Should closed adoptions be legal?

Question

i do think that closed adoptions should be banned, and i was told to write an essay on it. i have a problem because i don't know why i think they should be banned, all i can think of is children have the right to find out their roots, and for health reasons. if someone could please help me with some more reasons, facts, stats about closed adoptions i would be very grateful! thank you very much

Answer 1

Do you really mean that you believe in open records for adoptees?  Thats different than being against closed adoption

Answer 2

no,

Answer 3

if they were interested in finding out about their family history they might want to know. also, they might feel betrayed and in the dark if they find out their parents were hiding it from them.

Answer 4

In cases of abuse or neglect closed adoption is sometimes preferred. What needs to happen is allow adoptees rights to their birth records so that as adults they can choose whether or not to know their origins.

Answer 5

It seems like it could be used as leverage later by the adoptive parents or agency.... "Well we care for you so now you HAVE to give us your baby."

The whole think is just creepy/weird.....Being nice to someone so they give you their baby.

Answer 6

Well, closed adoption merely means that the child will never know of who their natural mother and father are.  Open adoptions vary, some think it means picking the adoptive parents and others think it means having letters, pictures, and sometimes even routine contact between the adoptive parents, child and natural mother.

Personally, I think only if the natural family was horribly abusive should an adoption be closed, but there should still be names and addresses so the child can search for them when they are older.  Other than that, they should be open and legally enforceable.

Answer 7

Traditional "closed" or "private" adoptions is more of the exception, rather than the rule.  Most adoptions now (speaking of US infant-relinquished adoption) are either open or semi-open.  As I understand it, the few private adoptions that happen now are often those with tragic circumstances (rape, incest) where the birthmother does not want contact with the child after the adoption has taken place.

I do think the birthmother's wishes need to be respected, so I can't see requiring every adoption to be open or semi-open.  However, I would like to see adoption records available when the child becomes an adult and chooses to research for him/herself.  I would like to see medical history available to the adoptive parents right away, for obvious reasons.  As I understand it, the closed adoptions now still release medical information, just not identifying information.  

Good luck with your research.

Answer 8

no

Answer 9

I agree that adoptees should have the rights as adults to find out about their roots, birth certificates, and medical records.  However, that is "open records" not an "open adoption".  

A "closed adoption" refers to when there is no contact between an adoptive family and the birth parents.  I believe that closed adoptions are necessary in some cases to protect a child from abusive family members or situations that could cause the child more harm.  

We agreed to an open adoption despite knowing that there were things in our son's bio parents' lives that caused concern for our son's safety.  However, we knew that the openness was at our discretion and our son would never be alone with the bio parents so we felt it was acceptable.  Ironically, the bio parents chose not to keep the open agreement.

Answer 10

i think it depends on who the birthparents are. if they were just poor or young i think they should be open. if they were crackheads then i think they should be closed. go to open adoption websites and they have a lot of info on their pages. try lifetimeadoptions.com