Domestic adoption
Encyclopedia
Domestic adoption is the placing of a child within the same country as the child’s birth. This may be achieved through a private agency or the state, such as foster care.
Open adoption is where the adopted person has access to their file and/or original records. This may be a right available at certain ages - e.g., at age 18, a person adopted in the United Kingdom
becomes entitled to their birth certificate and may access their adoption records.
Open adoption may also be defined as a type of private adoption. Open adoption involves a degree of ongoing personal contact between the parties to an adoption (the birth parents, adoptive family and the child). Identifying information is shared between the parties (such as names, addresses, and phone numbers). The parties will determine the nature and extent of contact and this is often communicated and managed directly -- without the assistance of an intermediary. Even after an adoption is finalized, the relationship between the parties will continue, and may include yearly pictures, visits, phone calls, letters, or e-mails. While all adoption plans are unique, in an open adoption the adopted child may meet his/her birth family and/or a degree of ongoing communication will exist. http://www.allforchildren.org/adoptionchoices.html
Semi-open adoption
Semi open adoption in private adoption involves a degree of contact between the birth and adoptive parents, but this contact is limited and only non-identifying information is shared. For example, first names and the state/region in which the parties reside may be disclosed. Communication is often made through an intermediary, such as an adoption agency. Significantly, birth parents may play an active role in selecting an adoptive family and receive pictures and letter updates through the agency. Thanks to technology advances, the parties may choose to stay connected through the internet in a non-identifying manner (e.g., creating a dedicated website with picture and video uploads of child milestones for birth parent viewing).http://www.allforchildren.org/adoptionchoices.html
Confidential (a/k/a closed) adoption
See also: Closed adoption
In some confidential adoptions, non-identifying information is shared between the parties involved, such as medical history and social background, up to the point of placement. After the adoption is legalized, no further information is shared between the adoptive parents and the birth parents.
In other confidential adoptions no information is shared between the parties involved. This may occur because of the law in the jurisdiction concerned, or court order, such as when a child is removed form the home by the state because of abuse or neglect. It may also occur because the parties involved do not want any contact.
Foster Care adoptions
Foster care is a form of substitute care, usually in a home licensed by a public agency, for children whose welfare and protection requires that they be removed from their own homes (often due to claims of abuse or neglect). Foster care adoption is a legal process through which children in the public, foster care system become full and permanent legal members of another family.
Domestic adoption
Adoption is a legal process through which a child who will not be raised by his/her birth parents becomes a full and permanent legal member of another family. In most jurisdictions, domestic adoption begins with the decision of the birth parents to place their unborn baby or child with another family. Birth parents may play an active role in the adoption process and may be involved in selecting an adoptive family. There are several ways in which birth and adoptive families connect, such as through a personal contact or an adoption professional (e.g., private or state-run adoption agency, a private attorney, or in some states a facilitator). Privately-arranged adoptions through an attorney or facilitator are illegal in some jurisdictions. In a private adoption, birth parents may have the option of choosing an open, semi-open, or confidential (a/k/a closed) adoption. Birth parents may be given profiles of waiting adoptive families to look at and choose from. In doing so, they become active participants in the adoption process and may experience greater confidence in their adoption plan. In the alternative, birth parents may request assistance from their adoption professional in choosing an adoptive family. http://www.allforchildren.org/adoptionchoices.htmlOpen adoption
See also: Open adoptionOpen adoption
Open adoption is an adoption in which the biological mother or parents and adoptive family know the identity of each other. In open adoption, the parental rights of biological parents are terminated, as they are in "closed adoptions" and the adoptive parents become the legal parents, yet the...
Open adoption is where the adopted person has access to their file and/or original records. This may be a right available at certain ages - e.g., at age 18, a person adopted in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
becomes entitled to their birth certificate and may access their adoption records.
Open adoption may also be defined as a type of private adoption. Open adoption involves a degree of ongoing personal contact between the parties to an adoption (the birth parents, adoptive family and the child). Identifying information is shared between the parties (such as names, addresses, and phone numbers). The parties will determine the nature and extent of contact and this is often communicated and managed directly -- without the assistance of an intermediary. Even after an adoption is finalized, the relationship between the parties will continue, and may include yearly pictures, visits, phone calls, letters, or e-mails. While all adoption plans are unique, in an open adoption the adopted child may meet his/her birth family and/or a degree of ongoing communication will exist. http://www.allforchildren.org/adoptionchoices.html
Semi-open adoption
Semi open adoption in private adoption involves a degree of contact between the birth and adoptive parents, but this contact is limited and only non-identifying information is shared. For example, first names and the state/region in which the parties reside may be disclosed. Communication is often made through an intermediary, such as an adoption agency. Significantly, birth parents may play an active role in selecting an adoptive family and receive pictures and letter updates through the agency. Thanks to technology advances, the parties may choose to stay connected through the internet in a non-identifying manner (e.g., creating a dedicated website with picture and video uploads of child milestones for birth parent viewing).http://www.allforchildren.org/adoptionchoices.html
Confidential (a/k/a closed) adoption
See also: Closed adoption
Closed adoption
Closed adoption is the process by where an infant is adopted by another family, and the record of the biological parent is kept sealed...
In some confidential adoptions, non-identifying information is shared between the parties involved, such as medical history and social background, up to the point of placement. After the adoption is legalized, no further information is shared between the adoptive parents and the birth parents.
In other confidential adoptions no information is shared between the parties involved. This may occur because of the law in the jurisdiction concerned, or court order, such as when a child is removed form the home by the state because of abuse or neglect. It may also occur because the parties involved do not want any contact.
Foster Care adoptions
Foster care is a form of substitute care, usually in a home licensed by a public agency, for children whose welfare and protection requires that they be removed from their own homes (often due to claims of abuse or neglect). Foster care adoption is a legal process through which children in the public, foster care system become full and permanent legal members of another family.