Tag Archives: open adoption

Adoption Plot Alert—ER Series Finale at Earlier Time Tonight

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I’m always curious to see how adoption is portrayed in the general media. Last month I talked about an adoption storyline on NBC’s hit medical drama ER. ER (for Emergency Room) is ending its 15-year run tonight in a 2-hour series finale which will air at 9 p.m. in the Pacific and Eastern Time Zones, 8 p.m. Central Time. The finale will be preceded by an “ER Retrospective” show, airing at 8 p.m. in the Pacific and Eastern Time Zones and 7 p.m. Central Time. Angela Bassett plays Dr. Banfield, the tough head of the ER who just began the … Continue reading →

Teens who Choose Adoption More Likely to Succeed–So Why Don’t More Teens Choose It?

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We’ve been talking about educating youth about adoption, caring for babies, and life in general. In the middle of the twentieth century, the majority of girls and young women who gave birth while unmarried placed their babies for adoption. Now, the figure is less than two percent in most areas. The director of our agency’s adoption program told us that most of the birth mothers in their program were college-age. He said almost all of the high school students decided to parent their babies. Yet, most social service workers agree that children of single teenage mothers are at higher risk … Continue reading →

Book Review: After Adoption: Direct Contact and Relationships

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The book After Adoption: Direct Contact and Relationships, by Carole Smith and Janette Logan, fills a void in the adoption literature by providing real examples of how contact between birth relatives, adopted children and their adoptive families are arranged. The authors include comments from all parties regarding their feelings about these contacts. The authors, who are on the faculty of Applied Social Science at a British university, note that while there is an increasing presumption in favor of open adoption (in both the UK and the US), there is little substantive research as to its benefit. One interesting thing to … Continue reading →

Is It Right to Sever Family Ties?

When I reviewed the book Adoption,from the Opposing Viewpoints series(you can read my review by clicking here), my attention was drawn to one author who argued for the elimination of adoption. She did accept that sometimes children must live apart from their biological parents for their own safety, but maintained that a child’s name and identity should never be changed and there should always be some kind of contact. Of course, no one can change a child’s identity. It is foolish for adoptive parents to think that a child’s genetics, prenatal and birth experiences, and early life experiences will have … Continue reading →

Book Review: The Open Adoption Experience

The Open Adoption Experience, by Lois Ruskai Melina and Sharon Kaplan Roszia, is a comprehensive resource for birth and adoptive families. It talks about options on the spectrum of openness, from non-identifying information only, to letters and photos through an intermediary, through visits on birthdays, to frequent visits. The book was written in 1993 and so has only a small section on international adoption, reflecting the fact that few international adoptions were open at that time. (Most still are, but openness—at least through letters and photos—is becoming more common.) Nevertheless, the authors briefly share the experiences of half a dozen … Continue reading →

The Trend to Open Adoption

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Apparently, the current trend in adoption circles is toward open adoption. In an open adoption, the birth parent is allowed to occasionally have contact with the children. Most of the prominent adoption magazines strongly recommend it. It is also the in-vogue direction that social work academics seem to be leaning. My wife and I were recently driving home from a three day vacation and “just for fun”, Nancy called in to a very popular national radio show hosted by a well-known family issues psychologist. The radio host seemed oblivious to all of our good reasons to avoid our children’s birth … Continue reading →

Types of Adoption Part One: Domestic Infant Adoption

There are three main types of adoption: domestic U.S. infant adoption, adoption from foster care/state welfare agencies, and international adoption. Domestic infant adoptions, in many states, may occur in one of two ways: through an adoption agency, or privately arranged by a lawyer. One element these adoptions usually share is that the birthparent(s) have some say in who will parent their child. Many also include some degree of “openness”—that is, birth and adoptive parents have some information about each other, identifying or not, and usually plan for some form of ongoing contact, whether directly or through letters relayed by an … Continue reading →

Mediated Agreements in Adoption

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When openness is desired while adopting a child through the state, it is usually achieved through a mediated agreement. Mediated contracts in adoption are legally binding voluntary agreements that are reached by two parties who are both committed to a specified degree of openness for the interest of the child. Unlike with open adoption, the adoptive parents are in the driver’s seat as they will be the legal parents for the child. Our mediation had to be completed prior to the adoption finalization of our son. We had an agreement with the birth father and another agreement with the paternal … Continue reading →

How Do I Arrange for Future Contact With My Child If I Want It?

When a mother decides to place her baby for adoption through an agency, privately or independently she may choose to have a closed or confidential adoption or she may wish to have an open or semi-open adoption agreement with the adoptive parents. An open adoption might include some visits with the adoptive family and child during the years and a semi-open adoption usually means the adoptive parents will agree to send pictures and an update letter every now an then. Once in awhile even in an open or semi-open adoption things don’t go the way it was planned. Sometimes, the … Continue reading →