Considering Adoption? Choose your level of openness.
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Choosing Open Adoption in Colorado
Open Adoption
Adoption Choices of Colorado specializes in open or semi-open adoption. Open adoptions means the birth mother/parents and adoptive family choose to keep in touch. In an open adoption, the amount and type of contact varies case by case, depending on what both parties agree on. There is usually some form of ongoing contact post-placement as well in which the birth parents can maintain openness with their birth child.
In a fully open adoption, the birth parents and adoptive parents exchange identifying information and establish a significant ongoing relationship. In some open adoptions, openness may mean the occasional visit or phone call, and the exchange of letters, pictures, and progress notes.
An open adoption can mean receiving videos and/or pictures of your child.
What it means for the birth mother:
The birth mother can watch her child grow and thrive and not wonder how her child is doing. As a result, the birth parent’s current and future children have the opportunity to connect with the adopted child. Moreover, she can feel confident that she won’t have unwanted contact with the adoptive family and the adopted child.
What it means for the adoptive family:
Open adoption allows parents to share a unique bond with the woman who made them a family. They will have access to ongoing social and medical information about their adopted children. Above all, adoptive parents will have more information to share with their adopted child about the biological family.
Choosing Semi-Open Adoption
Semi-Open Adoption
Most modern adoptions are somewhere between open and closed adoption labeling it as a semi-open adoption. Interaction is primarily facilitated by the adoption agency, limited identifying information is shared between the birth parents and the adoptive parents, and future contact might be limited to sharing photos.
Choosing Closed Adoption
Closed Adoption
While it isn’t the most favored type of adoption, closed adoption is still an option. In a closed adoption, there is no contact between the birth parents and the adoptive parents. They don’t know each other’s identities. The birth mother will not have future contact with the family nor the child. However, the birth mother may choose to see the baby in the hospital after birth.
What it means for the birth mother:
The birth mother will not see her child. Moreover, the adoptive parents may not tell the child she is adopted. There will be no contact between the child and the birth family. As a result, the birth mother’s future children will likely never have contact with the adopted child.
What it means for the adoptive family:
They cannot share social or medical information with birth family members. As a result, their adopted child may have questions about the birth family that they are unable to answer. Finally, they may not get important information that could be helpful in raising their adopted child.
When considering adoption openness, we hope you will think about your needs and your child’s needs in the short term, in the mid-term, and in the long term. Your adoption specialist will help you figure out what level of openness is right for you. Some women initially feel that ongoing contact will be too painful and difficult while other birth mothers know they want ongoing contact with the family from the beginning. Our experience is that birth mother’s feelings change over time, so we will help you consider all of the possibilities.