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non-identifying information. In addition many states give such access to adult siblings. Identifying information is any data that may lead to the positive identification of an adoptee, biological parents, or other relatives. Nearly all states permit the release of identifying information when the person whose information is sought has consented to the release. Many states ask biological parents to specify at the time of consent or surrender whether they are willing to have their identity disclosed to the adoptee when he or she is age 18 or 21. If consent is not on file, the information may not be released without a court order documenting good cause to release the information. A person seeking a court order must be able to demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that there is a compelling reason for disclosure that outweighs maintaining the confidentiality of a party to an adoption. In
Alabama, Alaska, Delaware, Kansas, New Hampshire, and Oregon, there is no requirement to document good cause in order to access their birth certificates. Some groups, such as
123:(1945-1975) rendered single mothers as social outcasts. By the 1980s, the situation improved greatly and the vast majority of unwed mothers kept their babies. In a mother-driven society after WWII, infertile couples were also seen as deficient due to their inability to bear children. The social experiment of taking children from "unmarried mothers" and "giving" them to adoptive parents became the norm during the Baby Scoop Eea. These adoptions were predominantly closed. The records were sealed, biological mothers were told to keep their child a secret, and adoptive parents told to treat the child "as if born to" them.
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just once a year, such as the child's birthday or other significant events. Sometimes an intermediary is selected to receive and forward the updates, and sometimes it is done directly. This can be through mail or email. Some adoptions are more open than just sending photos and updates and include face-to-face contact. The amount of contact can vary greatly from just once in the first year, to multiple times annually throughout the child's life. Some of the adoptees raised in open adoption are now in adulthood and are writing about the experience of growing up in an open adoption.
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prepared if the parties desire to formalize the agreement. In an increasing number of US states, courts will find these agreements legally enforceable, as long as they serve the best interests of the child. It is not unusual for these agreements to be more like "handshake" agreements, although they offer less protection to a birth parent if the adoptive parent's promises were not honored.
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late 1980s and early 1990s - between 1987 and 1989 a study found only a third of agencies offered fully open adoption as an option; by 1993 76 percent of the surveyed agencies offered fully open adoptions. As of 2013, roughly half of US states consider them legally binding, however contact in open adoption is not always maintained.
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US states permit full openness not just regarding identities, but also personal information about each other. Just as the adoptive parents want to learn about the birth mother's life and health history, so does the birth mother want the same information about the people she is considering as the parents for her child.
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interests of all parties. Non-identifying information includes the date and place of the adoptee's birth; age, race, ethnicity, religion, medical history, physical description, education, occupation of the biological parents; reason for placing the child for adoption; and the existence of biological siblings.
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Getting to know the adoptive family gives her confidence in the placement and the knowledge she can feel secure in the child's future with the parents (or single parent) she selected. The birth mother may feel that future contact with the adoptive parents, or the child, would be emotionally difficult for her.
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The placement of older children can take two widely divergent paths. Generally speaking when a child has bonded to a birth parent then a need for an adoptive placement arises, it is usually critical for that child's emotional welfare to maintain ties with the birth parent. Sometimes a parent raised a
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The birth and adoptive parents will often sign a Post-Adoption
Contract (sometimes called an Open Adoption Agreement), putting in writing any promises regarding contact after the adoption is finalized. Even in those states which do not expressly have laws in this area, these agreements can usually be
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Although pre-birth openness is becoming routine in newborn adoptions there are more variations in the years following the birth, after the adoption has been completed. Some birth mothers want to get to know the adoptive parents before the birth, but then wish to go "their own way" in life thereafter.
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Although practices vary state by state, most adoptions start with the birth mother reviewing dozens of adoption profile books or online profiles of prospective adoptive parents. Usually, these are adoptive families who have retained that agency or attorney to assist them in the adoption process. Most
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In the past when an
American birth mother would go to an adoption agency to place her child for adoption, the agency took full responsibility in selecting the adoptive family, with the birth mother playing no role. Most adoption agencies in the US since the early 1990s have offered some, or complete,
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There are sometimes problems concerning birth mothers and adoption agencies who neglect to make sure the proper paperwork is done on the birth father's part. It is crucial to remember that no child can be relinquished legally without the birth father's consent, except in Utah. He must be given the
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Likely the most common arrangement in open adoptions is for the adoptive parents to commit to sending the birth mother photos of the child (and themselves as a family) each year, and short written updates, until the child reaches the age of 18. Often these photos and updates will be sent more than
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Many birth mothers do more than just meet the adoptive parents once before the birth. If they live close enough to each other it is not uncommon for the birth mother to invite the adoptive mother (or adoptive father too if the birth mother wishes) to come to her doctor appointments. This may allow
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in which the biological and adoptive families have access to varying degrees of each other's personal information and have an option of contact. While open adoption is a relatively new phenomenon in the west, it has been a traditional practice in many Asian societies, especially in South Asia, for
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In nearly all US states adoption records are sealed and withheld from public inspection after the adoption is finalized. Most states have instituted procedures by which parties to an adoption may obtain non-identifying and identifying information from an adoption record while still protecting the
115:
Open adoption has slowly become more common since research in the 1970s suggested that open adoption was better for children. In 1975 the tide began to change, and by the early 1990s open adoptions were offered by a majority of
American adoption agencies. Especially rapid progress was seen in the
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When the birth mother has narrowed down her prospective adoptive parents to one or a few families, normally they arrange to meet in person. Good adoption agencies and attorneys do this in a pressure-free setting where no one is encouraged to make an immediate decision. If they are geographically
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Another way older children can be placed for adoption is where the birth parents' rights were terminated by a court due to improper parenting or abuse. Although the child may still foster idealized feelings for that failing parent it is not uncommon in these adoptions for there to be no contact
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until the twentieth century were open. Until the 1930s, most adoptive parents and biological parents had contact at least during the adoption process. In many cases, adoption was seen as a social support: young children were adopted out not only to help their parents (by reducing the number of
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In an open adoption, the adoptive parents hold all the rights as the legal parents, yet the individuals of the biological and adoptive families may exercise the option to open the contact in varying forms: from just sending mail and/or photos, to face-to-face visits between birth and adoptive
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All states allow an adoptive parents access to non-identifying information of an adoptee who is still a minor. Nearly all states allow the adoptee, upon reaching adulthood, access to non-identifying information about their relatives. Approximately 27 states allow biological parents access to
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Adoptions became closed when social pressures mandated that families preserve the myth that they were formed biologically. One researcher has referred to these families, that made every attempt to match the child physically to their adoptive families, as 'as if' families.
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distant from each other (as some adoptions are interstate, with the birth mother living in a different state from the adoptive parents), the first meeting will normally be by phone, then advance to a face-to-face meeting if the meeting by phone went as well as hoped.
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According to a 2012 report in the
Washington Times, 95% of US infant adoptions now have some level of openness between adoptive and birth parents. As of 2024, the Adoption Network considers 95% of domestic adoptions in the US to be open.
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society, for example, it is relatively common for a childless couple to adopt the second or later son of the husband's brother when the childless couple has limited hope of producing their own child.
849:. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children's Bureau. 2006. Archived from
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child, but a problem has arisen, and parenting is no longer possible, and there are no family members able to take over the parenting role, so adoption is the best option.
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all parties to the adoption a chance to bond. Adoptive parents may be present for the delivery if that is the birth mother's wish.
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219:, One Voice, and Origins USA, campaign for adoptees' automatic access to birth certificates in other US states.
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Yngvesson, Barbara (Spring 2003), "Going 'Home': Adoption, Loss of
Bearings, and the Mythology of Roots",
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Although open adoptions are thought to be a relatively new phenomenon, most adoptions in the
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and may access their adoption records if in fact they are even aware that they are adopted.
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children they had to support) but also to help another family by providing an apprentice.
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chance to claim custody of the child. For this purpose, many states have established a
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203:, Australia, and in several provinces in Canada are automatically entitled to their
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Yngvesson, Barbara (Spring 2007), "Refiguring
Kinship in the Space of Adoption",
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304:(2), George Washington University Institute for Ethnographic Research: 561ā579,
178:, although some adoption activists see these as a hindrance rather than a help.
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957:"The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute Explores Opening Adoption Records"
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http://www.allforchildren.org/for-birth-parents/your-adoption-choices.php
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The Open-Hearted Way to Open
Adoption: Helping Your Child Grow Up Whole
807:
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Making Room in Our Hearts: keeping family ties through open adoption
228:
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The social stigma of unmarried motherhood, particularly during the
83:
570:"Should adopted children be involved with their birth families?"
361:"Critical Study of Open Adoption and the Symptoms of Adoption"
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between the child and adoptive parent, and the birth parent.
88:
776:
Adoption: the essential guide to adopting quickly and safely
595:"Adoption profile books that make great first impressions"
130:
621:
Raising
Adopted Children: a manual for adoptive parents
642:
640:
904:"New York Statewide Adoption's UNSEALED INITIATIVE"
847:"Access to Adoption Records: Summary of State Laws"
745:
678:
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637:
522:. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 3.
98:
1049:Adoption, fostering, orphan care and displacement
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673:
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718:Dear Birthmother : thank you for our baby
715:
688:Adoption101.com (The Internet Adoption School)
663:Adoption101.com (The Internet Adoption School)
331:"Confidential Adoptions: A Trend of the Past?"
415:. Independent Adoption Center. Archived from
29:The examples and perspective in this article
874:"National study backs open adoption records"
746:Melina, Lois; Kaplan Roszia, Sharon (1993).
335:Allen Flatt & Ballidis Adoption Services
716:Silber, Kathleen; Speedlin, Phylis (1991).
470:. National Adoption Center. Archived from
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872:Carpenter, Mackenzie (12 November 2007).
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67:Learn how and when to remove this message
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720:(2nd, rev ed.). Corona Publishing.
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270:(1 (74)), Duke University Press: 7ā27,
131:Pre-birth openness in the United States
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659:"Introduction to the Adoption Process"
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464:"History of Adoption: Closed Adoption"
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930:"Bill looks to open adoption records"
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1044:Adoption forms and related practices
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963:. 13 November 2007. Archived from
367:. 14 December 2012. Archived from
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199:At age 18, people adopted in the
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99:History of openness in adoption
928:Smith, Barry (23 April 2007).
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383:"The History of Open Adoption"
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748:The Open Adoption Experience
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43:, discuss the issue on the
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908:www.unsealedinitiative.org
276:10.1215/01642472-21-1_74-7
298:Anthropological Quarterly
568:Benyamin, Chaya (2021).
544:"US Adoption Statistics"
413:"Open Adoption Timeline"
239:Putative father registry
176:Putative father registry
878:Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
821:Duxbury, Micky (2007).
774:Hicks, Randall (2007).
195:Access to birth records
991:One Voice, No Secrets!
946:Accessed: 2 March 2008
669:on 19 September 2008.
619:Melina, Lois (1986).
518:Holden, Lori (2013).
468:adoptionclubhouse.org
310:10.1353/anq.2007.0036
1019:on 12 September 2007
623:. Harper Perennial.
49:create a new article
41:improve this article
31:may not represent a
997:on 2 November 2007.
967:on 20 November 2007
936:on 13 December 2010
884:on 15 November 2007
853:on 25 February 2011
694:on 3 September 2018
419:on 3 September 2014
152:Post-birth openness
87:many centuries. In
961:adoption.about.com
387:adoption.about.com
205:birth certificates
1009:"Position Papers"
778:. Perigee Press.
750:. HarperCollins.
494:"Closed Adoption"
371:on 10 March 2014.
365:WritePass Journal
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800:"About Me"
250:References
136:openness.
95:families.
57:March 2023
318:146455611
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45:talk page
229:Adoption
223:See also
84:adoption
39:You may
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