preview

Adoption Research Paper

Decent Essays
Open Document

Opening Records for Psychological Reasons
All three corners of the adoption triad are affected I many ways. Birth mothers are the first to be psychologically traumatized by the adoption. For the adoptees that are a part of the closed era, many of the birth mothers were young, unwed and forced to give her baby up for adoption. No other options were suggested along with no counseling on how to deal with the loss of her child, left a trauma that was not easily forgotten. Some were sent to maternity homes to hide the shame from the rest of the family and the public. The child was to be a very close kept secret mistake to be undone. While giving birth, they were shielded from seeing their child, some not even knowing if they gave birth to a boy …show more content…

The relinquishment was final and could not be reversed at any time for any reason. They had experienced all the same feelings of any mother giving birth, yet they left the hospital with no child and were expected to return to normal life never mentioning the pregnancy or child to anyone. With no one to talk to about their feelings of loss, shame, and isolation they had to find a way to deal with their personal hell within themselves. Some found a way to continue with life, never revealing their secret, others did not.
The second corner of the triangle, the adoptee, had very different affects from the adoption. Each adoptee found out a different way and had different feelings about learning they were adopted. While some adjusted and accepted the news as to never give it another thought, there are many that did not. According to The Encyclopedia of Adoption, “Most adults who were adopted as children appear to have successfully resolved any conflicts stemming from their adoption” (Adamec, C. & Miller, L. 2007, p. 30). Having been adopted and knowing many adoptees, I must …show more content…

Many of the petitions failed due to the power of the groups that objected. In the last decade, many of those groups have changed their stance and have agreed that their original stance was exaggerated. The biggest group to object were the churches that felt that if birth parents were not guaranteed privacy it would lead to more abortions. This turned out not be the case. The National Council for Adoption (NCFA) is currently the only group that remains in the stance against opening the records. They have challenged Tennessee and Oregon on legislation that would open their records and eventually lost their challenge. Their stance was based off two beliefs; it would cause more abortions and infringe on the confidentiality rights of the birth parent. The latter belief is the only one used to fight legislation still today. Despite not being able to prove one written form of promised confidentiality afforded to a birth mother, they still continue to try to fight legislation. As Joyce Bahr references in Adoption: Global Viewpoints,” Courts have held that the constitutional right of privacy has never included the general right to the nondisclosure of all forms of information that an individual may prefer to keep as secret” (Bahr, 2007, p. 167). Bahr is also a birthmother and recalls signing her papers, “Surrounding mothers like

Get Access
Related
Get Access