Open or Closed Adoption: What is Your Choice? Essay

The adoptive parents might realize that they aren’t ready to be parents and that leaves the child once again feeling rejected and unwanted. In a article it explains what they think the adoptive child should know, “Children need to know their adoption story. They need to learn that they were not in any way the cause or the reason for their parents ' relinquishing them. Some questions that teens wonder: Why did they give me away? Was there something wrong with me? Did they give me away because they did drugs or abused me? What does that say about me? Why couldn 't they work things out and taken care of me? Even with shows today like Teen Moms and Secret Life of the American Teenager, they are reminded that many young and struggling parents figure out a way to make it work to keep their baby, so why couldn 't their parents do the same as they see on TV? This may lead to further issues of feeling rejected and unlovable.” (The… 2). Adoption can also cause a feeling of loss that is unlike other losses like death, divorce, and any others. Dr. David M. Brodzinsky and Dr. Marshall D. Schechter said, “The loss for the adoptee is unlike other losses we have come to expect in a lifetime, such as death and divorce. Adoption is more pervasive, less socially recognized, and more profound." (Brodzinsky… 3).

The life for a child in foster care is much different than any other child’s. While growing up children look up to their father or mother. They aspire to be like them and follow in their footsteps. For the children placed in foster care all they see is that their parents could not take care of them. They will not have the memoires of growing up with their family, but instead memories of the different homes they have been transferred too. Foster parents love and care for all of the children that come into their homes, but it’s hard for the children to accept someone who moves in and out of their lives.

When a couple or individual decides to adopt a child, they know they are going to take on the responsibility of taking care of someone else’s child. Due to the biological parent(s) who can’t take care of that child anymore, because of either drug abuse, alcohol abuse, abuse to the child or if the parent(s) had died and there is no other care for the child. So that’s why this gives other couples who cannot have kids, the opportunity to promise themselves to be a great parent to a child in need. Though there are some bad things about adoption as well. Like adopting a child from another country of another race, because once that child is adopted into an American family, he or she will be cut off from their culture and never know about their

“I want to be like my adoptive mother, but my birth mother says I’m like her. I don’t know what to do or who I am. My whole life is messed up. It’s not my fault. It can’t be fixed,” said a girl adopted into an open adoption (Byrd). An open adoption is a process in which the birth parents and the adoptive parents know each other and are involved in the adopted child’s life. A closed adoption is when there is no contact at all and no identifying information is given between birth and adoptive parents (Byrd). While both are common to today’s society, closed adoptions allow opportunities for the adoptive parents to raise their kids without the interference of birth parents (Bender).

Children roam around in schools, at work, on the playground, in the malls, and anywhere else a child would like to be. Young children are often accompanied by an adult, of which one would assume to be their parents or primary caregivers.In 2007 forty-eight million americans had considered adoption. Foster care has a goal, it is to help children in need be safe for the time being and try to reunited these children with their biological parents. Believe it or not foster care and adoption is more common than not. Many myths go around making children dread the system when in all reality the system is a support system there to help those children in need. Once the child is in a placement with a foster family, their ultimate goal is to provide the child in a safe, loving, nurturing environment until then can be reunified with their parents. These children get use to their foster family, some even grow rather fond of them and are attached, is it right to take away the only family they have ever really truly known? This can cause emotional arousal and distress on the child and the foster family.

This article will inform the reader on the psychological and emotional effects that giving their child up through open adoption has had on the biological parents. This will allow the reader to see both perspectives of the adopted child’s life that an open adoption allows for.

The problem that I have with foster care is that you have no control over where a child is placed and what happens to them while they are there. Most foster parents are there to really protect and take care of the children, but there are that select few that are only in it for the money. In the book “Foster Care and African-American Youth” it talks about the different methods on helping to better the foster care system, to give children in foster care more opportunities. Casey Family Programs is the largest operating foundation in the nation, it focus’ solely on providing, and ultimately preventing the need for foster care. The foundation draws on over 40 years of experience and expert research to improve the lives of children and youth in foster care.

There are two types of outside adoption, one is closed adoption and the other is open adoption. In open adoption the biological parents are given the ability to have contact with their child through the adoptive parents and share any background information needed. Likewise, the children are also given the free

(Carp, 2002). Many adoption agencies use an adoption attorney that help advocate for both the biological and adoptive parents to make for a successful adoption placement. Not all open adoptions are perceived the same way by birth parents. Some biological parents may choose an independent adoption precisely because of the openness option (Yngvesson, 1997). They are also more likely to choose and talk to the adoptive parents. Likewise, some times adoptive parents choose open adoption because they believe it best for themselves and the child. It has also become easier to adopt when open adoption is seen as an

There is also a choice that parents can take for adoption which is open adoption. There are three types of contact in open adoption: direct contact, where there is face-to-face or telephone contact between the birth family and adoptive family; indirect contact, which refers to the exchange of materials such as letters, cards and gifts between the adoptive family and birth family; and links, which involve information being provided by the adoptive or birth families to the adoption agency to be passed on, if asked for by a relevant person. Critics often argue that adoptees should not know who their biological parents are because it is an invasion of a parent’s privacy. However, adoptees should have the right to know who their biological parents are because in a lot of cases it is more of a health issue than anything else, it can help many people find who they are along with their identity, and a lot of the times knowing their biological parents can answer many questions that may come

When a couple cannot conceive children naturally, they may look to adoption to start a family. In the past, adoption was shrouded in mystery. Closed adoptions were the norm, and many children grew up not knowing they were adopted. Recently though, open adoptions have gained popularity. Adoptive families and birth families maintain contact in any way that they feel comfortable. I feel open adoption is a better choice than closed adoption because children may have the opportunity to meet their birth parents, the transition is easier for the birth family, and the benefits outweigh possible complications.

For those who are a part of the adoption world one of the most hotly debated issues is whether birth records should be open or closed to adoptees. With this issue comes strong feelings on both sides. In most states adoption records are fully sealed and inaccessible, unless the adoptee petitions the court. In 16 states these records are fully or partially available upon request with no court involvement, and also may depend upon when you were born. In a few states records are completely prohibited and the adoptee will never have any access to them. Alaska and Kansas have always made original birth records available.

Open adoption is the option to allow open communication with the birth parents and the adoptive parents. This communication can involve the exchanging of medical information and possible personal relationships. Those who do not feel comfortable with that form of adoption can choose closed adoption. “Today, 80% or more of domestic infant adoptions are open adoptions. Adoptive families now take for granted the 'normalcy' of open adoption,” (Silber, 2016). Open adoption has become more common now that having a relationship with the child is possible. This doesn’t allow any form of personal information to be shared between the

Open adoption actively involves the three affected parties ¨C birthparents, child, and adoptive parents. The adoptive parents want a child of their own to care for and to love as their own but on the other hand the birthparents are feeling guilt and sadness at the loss of their child and might want to see their child on a regular basis. There are a lot of things to consider during the process of adoption.

When a person decides to adopt, he takes the responsibility of raising a child who is not biologically his own. There are various reasons why people decide to adopt. Some say adoption is the best thing for certain children and many successful stories prove it to be true. However, there are also numerous tragic reports of adopted children being abused. "Basically, what adoption meant, and still means, is that someone (the adoptive couple) is promising to assume all responsibilities for taking care of someone else" (Powledge 4). How the adoptive parents go about raising the child is completely up to them. Although there are many different types of families in today 's society, one special kind of family that has become more