Open adoption is a form of adoption where the birth parents have the ability to choose how open they’d like their communication to be with their child and its adoptive family. Adoptions from the Heart has formed families using open adoption for years, and it has proven to have the best benefits for all members of the adoption triad. This form of adoption is very common in modern-day domestic placements. With, about, seven million Americans are adopted, 60-70% of those placements were open. So why should you choose open adoption for your little one? Here are some ideas that might help!
Birth Parents
As a birth parent, adoption can be a tough decision to make when choosing what’s best for your child. Fortunately, there are many resources out there to help you make the right decision. Below are a few advantages you will have when choosing open adoption:
- Have a say in who will raise your little one
- Be able to connect with and watch your child as they grow up
- Make connections with the adoptive parents
- Have peace of mind knowing where your child is and how they are doing
- Provide additional information about your family history or child, that could potentially help the adoptive parents with future endeavors. For example, in a medical emergency
Open adoption allows for the birth parents to have a sense of belonging after the birth of their child; this would help with grief after placement and give them a sense of peace knowing the status of their little one. If birth parents form relationships with the adoptee and adoptive parents, it could help with beginning the process of acceptance, healing, or any struggles they may be facing from placement, with adding positive community to their life.
Adoptees
Psychologically speaking, the child will grow up with a better sense of identity and confidence knowing where they came from and having relationships with both the adoptive and birth parents. Another big benefit is the additional medical information that will be shared between the birth and adoptive parents regarding health and issues that could potentially be of importance to know for the future. This is a requirement either way, but within open adoption, there is more free-flowing information that could help the adoptee in a medical emergency. Open adoption could also provide more comfort for the adoptee if their birth and adoptive parents have a relationship; this could prevent the adoptee from avoiding grief and help them process emotional hurdles.
Adoptive Parents
For adoptive parents, open adoption eases the fear of worrying about how the birth parents are doing with the placement of their child and allows for a positive relationship. Also, knowing they were chosen by the birth parents can be an encouraging reminder when feeling insecure about raising their adoptee. Open adoption will take some of the stress off the adoptive parents when their adoptee struggles with their identity because everything will be transparent, and the adoptive parents can be more of a supporting figure rather than an information source.
In Conclusion
Open adoption is the most common domestic form for a reason; the benefits for all members of the triad speak for themselves. We know that all adoption stories can be beautiful, open, or closed. Regardless of the birth parent’s decision, it should be respected. However, we do encourage transparency as it is best for the adoptee’s overall health.
If you are a birth parent or adoptive parent considering open adoption, head over to our website for more information! We’d love to hear from you and help with your decision!
If you are looking for more resources about adoption, check out our Adoption Blog!
Source: https://adoptionnetwork.com/adoption-myths-facts/domestic-us-statistics/
