Open adoption is when a child gets adopted but the
biological parents are still allowed to have a relationship
with the child.
Depending on the agreement, extended family may be
permitted to be involved as well. This means the child’s
biological aunts, uncles, grandparents and any other
relatives could be part of the child’s life.
This sounds appealing to many people but has many hardships
associated with it. It can be a wonderful thing if
everything goes smoothly but people tend to disagree on
things by nature and even more so when it involves the
raising of a child.
The most obvious difficulty arises with the adoptive
parents having to see the biological family members once in
a while.
The biological family members might give input on how to
raise the child and other advice that may be unwanted. This
can lead to conflicts and emotional turmoil for everyone
involved including the child.
The best way to ensure an open adoption runs smoothly is to
set up a strict set of rules and make sure everyone adheres
to them at all times.
Schedules must be kept and everything has to be explained
fully to the child when they are old enough to understand
the situation. This contract is usually set up far in
advance.
An open adoption does have the benefit of providing a
gigantic support system for the child that will last a
lifetime. As long as both parties get along, they can
interact together once in a while and do all kinds of fun
stuff together.
This will instill a great sense of worth in the child as so
many people love them and take care of them but can be
confusing at times. This type of open adoption isn’t very
common because most adoptive parents want a child to
themselves.