How would you feel if you were separated from your birth mother? Some know that adoption is a great struggle with yourself, your peers, and your adoptive parents. Contrary to some people's beliefs, adoption doesn't just mean that you can't keep in touch with your biological parents. With open adoption the parents, child, and adoptive parents are all part of each other's lives. That is why in open adoption the child isn't confused about their roots. As opposed to closed adoption, both biological and adoptive parents are more comfortable with the adoption when they know each other. It isn't the parents, but the child that gains the most from an open adoption. Closed adoptions contribute to the majority of emotionally unstable adoptees. Open adoption is a better alternative for parents that are looking for a safe, loving home for their child, but still want to be part of their ever-changing young lives.
Confusion among different types of adoption is common in the average individual. People sometimes think that open and closed adoptions are the same, but they are really very different. Open adoption refers to the sharing of information and contacts between the adoptive and biological parents of an adopted child. Most times in an open adoption the adopted child still has contact with his or her biological parents. Through open adoption, the child has access to the same information about their origins that non-adopted children take for granted (The Child In An Open Adoption, 1). In a closed adoption the child and adoptive parents don't have access to any information about the child's biological parents and past. "Historical research on adoption in the 20th century has been hampered because states began sealing adoption records in 1917 and these have been off limits to scholars and adoptees" (Gorthy, 1). Although today adoption professionals are willing to allow children of closed adoptions to have access to their personal records, open adoption would have been an easier way for these children to find out about their past.
