What is an open adoption?

In an open domestic adoption, the adoptive parents and the birth parents agree that they will maintain contact after the adoption is finalized.  Communication can be made through letters, photos or meetings with the adoptive parents and your child. Often the adoptive parents and the birth mother and father will meet each other before the birth of the child. Open adoption is about building a relationship between two families, with your child at the center. The adoptive parents are the legal parents.

Is the Open Adoption Agreement legally binding?

In some states, like Maryland, DC and Virginia, the birth and adoptive parents sign a contract that includes information about how they will communicate and meet after the adoption is finalized. Our adoption agency will help you write this contract. This document is a legal contract.

Do I have to have an open adoption?

Some parents choose an open domestic adoption because they find comfort in knowing about the child’s well-being. Since they have a key role in the adoption plan, many birthparents who decided to have an open adoption report that they feel less grief and sadness than they might have experienced if they chose a closed adoption. You can choose a closed adoption if you wish and you can open it later if you decide that you are ready for more contact.

Why is it in a child’s interest to have an open adoption?

• Children maintain the connection between themselves and their birth relatives.
• Children can receive updated medical and historical information about their biological families.
• Children can feel a greater sense of control because they have answers to questions about  who they look like, what kinds of abilities might be genetically influenced and how people in their birth families grow and develop.