What You Should Know Before Deciding To Do An Open Adoption

There are so many ways to add to your family. Adoption is one of those beautiful ways for a family unit to become complete.  About 135,000 adoptions happen in the United States each year.  In the United States, almost 400,000 children are living without permanent families in the foster care system.  There are no shortage of families wanting to adopt, and children waiting for their forever homes and families.  There are many adoption options for families wanting to adopt.  There are foreign, foster, infant, independent, stepchild and open or closed adoptions.  As you can see, there are many options.  Choosing which one is right for your family is an important decision.  Many people choose open adoptions.  Before deciding if open adoption is the right decision for your family, it’s important to know the facts about it.

Open Adoptions allow for some sort of open association between the birth parents and the adoptive parents.  The words “open association” can mean a wide range of things in these types of adoptions.  It can mean a letter or a phone call on a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis.  It can also mean open contact with agreed upon intermediaries or parents present.  Often older children, who are adopted, have more open types of adoptions because they may already know or have some type of association with their birth parents.

All parties involved in an open adoption should always make their top priority the needs of the child.  Honoring the all the pieces that have gone into the makeup of that child is important. Most people go into open adoptions with this as their priority, but over time, things may change.  Birth parents who have been visiting or calling may suddenly vanish or drift away.  Reasons for this can be a move to a new job, a marriage, and a personal problem, such as drugs or alcohol.  In some cases, the birth parent may not feel worthy of contact, or she may get the message from the adoptive parents that she’s not welcome. 

Being informed, having adoption advocates, and strong legal advice are all important when considering open adoption, or any other type of adoption.  For sound legal advice, contact the law offices of Thomas Rowsey if you’re considering, or have entered into an open adoption arrangement.