The term “open adoption” is very broad and leaves room for many interpretations.

According to the adoption glossary, open adoption is defined as “An adoption that involves some amount of initial and/or ongoing contact between birth and adoptive families, ranging from sending letters through the agency, to exchanging names, and scheduling visits.”

The amount and frequency of openness in open adoptions is going to vary in each situation based on the circumstances surrounding each individual adoption plan and the people participating in that adoption plan.

For example, let’s look at two different situations; both are open adoptions but both are very different. Birthmother A visits her child and adoptive family every other month while Birthmother B only visits her child and adoptive family twice a year.

You may be wondering why Birthmother B only sees her child twice a year as a compared to the monthly visits Birthmother A receives. There could be multiple reasons for this. Birthmother B and her child’s family could live far a part making visits more difficult due to distance and logistically speaking twice is a year is all they can manage because of that. Or perhaps Birthmother B feels that seeing her child more than twice a year would be too painful for her.

My point is that each situation is going to be different. No two situations will be the same, even if the children are in the same family, the openness may vary. What works for me may not work for the next birthmom and what works for one set of adoptive parents might not work for the next set and vice versa. Therefore, the definition of open adoption is going to vary based on the people involved and the circumstances in each individual adoption agreement.

Open adoption is how you define it.

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More Posts about Open Adoption:
What Open Adoption Is
Defining Fully Open Adoption
What Open Adoption Is and Is Not from a Birthmom’s Point of View

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