Abstract

This study explores intercountry adoptees’ information-seeking as an identity-based meaning-making process and examines the structural constraints shaping their access to adoption records. Twelve adoptees participated in semi-structured interviews, and the data were analyzed using Dervin’s Sense-Making framework of situation, gap, use, and barriers. The findings show that adoptees’ information needs stemmed from racialized identity confusion, curiosity about biological family members, and the desire for medical and genealogical information. Their searches followed multi-stage strategies, including reviewing records held by adoptive parents, contacting adoption and government agencies, and visiting hospitals or childcare facilities. However, incomplete records, inconsistent disclosure practices, staff discretion, restrictive interpretations of privacy laws, and language barriers significantly hindered their ability to form coherent understandings of their origins. This study provides a structured account of adoptees’ identity-driven information-seeking and offers empirical grounding for standardizing archival information services and improving institutional support for identity reconstruction.