What Are the Different Types of
Adoption?
There are two types of adoptions, confidential and open.
Confidential: The birth parents and the adoptive
parents never know each other. Adoptive parents are given background
information about you and the birth father that they would need to help them
take care of the child, such as medical information.
Open: The birth parents and
the adoptive parents know something about each other. There are different
levels of openness:
- Least open—You will read about several
possible adoptive families and
pick the one that sounds best for your
baby. You will not know each
other's names.
- More open—You and the possible adoptive
family will speak on the
telephone and exchange first names.
- Even more open—You can meet the possible
adoptive family. Your
social worker or attorney will arrange the meeting
at the adoption
agency or attorney's office.
- Most open—You and the adoptive parents share
your full names,
addresses, and telephone numbers. You stay in contact
with the
family and your child over the years, by visiting, calling, or
writing each
other. Fifteen States have enacted laws that recognize
post-adoption
contact between adoptive and birth families if the parties
have voluntarily
agreed to this plan.
Talk to your counselor about the type of adoption that
is best for you. Do you want to help decide who adopts your child? Would you
mind if a single person adopted your child, or a couple of a different race
than you? Would you like to be able to share medical information with your
child's family that may only become known in the future?
If you have strong feelings about these things, work
with an agency or attorney who you feel will listen to what you want.
If you do not have strong feelings about these things,
the adoption agency or attorney will decide who adopts your child based on who
they think can best care for the child.
