Open Vs. Closed Adoption

There comes a time in life when we look for that greater joy that a child bring us, but due to circumstances, we are unable to bare that child ourselves. It’s nothing to be neither ashamed off, nor worried about as there is the alternative of adoption. But when it comes to child adoption, there are several ways and procedures in which it can be done. Often this involves a lot of legal work, negotiations and hence, it can be a lengthy process if you don’t know what you’re doing. But to the rescue, come dedicated adoption agencies, who offer you the service of foreseeing the entire adoption process and help you bring that bundle of joy into your life.

There is always an ongoing open vs. closed adoption debate. So let’s take a close look at the open vs. closed adoption process and see who wins the open vs. closed adoption debate. Close adoption means that the people wanting to adopt a child go through an adoption agency. This way there is little contact between the adopting parents and the biological parents. All the adopting parents do is look at pictures and history and sign the necessary legal work. This process gives certain anonymity to both the actual parents and the adopting parents.

Adopting parents must first apply to the adoption agency and a social worker looks at their requirements and matches it up with that of children up for adoption and then makes arrangement for custody of the child to be transferred. This way, the parents on either side don’t know each other and sometimes don’t even know where the child comes from. The legal documentation is physically sealed and the child is not made aware of his real parents until he is over 18. Coming back to the open vs. closed adoption debate, this method provides anonymity to both parties, which at times is a good thing.

Then comes the open adoption process and as the name suggests, it is and open process and is largely different from the closed process. In open adoption, both families are made to interact, discuss the child and interests, and look at biographies and sometimes, even witness the birth of the child. The advantage of this process is that the adopting parents can actually interact with the child and see if he or she is what they are expecting. The advantage of this is process is that adopting parents can make a better choice, however, the openness means the real parents know where the child is and this can cause problems later. This means we’re at a standstill on the open vs. closed adoption argument.

So then, both sides of the open vs. closed adoption argument are balanced in their pros and cons. They both allow certain privileges and contain certain risks. So there is no real winner in the open vs. closed adoption debate, it’s all depends on what the requirements of the parents.