AstroAPhi, I could be wrong, but I'm fairly certain that the law is different from state to state. At least, that's what I've encountered. I know of one person who was adopted privately, and by "exploring" the basement of the county courthouse, found the sealed books, and used wire cutters. To this person's "credit", I will add that she had just had a child born with a genetic disease, and she was desperate to find her genetic makeup.

Please tell me you're kidding! You can see this almost any weekday on the Maury-Montel-Springer shows, only with trailers and a six-pack!

Maybe I should clarify. The adoption agency was not allowed to give out my mother's information to me unless she gave them permission to release it. That means if they couldn't find her, they still couldn't release it to me. If they got ahold of her and she said no, they still couldn't release it. However, I could have hired a private investigator or something if I had wanted, but I wanted to respect her privacy. I just feel like doing it with a PI would have been like stalking the poor woman.

And I wouldn't exactly say that what your friend did was necessarily within the law.