Open Adoption Services are Needed for Adoptees, Adopters and Birth Parents to Meet their Basic Human Needs in Adoption Practice
Adoption is by nature different from birth. When children are adopted, they bring their birth family systems into their adoptive homes, too. The adoptee's past identity remains with the child even after adoption. The adoptee's birth origin is not something that can be denied. The adopted child needs to be connected with his/her roots, birth parents, to be able to form his/her self-identity, which is essential for his well-being.
Thus, in adoption practice, efforts should be made to meet this important needs of the adoptee's.
Open adoption means that the adoptive parents ackowledge the existence of their adopted child's birth parents and that they communicate with their child's birth relatives. The degree of openness in adoption varies, from closed adoption to semi-open, & to fully-open one. In the closed adoption, there is no contact between the adoptive & birth parents after adoption, while in the semi-open and fully-open one, contacts are made through visits, phone calls, letters, pictures, and/or gift exchanges.
In the United States, adoption practice began to change from closed to open, starting mid & late '70's: Open adoption services have not been long provided, either by the state, or by the private. Accordingly, not many studies are done on open adoptions. It is argued that in open adoptions, both adoptive and birth parents as well as adopted children feel more validated and entitled in their beings and roles in adoption: Adoptive parents and adopted children feel more secure and happier in open adoptions. Birth parents feel less painful over the loss of their birth children, knowing their well-being in adoptive homes.
Oregon is one of the first states in the U.S. that have provided open adoption services to adoptive & birth families: It started a state-wide open adoption program in 1998.
The purpose of this study is to find out if open adoption is truly good for adoptees' well-being. It is also to see if both adoptive & birth parents feel satisfied with the Oregon's open adoption services. Interviews were done with adoptive & birth parents as well as adopted children. Survey questionnaires were sent to adoptive famiies in Oregon. Study results show very positively for open adoption services.