Over the past 12 years, I had tracked down, spoken with, and eliminated every female born on February 14, 1968 at Cottage Hospital and in Santa Barbara County as possibly being my daughter. But there was a sealed birth certificate on Vital Records' 1968 roll of microfilm which eluded identification for several years. Only the local birth certificate number, #396, was displayed, on the microfilm, along with the 1972 delayed filing date, indicating an adoption. Although there were other sealed birth certificates in 1968, the fact that #396 was only 5 numbers away from my daughter's, #391 certificate, yet it wasn't filed until 1972, compelled me to try to find out who that record belonged to and the circumstances.