRR to donors has resulted in tens of thousands of additional reunions.
How does it work? ISRR uses Soundex, which is a code used in the American Census, SQL, ORACLE, and other computer programs. It phonetically indexes names by sound for names that sound alike but can be spelled a variety of ways. Soundex code uses the first letter of a name and combines it with three numbers. The numbers are based on consonant sounds. More information can be found in this chart.
Check out ISRR for yourself at http://www.isrr.org/. If you’re interested in registering with them, here are the instructions and here is the form.