Open, Semi, and Closed Adoptions? English Please!

As part of the adoption world these three terms are used over and over again. When someone outside of the adoption world hears these words they may not know what they all mean. This happened last night in my social work class when my professor explained that she is an adoptive mother of two children. One adoption is open and one is closed. Her daughter's adoption started out closed and when she was a couple years old the birth grandmother contacted my professor to see if the adoption could be opened. My professor was ok with this but she said, "Now if you come in to be grandma to my daughter you will be grandma to my son as he will not udnerstand since he has a closed adoption." The birth grandmother agreed and understood why my professor would ask of this.

Once my professor got done telling her story, a classmate of mine asked what an open adoption was verses any other type of adoption. My professor asked me if I would like to answer this. I grinned and said, "Sure!" I explained the differences of each type of adoption.

For my readers who do not know the difference, I will tell you also the difference. I feel like everyone should know the difference due to the up rise of celebrities adopting and the talk of adoption in many prime time shows on each network lately.

First let's start with Closed Adoptions. A closed adoption is when the birth parent & adoptive parent have no idea who each other is. Closed adoptions would be international adoptions and any adoption that took place before probably 1980. I could be wrong on this date, as I am not an expert.

The second type of adoption is called Semi-Open. Semi-Open adoptions are when the birth mother and the adoptive families know who each party is. The birthmother may recieve pictures, emails, and letters of the child through out its life with out any visits. The information of each party is limited such as an address or phone number. Contact may be sent through the adoption agency to help keep information seperate.

The third and final of adoption is an Open Adoption. Open adoption are when all parties involved know all vital information. The birth mother recieves pictures, letters, emails, cards, visits from the adoptive family and child. The adoptive family is chosen by the birthmother where as in a closed adoption the adoptive family may choose the child.

Open adoptions are becoming more and more popular these days. This option is the best option for all parties. The child knows both families through out their life and there are no hidden questions. This is why I chose to place Kaylee into an open adoption. I wanted to be able to see her grow up while I gave her a better life than what I could have ever given her. I know that she will be able to come ask me questions when she gets older and I will be completely honest with her. She will not go her life wondering who she looks like, where she came from and so on.