Open vs Closed

[ajritter04]

What is the name of your state? New Mexico
What is the difference between open and closed adoptions?

[nextwife]

Well, for example, mine is a closed adoption. My daughter was left at the orphnage. Parent's parental rights eventually terminated, daughter adopted (in our case about 18 months later). Bioparents have no access to information about us, cannot contact us or our daughter. The files are sealed and bioparents have no rights to access our info at all. THis is a closed adoption.

In an open adoption, the family remains in contact with the bioparents, and the children may also visit and see biofamily.

For some kids/situations, the contact is good. For others, this is not a necessarilly a good thing, especially is the bioparents have troubled pasts or troubled current situations.

[momofrose]

There is also something called "semi open" )which is what I have with my son) - I send emails and pictures to the birthparent on a monthly basis.

Most domestic adoptions are open if not semi open.

D

[nextwife]

Originally Posted by momofrose

There is also something called "semi open" )which is what I have with my son) - I send emails and pictures to the birthparent on a monthly basis.

Most domestic adoptions are open if not semi open.

D

Not necessarilly. I know many in the adoption community who have adopted from foster care. These ARE "domestic", but parental rights are often involuntarilly severed, and in many cases, the children are protected from contact with biofamilies.

[momofrose]

I am speaking of adoptions that are not done through the foster program.

Adoptions whereby the birthparent chooses the Adoptive parents as the parents of the child. Most of these are somewhat open (mostly letters and pictures)

D

[mb94]

As you can see open and closed mean different things depending on the agency used or the people involved. Generally closed means that there is no contact between the adoptive and birth parents. That's the easy part. Open adoption just means anything more than that. It can be as little as the two parties knowing each others names (but never having any contact) to pictures and letters on a set basis to visitation with the child and the birthparents and a family relstionship (spending the night, taking vacations, etc.)

Open adoptions are not legally binding in most states and even those where it is viewed as a legal contract it is hard to enforce. Which is why it is important that both sides sit down and honestly talk about what they want their adoption to look like since one person's open adoption could mean unsupervised visits every other weekent and another's could be a birthday card sent through a third party once a year.

[nextwife]

Originally Posted by momofrose

I am speaking of adoptions that are not done through the foster program.

Adoptions whereby the birthparent chooses the Adoptive parents as the parents of the child. Most of these are somewhat open (mostly letters and pictures)

D

Well, for clarification, many domestic adoptions ARE through foster care. So. some domestic adoptions are open and some are closed.

But a domestic adoption would be defined as any adoption that does not involve bringing the child here from a different country.

[Good2know]

When you have a closed adoption, bioparents CAN have access to the child ONCE the child turns 18 and that means, the child can look/locate the bio parents too.

As an adoptee of a closed adoption...... if you choose that route, PLEASE make sure you get as much information on the parents/grandparents as you can..... ask the agency the same questions that you would want to know about your own history**************.. so when "your child" is older he/she will have some kind of history.... medical is the most important!!

Congrats and good luck!

[nextwife]

Originally Posted by Good2know

When you have a closed adoption, bioparents CAN have access to the child ONCE the child turns 18 and that means, the child can look/locate the bio parents too.

As an adoptee of a closed adoption...... if you choose that route, PLEASE make sure you get as much information on the parents/grandparents as you can..... ask the agency the same questions that you would want to know about your own history**************.. so when "your child" is older he/she will have some kind of history.... medical is the most important!!

Congrats and good luck!

You are presuming here that all children in the US that were adopted, were adopted in the US. My point is that there are some adoptions in which adoptee/adoptor access is unlikely or nearly impossible. When my daughter turns 18, her orphanage is NOT required to release any information. I also know that most Chinese adoptees were physically abandoned and no record exist. So it is not nescessarilly true that ALL children of closed adoptions can access any bioparent info. WE don't have anything but the orphanage name, for example, for our daughter.

I have a friend who adopted from India. Her child was put on a train by her family and told to ride it to the end, in a very different part of the country. That is how they adandoned her, as they wanted no more girls.. She knew her name, but it was a very common one - the orphanage from which she was adopted had no idea what reqion she even came from.

[momofrose]

Typially when someone asks (as OP did) what the difference between open and closed adoptions is - they are referring to Domestic Adoptions, not International.

In any case OP - I hope you have gotten your answer. I have adopted domestically, not through Foster Care (chosen by the Birth mom). If you have any questions (if you are going that route) - I wil be happy to help you through - just send me a private message through this forum.

Good Luck

D