10 Jan Openness in Adoption

While birth parents of a child placed for adoption may continue to feel loss and grief over the course of their lives, openness can help them deal with these powerful emotions. Openness from the earliest stages of the adoption process can help birth parents gain a sense of control over the decision-making related to placement of their child. Over time, openness also may help birth parents to gain peace of mind and comfort in knowing how their child is doing, develop personal relationships with the adoptive parents and the child as s/he grows, and become more satisfied with the adoption process. (source: Child Welfare Information Gateway at https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/f_openadopt.cfm).  There are so many benefits to open adoption and there is no black and white definition of openness; openness looks different in every relationship.  At Colorado Christian Services, we agree with author Lori Holden when she writes about openness in her book, The Open-Hearted Way to Open Adoption, and states that “Open refers less to the degree of contact than to the spirit in which we parent and our attitudes about adoption.”  When openness is approached in a positive way, birth parents and adoptive parents make outstanding teammates!  Call us at 303-761-7236 to learn more about open adoption.  We can help.