Thank you for considering Colores Adoptions to mediate your process of giving up a child for adoption. Although there are various options you can explore, including handling the process on your own and directly with the adoptive parents, bringing a reliable adoption agency on board is a prudent move. They would relieve you of the energy-draining complexities of the process and help you to match your child with a loving and able family that suits your expectations.
As you prepare to give your child up for adoption, it is important for you to know that there are various types of adoption: open adoption- closed adoption and semi-open adoption. Without much ado, let’s have a look at each of these options to see what it entails and which of the three might suit you best.
1. Closed adoption
In a closed adoption, the birth parent does not have any contact with the adoptive parents, either before or after adoption. As such, no contact information is shared between the two parties. So, when a birthmother chooses this type of adoption, she just gives out her child to the agency and leaves the kid to be matched with a suitable adoptive family.
If you opt for a reliable agency, they will let the child have the contacts of the birth parents and the adoptive parents. They would keep them for official use and for legal procedures but won’t share them with either of the parents or the adopted kid at any given time. So, the adopted child is unlikely to discover the identity of his/her birthparent.
However, the medical history of the birth mother will be shared with the adopted child and the adoptive parents. It’s the only information about the birthparent that the child and the second parents will ever know from the agency. However, the name, phone number, residential address among other identifying information of the birthparent on the medical records will be withheld. In addition, the child can only have access to the records upon attaining the age of 18 years, and if the relevant state laws allow it.
2. Open adoption
In open adoption, the contact information of the birthmother is shared with the adoptive parents and vice versa freely right from the beginning of the adoption process. As such, they can contact each other as much as they want. In fact, if the birth mother is expectant, the prospective adoptive parents can take part in the preparation of the birth of the child.
When the child is born, the birth mother is allowed to have some level of connection to the child she’s given up for adoption. Besides, the adoptive parents and the birth parent contact each other as stipulated in the adoption documents, when necessary or as they wish. The communication between the birthparent and the adopted child or the adoptive family could be through the phone, an intermediary, letters, social media, or face-to-face. In some cases, a birthmother is so connected to the adoptive family that she is invited to the major events held by the family.
This form of adoption is mostly suitable for children who are adopted when they are already old enough to know their biological family members and their contact information. It’s healthy for such kids to stay in touch with their birth families.
However, open adoption is also suitable for a birth parent who’s thinking of giving a child up for adoption and would like to be involved in the determination of the family or person who will take over her parental roles and rights. This method of adoption has gained much popularity at the expense of closed adoption because the majority of birthparents want to maintain some connection with their adopted children.
3. Semi-open adoption
When it comes to semi-open adoption, the birth mother has non-identifying interaction with the adoptive family/parent through an adoptive agency like Colores Adoption. When a birthmother approaches such agency to facilitate this form of adoption, the agency takes her through various profiles of the adoptive families that could suit her expectations.
However, they won’t disclose to her any descriptive information (names, phone numbers, addresses…) concerning the families initially. Then, they’ll involve her in choosing the family that will eventually raise the child. Later on, the agency can share the contacts of the chosen family with the mother. However, their communication will stop once she signs the adoption consent documents and the child is finally placed with the adoptive parents.
Those are the major adoption options you can choose from. Whether you choose closed, open, or semi-open adoption, Colores Adoptions is ready to guide you through seamlessly any time.
Article Submitted By Community Writer
