Adoption Topics

Transracial Single Parents Gay & Lesbian Intercountry Special Needs Open Adoption

Open adoption is an umbrella term, used to cover a variety of arrangements, ranging from sharing of identifying information to continuing contact of birth parents with the adoptive family. The degree of openness is decided by the birth parents and adoptive parents, and usually spelled out in a contract or agreement at the time of the adoption.

Open adoptions developed as adoption agencies recognized the interest of adult adoptees in discovering their biological relatives, and as birth mothers began to assert their wish to have a role in selecting adoptive families, and often to maintain some degree of contact. Also, adoptive placements older children who knew their birth relatives were by definition open, and often there was a grandparent or other relative who wished to maintain contact.

There are benefits and risks in open adoptions for birth parents, adoptive parents, and the adopted child. Perhaps the greatest benefit accrues to the child, who grows in an atmosphere in which the biological family is accepted into the adoptive family, with the child as a part of both. Open adoptions are new enough that there are as yet no longitudinal studies of its effects.

Books and articles

Christian, C., R. G. McRoy, et al. (1997). "Grief Resolution of Birth Mothers in Confidential, Time-Limited Mediated, Ongoing Mediated, and Fully Disclosed Adoptions." Adoption Quarterly 2(3): 35-58.

Etter, J. (1993). "Levels of Cooperation and Satisfaction in 56 Open Adoptions." Child Welfare 72(3): 257-267.

Gritter, J. L. (1997). The Spirit of Open Adoption. Washington, D. C., Child Welfare League of America.

Grotevant, h. D. and R. G. McRoy (1998). Openness in Adoption: Exploring Family Connections. Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage.

Pertman, A., (2000) Adoption Nation: How the Adoption Revolution is Transforming America. New York: Basic Books

Reitz, M. and K. W. Watson (1992). Adoption and the Family System. New York, The Guilford Press.

Siegel, D. (1990). Open Adoption of Infants: Adoptive Parents Perceptions of Advantages and Disadvantages. National Conference of the National Association of Social Workers, Philadelphia, PA.

Silbeer, K. and Dorner, P. M. (1990) Children of Open Adoption and Their Families San Antonio: Corona Publishing Co.