Ask HN: Is there a way to recover memories?

Someone I know, in the USA, was adopted from out of the country at age five and can't remember anything about their experiences before adoption. They have heard stories of what their life was like but they can't truly remember those experiences.

Now they want to remember but can't. Are there techniques to recover or remember those memories? Or, are those memories gone?

Part of the problem I think is that they learned English very quickly and forgot their birth language at the same rate.

Also, I realize this is a non-technical question. However, I think the HN community would be able to at least point me in the right direction to help with this.