Presented byKat Fernandes,Zach Sellinger,And Jordan Young.

"...adoptive parents gain a strong respect for the birthmother when they actually know who she is." (Adamec).

Why Open Adoptions are Best The simple reality of adoption is that some adoptees don’t want a

relationship with their birth parents while other wait their whole life wondering if they look the same as their birth parents. Whether the adoptee wants a relationship with their birth parents or not is, and should be, their own interpersonal choice. I still support my undying choice that open adoption are best, because even if the adoptee wishes to not have a relationship with their birth parents at least 98% of adoptees want to know what their birth parents look like.

Benefits of open adoption1. Most children that are part of

open adoptions don’t have to spend their whole life wondering who their parents are.

2. Adopted adults who have been in mental rehabilitation or required psychotherapy believed that the secrecy in having a closed adoption is what caused the mental instability.

3. Adopted parents fear that their child would be stolen by the birthparents if the adoption was closed.

4. Birthparents usually sleep better if they know who the child’s adoptive parents are.

5. Having an open adoption allows the child to better understand why they were adopted.

How Adoption has Changed Over the Years

The requirements in the early 20th century, were that adoptions had to be confidential and that the birth certificates and adoption records be kept disclosed. This process began with early laws such as the Minnesota Act of 1917. By the early 1950s almost every state had made it so all adoptions had complete anonymity for the birth parents. Beginning in 1974, research demonstrated that some of the psychological problems observed in adolescent and adult adoptees, birth parents, and adoptive parents was caused by the secrecy, anonymity, and sealed records of adoption. Due to this study open adoptions became increasingly common in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s because of the research and practice used to begin the promotion of open adoption.

The Adoptive Parents• After meeting the birthparents, 31% of adoptive parents wanted to change their level of openness with the birthparents-

• 57% wanted more openness

• 43% wanted a more closed adoption

• The want for a change in openness was often because the child became to harder to control.

How to Stay in Touch Through Open Adoptions

• Pictures• Letters• Phone calls• Emails• Occasional Visits

Birthmothers• Women who have given up their

babies for adoption and want to try to communicate with their adopted child are still having problems even 20 years later.

• Most birth mothers don’t even try to find their adopted child because they feel like they don’t deserve to fight for their rights.

• The birthmother is able to gain confidence when she sees that the child is ok without her, this enables her to resolve the grief that formed from giving the child away.

MLA Citations

• Adoption Agency." Open vs. Closed Adoption”. Find Law.2010. Web.12/6/2010.• Adoption Services.” What is an Open Adoption?". Child Welfare Information Gateway.2010.Web.12/6/10.• “The Benefits of Choosing Open Adoptions“. Open Adoption. Birth Parents.2010.Web.12/6/10.• Ademec,Christine and Miller, Laurie. “Open Adoption”. The Encyclopedia of Adoption, Third Edition. New York:

Facts on File, Inc, 2006. Health Reference Center. Facts on File, Inc.• Benson, Kate." Adoption Contact Hard for Mothers”. The Life and Style. Verizon. 12/7/2010. Print.12/6/10.• “Do Adopted Children Ever Want to Meet Their Birth Parents?”. American Adoptions. Joint Council. 2010.

Web.12/18/10.

   Once there were two women

Who never knew each other. One you do not rememberThe other you call mother.

Two different lives Shaped to make yours one. One became your guiding star The other became your sun.

The first gave you lifeThe second taught you to live in it. The first gave you a need for love And the second was there to give it.

One gave you a nationality The other gave you a name.One gave you the seed of talentThe other gave you an aim.

One gave you emotions The other calmed your fears.One saw your first smileThe other dried your tears.

One gave you upIt was all that she could do.The other prayed for a child And was led straight to you.

And now you ask meThrough your tears,The age-old questionThrough the years:

Heredity or environmentWhich are you the product of?Neither, my darling, neither,Just two different kinds of love.