Track your health and
nutrition the easy way.

Adoption

Adoption is the legal process by which an individual or couple voluntarily obtains the rights and responsibilities for a child from that child's birth parents. The adoptive family commits itself to care for and provide for the child as though it were their own biological child. Adoption is permanent and removes all rights and responsibilities from the original parent. Giving a child up for adoption can be a very loving and responsible choice if the parent knows he or she cannot take care of the child as is necessary. However, it is often a very difficult decision to make and a very difficult action to commit to. There are several different types of adoptions.

Confidential adoption

In a confidential, private, or closed adoption, the birth parents of the child in question do not have any contact with the adoptive family. Usually, an adoption agency matches the adoptive family with the child, and all contact between the two families is moderated and anonymized by the adoption agency. The adoptive family receives the child's medical history, but there is no ongoing relationship or transfer of social or medical information after the final adoption papers are signed. A confidential adoption is a great option for birth and adoptive parents who wish for their identities to remain secret. Unfortunately, if either family ever needs to contact the other, it can be very difficult to locate the other party. Many times families in this situation must wait until the adopted child is a legal adult before being granted access to the information they need.

Semi-Open adoption

This type of adoption keeps some contact in place between birth and adoptive parents. The birth parents are usually not allowed to be a regular part of the child's life, but it does allow for infrequent post-placement meetings between the adoptive parents, the child, child and the birth parent(s). The adoption process is mediated by a third party, and the last names of all families involved are kept hidden from the other families. Adoptive parents often share letters and pictures with the birth parents after the adoption. A semi-open adoption allows for the privacy and flexibility both parties need. Either party can initiate or terminate communications at any time through their trained mediator.

Open adoption

An open adoption is the most liberal of adoption processes. In this type of adoption, the adoptive and birth parents fully disclose names and histories. They meet before the adoption process and agree on the roles of individuals in the child's life and on communication methods. Often, if the biological family wishes, the birth parents and other biological family members can be more involved with the child. There is often an ongoing exchange of information and communications before and after the adoption process is completed. This type of adoption makes it very easy for the respective parents to contact each other and exchange information about the child.