What is open adoption in North Carolina?

A North Carolina open adoption is a relationship in which a child’ birth parents and adoptive parents share direct contact and exchange identifying information. The open adoption definition describes an evolving relationship between everyone in the adoption triad, and it’s considered to be the healthiest option for everyone involved. To help you understand why an open adoption is the most recommended type of adoptive relationship, we’ve compiled a list of its most important benefits.

1. You’ll get to watch your child grow up.

In past centuries and decades, adoption has been a closed, secretive affair. Women who chose adoption never knew how their children were doing, and they didn’t have the comfort of seeing them grow up happy and healthy. Today, an open adoption in North Carolina allows you to get updates on your child and, if you and the adoptive family agree, to even meet them and develop a relationship with them.

2. You’ll get to know your child’s adoptive family.

One of the reasons a woman choose adoption for her baby is to make sure he or she has the best life imaginable. An open adoption in North Carolina allows you to verify that that’s exactly what your baby is getting. You’ll be able to trade contact information with the adoptive parents and develop a relationship with the people you’ve chosen to give your child a home. You’ll be able to confirm that you made the right decision for your child, and the adoptive family may even start to feel like your family in the process.

3. Your child will be able to hear from you in your words about your decision to pursue adoption.

It’s common for women who choose adoption to wonder how their children will know they love them. In a North Carolina open adoption, you’ll be able to explain to them yourself how much love it took to choose adoption. They’ll always know that you put their interests first, and they’ll understand just how painful this decision was for you.

4. Your child will get to know you and develop a relationship with you.

You may think of this as more of a benefit for yourself than your child, but that is simply not true. An adopted child will always wonder about his or her birth parents and have questions for them. If they have access to you, they’ll be able to come to you with those questions. They’ll never feel like they were “given up,” and they’ll be able to know that you’re safe and doing well. A North Carolina open adoption allows your child to be proud of their adoption story and where they came from.

5. Your child’s adoptive parents will have access to you and your medical history.

It might seem that open adoptions are primarily beneficial to birth parents and adopted children, but that isn’t the case at all. In addition to getting to develop a relationship with you, adoptive parents will have access to information about you and your medical history should any health issues pop up for your baby. It also allows them to keep in touch with you to know how you’re doing; they care about you, too!

North Carolina Open Adoption vs. Closed Adoption

If an open adoption is an open relationship between adoptive parents and birth parents, then what is a closed adoption? As you might imagine, it’s the opposite. In a closed adoption in North Carolina, the birth parents and adoptive parents exchange very little information, and none of it is identifying. If you would prefer to close your adoption chapter after placing your baby with their adoptive family, then you might decide to choose a closed adoption in NC, although American Adoptions doesn’t usually recommend this.

If the amount of contact in an open adoption makes you nervous but a closed adoption doesn’t seem right either, there is another type of adoptive relationship: a semi-open adoption. In North Carolina semi-open adoptions, birth parents and adoptive parents can communicate with each other with the help of an adoption specialist.

For more information about open adoptions, semi open adoptions and closed adoptions in North Carolina, call 1-800-ADOPTION, or request free information here. 

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