Open Adoption Vs Closed Adoption

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The biggest difference between open and closed adoption is that open adoption requires the extra effort of forming and maintaining a relationship. Like any relationship, it will be complex. And like any relationship, it’s up to the parties involved to set limits and (most important of all) to communicate. How much contact do they want, before and after the birth? Do they want to exchange pictures and letters? Do birth parents want to see the child on an ongoing basis? Do the adoptive parents agree? It’s hard to foresee all of the situations that will occur and how each person will feel, but it’s to everyone’s benefit for all parties to be as clear with themselves, and with each other, as possible. The open adoption relationship can become very …show more content…
Even when relinquishment is a carefully considered and chosen option, birthmothers—and often birthfathers—may suffer from a heightened sense of worthlessness after giving away a child. They may feel guilty about their actions. These birthparents may believe that their offspring will not understand the reasons for relinquishment and that these offspring will blame and hate their birthparents for rejecting and abandoning them. The birthparents may want their children to know that they continue to care about them and, in turn, may wish to learn about the kind of people their children have become. No matter how many children they may have subsequently, birthparents may still desire knowledge and contact with the one they gave up.6

In traditional closed adoptions, such knowledge and contact is not possible. Birthparents do not know who adopted their child, where he or she lives, or even whether the child is alive or dead. Even in so-called open placements where all parties know the identity of all other parties, birthparents often have no ongoing contact with the child. In these instances, birthparents may feel powerless. They have no knowledge of what is happening to their child and no opportunity to let the adoptive family know of significant events in their own lives.
Effects on the
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In young adulthood, plans for marriage may create an urgent desire for specific background information, particularly about family history. For adopted adult women, pregnancy and the birth of a child may raise fears of possible unknown hereditary problems.( Pannor) Becoming a parent may also trigger intense feelings in the adoptee toward his or her own birthmother. These feelings may include not only empathy for her difficult emotional situation, but also anger and disbelief that she could have given up her own child. The feelings frequently create a need in adoptees to search for birthparents and the hope for a reunion to bring together the broken connections from the past. Such a search, if undertaken, often is prolonged, painful, and