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Open Minds and Open Hearts
A Glance at Open Adoption By Margot Poss
Knowledge continues to be one of the most appealing aspects of open adoption. The birth family is given the knowledge that their child is going to a family who will love and cherish them. "It is a relief for birth families to be able to select the family," says Gritter.
In an open adoption, the adoptee is not left with unanswered questions about his birth and adoption circumstances. "I always knew my mother loved me," says Lauren Riker from Gig Harbor, Wash. "While I never viewed her as my parent, there was a comfort I received from knowing who she was and why she had to give me up for adoption. Now that I am a mother myself I still have a good relationship with my birth mother. I wouldn't change a thing."
For birth parents, an open adoption allows them to let go of some of their worries. Even if things are not perfect, the knowledge of where their child is enables them to heal and move forward. For the adopting family, they are freed from the fear that the birth parents are going to come back for the child one day. Additionally, adoptive parents are able to get a full, detailed history of th
