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The Three Main Types Of Adoptions

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If you are currently entertaining the thought of adopting a child, you also need to think about what type of adoption that you would like to have. The type of adoption you choose will determine what type of relationship, if any, you have with your child's birth parents. The three main types of adoptions are closed adoptions, semi-open adoptions and open adoptions.

Closed Adoptions

In the past, most adoptions were closed. Many older adults who were adopted as children have no idea who their birth parents were nor do they know anything about their medical or family history. One of the most common reasons behinds closed adoptions were that the birth parents wanted to keep their identities a secret for a variety of reasons.

Closed adoptions are not as popular as they once were. However, there are still individuals who would like to place their child up for adoption but do not want to have any contact with the child after they are adopted. Sometimes birth parents make this choice to protect their identifies and sometimes they make this choice so that it is easier for them to live with their decision.

If you choose to adopt a child through a closed adoption process, you need to be comfortable with the idea that you are not going to be able to answer your child's in depth questions about their birth parents. Nor are you going to be able to assist them with finding their birth parents later in life.

Semi-Open Adoption

Semi-open adoptions offer many of the protections that closed adoptions used to offer while also keeping your child's long-term interest in mind.

In a closed adoption, you may be asked to provide occasional updates on your child to the agency who handled the adoption. This agency would then pass on these updates to your child's birth parents. However, not all birth parents request this type of information.

One of the biggest advantages of semi-open adoption is that your child will be able to access their birth parent's health information, and your child's birth parents will agree to share important health information with the adoption agency and with their child. This information can be crucial to your child's health as they grow up.

Additionally, if your child wants to contact their birth parents when they are older, the adoption agency can facilitate this request for them.

Open Adoptions

Finally, there are open adoptions. In an open adoption, your child will grow up knowing who their birth parents are. You will provide updates a few times a year to your child's birth parents, and you may even help your child foster a relationship with their birth parents.

Any questions you have about your child's medical background will be easily answered. Your child will never have to wonder about who their birth parents are nor will they have to decide if they want to meet them later in life. Their birth parents, and their relationship with them, will just be a part of their lives. They will grow up knowing that you are their parents, and that two different adults created them.

The type of adoption that you choose is really based on the type that you are comfortable with and that you are willing to agree to the terms of. Think carefully about what you want your child to know about their birth parents, and what type of relationship you want to have with your child's birth parents before you decide on or rule out any of the types of adoptions listed above. You should also discuss the type of adoption you are interested in with your family law lawyer to make sure there isn't any legal issues with the type of adoption you are interested in that you need to know about.

For professional legal help, contact a law firm such as Tracy McMurtrie Luck & Associates.


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