what's the best way to find my father who I have not had contact with in about 25 years?

[prettysweet77]

He and my mother was never married, so I don't have his last name. We moved to another state and lost all contact. I don't know any of his relatives at all so I have no way of knowing about him or where he is now. Don't want anyone in my family to know that I'm searching for him. I can't afford a P.I. right now. When I search the "free" people search sites, sometimes relatives of the name I searched are relatives with his last name, which I don't have. I searched my name and my mom and siblings name was listed. Are there any great websites that can help me. I only have a first&last name and last state of his residences 25 years ago. His name is not even on my birth certificate . I'm all out of ideas, please help.

[Maxi]

Living people have privacy rights so unless they are careless with their information or advertise themselves............ you have no rights to look at their records.......... so you are left with sites that collect that information some are careless about which generally charge you for that info............. such as people search websites, online directories, electoral rolls and of course social media which is free some on here may help you http://familytimeline.webs.com/adoptionl...ations.htm

[Mick W]

if you knew where you last lived with him, (remember the address) you could check the voters list to see what names were on it for the address you lived at, you could also check utility companies (gas electric telephone) for names they supplied services to at that address 25 years ago, local businesses such as garages (gas station) may recall him if he had an account with them, he may even have been known to the local police, or check records at local employment offices, and any local credit agencies, they might even be a court record of him being order to pay your mother maintenance for you, which would identify him.

once you get a sir-name (last name) for him, check to make sure he's not deceased, before embarking on a time consuming search, with a last name and approximate age it narrows the field down considerably, unless of course its smith or brown,

[Keith Finnegan]

If he is in the US try sites like whitepages.com. If you have access to ancestry.com at a local library try looking under their public information folders. As a last resort if you find a relative of his you can always contact them and pretend to be someone else (like an old school friend) that is looking for his info trying to reconnect. Good luck.