What is an open adoption?

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Open Adoption

If you have even a passing interest in the topic of open adoption, then you should take a look at the following information. This enlightening article presents some of the latest news on the subject of open adoption.

Because they are now considered rather controversial, many people do not realize that open adoptions are actually quite common in the United States before the end of the 19th century.

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Open adoptions are actually quite common in the United States – image by americaadopts.com

Before a child was adopted, most often the biological parents had some contact with the adoptive parents. It is true, however, that the agreements were not exactly the same as today are open adoptions.

In those days, adoption is seen as a social mechanism: the parents responsibility to give up a child who could not afford to attend, and the adoptive parents got another set of hands or a new apprentice to the family business.

What is an Open Adoption
Before a child was adopted, most often the biological parents had some contact with the adoptive parents – image by jelteslaw.com

In the late 19th century, more conservative ideas about family life became widespread throughout the country. That created a stigma around adoption.

Suddenly, it is important for adoptive families to maintain the fiction that parents and children are biologically related. This encourages parents to try to adopt children who seemed to themselves as much as possible, a phenomenon that some researchers refer to the creation of “as if” families.

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It is important for adoptive families to maintain the fiction that parents and children are biologically related – image by parents.com

This new thinking also has implications for women who place children for adoption, as they often are intended to encourage the birth certificate had never happened, or that his son was dead. This was to discourage mothers from birth to the child trying to find later. Very often, parents do not even know if anyone had taken their children.

Adoptive parents usually have never even learn from each other names. For years, this was considered the most healthy way to arrange an adoption. People thought it would be confusing and detrimental to a child may have two biological and adoptive parents in their lives.

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This was to discourage mothers from birth to the child trying to find later – image by scarymommy.com

You can see that there’s practical value in learning more about open adoption. Can you think of ways to apply what’s been covered so far?

Open adoptions have been gaining in popularity in the U.S. since the 1980s. Many of them are only semi-open, which means that the adoptive parents and have contact only before and immediately after birth. Subsequently, the two families go their separate ways. The opportunity to meet and even adoptive parents chose to give parents peace of mind during a difficult time.

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Semi-open, which means that the adoptive parents and have contact only before and immediately after birth – image by newlifeadoptionsmn.org

It also allows adoptive parents to ask questions about the child’s family history, the behavior of the mother during pregnancy and other important variables.

In an open adoption, birth parents maintain contact with the adoptive parents and sometimes the child throughout the child’s life. This is usually an informal agreement between the parents concerned, but some families prefer to sign a legal contract that guarantees each set of parents certain rights and obligations. Under this arrangement, the adoptive parents retain full legal parental rights.

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In an open adoption, birth parents maintain contact with the adoptive parents and sometimes the child throughout the child’s life – image by consideringadoption.com

The rights of biological parents are just to visit with the child, or to receive regular updates from the adoptive parents about the child’s life.

People choose open adoption, because we believe that the best solution for all involved. The biological parents are able to interact with their children while the child does not have to spend time trying to discover or locate their parents. Some people consider this unconventional arrangement would be confusing or damaging to children, but there is no strong evidence to support this.

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Sharing the love – image by adoption.org

If you’ve picked some pointers about open adoption that you can put into action, then by all means, do so. You won’t really be able to gain any benefits from your new knowledge if you don’t use it.

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