Adoptive Families Blog

Most birth parents today seek some form of open adoption, and many adoptive parents do too. Once you've adopted and are joyfully living out your open adoption story, you may get questioned by those who are unfamiliar with the concept, asking "how does open adoption work?" 

Lifetime is sharing 7 of the most frequently-asked open adoption questions adoptive parents might hear about their relationship with their child’s birth parents. Plus, we're providing the answers to these questions, too!

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Topics: open adoption visits, what is open adoption like?, open adoption questions, is open adoption co-parenting?, Adoption Questions, Open Adoption

So, you've agreed to give your baby’s birth mother updates as he grows up.  Now that you’ve returned home with your baby, how do you know which info to share? Working through the unfamiliar emotions that can arise in an open adoption relationship isn’t always easy. Today, Lifetime gives you tips on how you can develop a healthy relationship with your child’s birth mother!

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Topics: is open adoption co-parenting?, open adoption visits, semi-open adoption, relationship with birth mother, Open Adoption, what is open adoption like?

Question: My wife and I have been through several rounds of failed IVF treatments, and so we’ve started to look into infant adoption. We heard that to adopt an infant these days you have to have an open adoption with the biological mother. We're worried that might be like co-parenting or that we wouldn't be seen as the baby's parents. Does open adoption mean the birth mother could just drop by anytime or have a say in how we raise our child?

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Topics: Open Adoption, what is open adoption like?, semi-open adoption, open adoption visits, is open adoption co-parenting?

New to adoption? You’ve likely heard the term “open adoption” being thrown around a lot. What exactly is it? In today’s post, we’ve created a beginner’s guide to open adoption.

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Topics: Open Adoption, open adoption visits, semi-open adoption

Open Adoption With One Birth Mother,
Semi-Open With Another?

Dear Mardie,

We are ready to adopt again, but this time, we do not want to be as open to birth mother contact.  Specifically, we do not want to be open to visits. Our daughter’s birth mother had specified that she only wanted pictures and letters. We wouldn’t want one child to have visits with a birth mother and not the other – it would just seem unfair and maybe confusing.  Is that okay?

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Topics: birth mother, Open Adoption, open adoption visits, relationship with birth mother, semi-open adoption

There are many feelings associated with open adoption: excitement, elation, harmony, acceptance, expectation, friendship, thankfulness, and optimism.

Lifetime Adoption has curated this photo series, to illustrate the emotional facets of open adoption. A shared feeling in these photos is that open adoption means love!

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Topics: Open Adoption, Adoption story, Lifetime Babies, open adoption visits

With an OPEN ADOPTION, birth parents have the opportunity to select the family who will parent their child. The adoptive parents and birth parents may speak, meet, and get to know each other before the birth, and then communicate afterwards, as well. As the birth mother progresses in her pregnancy, she can send ultrasound photos and share additional photos, if desired.

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Topics: Open Adoption, Mardie Caldwell, open adoption visits

Many times when speaking to potential adoptive parents, I find that they become a little nervous when the conversation gets to the open part of open adoption.

I've found that many parents simply don't know what to expect. When they hear about sharing letters and photos (or even visits) with a birth mother, they often become quite uncomfortable.

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Topics: Open Adoption, Talking to Birthmothers, visit with birth family, open adoption visits

Topics: Open Adoption, Adoption Tips, Domestic Adoption, visit with birth family, open adoption visits