Benefits of openness
Benefits of openness
Because open adoption is rooted in meeting the adopted child’s needs, there are many ways this model benefits the child.
- The child feels accepted and embraced for who they are, allowing for a healthier sense of identity and self-esteem.
- The child has direct access to information and support from their birth family.
- The child is raised within an atmosphere where questions and talking about adoption is natural and welcomed.
There are also tremendous benefits for birth and adoptive parents, which include:
Birth parents
- Birth parents have agency in the adoption planning process and choose the family who will raise their child.
- They can express the love and care they feel for their child to the child and their adoptive family.
- They can see for themselves how the child is doing as they grow and develop.
- They play a unique role in the child’s life, and that role is validated and honored.
- They are better able to integrate the role of birth parent into their identity and their life.
Adoptive parents
- Because adoptive parents are chosen by the birth parents, they often feel a sense of validation and purpose – they’re empowered and honored.
- They have access to information and can include the birth parents in conversations as their child’s questions arise over time.
- They can help their child develop a healthier sense of identity and self-esteem by embracing their birth family and culture.
- They know their child more fully by knowing their biological family members.
Learn more—benefits of openness
Learn more about open adoption
In an open adoption, the adopted child and their adoptive family maintain an ongoing connection to the child’s biological family.
Closed adoption, which is largely a thing of the past, was motivated by fear, shame and secrecy.
Adopted children need love and support from all their parents. Here are ways to create a healthy foundation.
Benefits of openness FAQs
Frequently asked questions
- Is open adoption confusing for the child?
No, it is actually less confusing for a child to have access to information about all parts of who they are and be able to build relationships with their biological and adoptive families. Knowing about their adoption and the people who are a part of it can help adoptees to process and better understand their adoption story.
- What do adoptees call their birth parents in an open adoption?
Adoptees and their biological families choose ways to refer to one another that work for them, and every situation is different. In some cases, an adopted child may refer to a biological parent using the word mother or father (or a variant such as mom, mama, etc.), while in other cases they may choose to refer to them using their first names. During adoption planning, biological and adoptive families often talk about how they will refer to one another, and this can set a foundation for how the child will refer to people. This can also change over time.
- Who names the baby in an open adoption?
In an open adoption, birth and adoptive parents often collaboratively name their child. There are two birth certificates in adoption, an original birth certificate that is completed by the birth parents when a child is born and a second, amended, birth certificate that is completed by the adoptive parents when the adoption is finalized. In some cases, these names are different and in others they are the same. When biological and adoptive families are thinking about naming a child, they are encouraged to think about how the child may someday feel about the story of their name. Many adult adoptees have expressed feeling confused or hurt in learning that their name was changed.
- Can I have a closed adoption?
Birth parents can request that their identity not be shared with adoptive parents in their adoption process, and their choice will be honored. We encourage people to share as much information about themselves as they feel comfortable in cases where they do not want direct contact, so that their child can still know about their birth family as they grow up. Truly closed adoptions are difficult to maintain today because of the many ways people find one another, including social media, DNA tests, and adoptees having the right to access parts of their adoption file (laws vary by state). This means that ongoing confidentiality cannot be guaranteed. A birth parent’s desire to know information about or to have a direct relationship with their child and the adoptive family may shift over time, which is also something that OA&FS would help support.
- What is open adoption?
In an open adoption, the adopted child and their adoptive family maintain an ongoing connection to the child’s biological family – often with regular updates, visits, and a relationship that evolves over time like any relationship. This ongoing connection is recognized to be beneficial to everyone involved, especially the child. Our agency was founded in 1985 with a focus on openness, which was not very common at the time. Most adoptions today have some level of openness. Although openness in adoption is now considered a best practice compared with historically closed adoptions, it does not resolve the trauma and grief inherent in adoption.