The Benefits of Semi-Open Adoption
Semi-open adoption is a plan that marries the open adoptions and closed adoptions. The birth mother and adoptive parents only have contact through a third party system. This allows you to get updates regarding your child’s health and wellbeing while maintaining your privacy. Many birth mothers have a desire to not pursue an in person relationship with their child they placed for adoption, but they also want to feel secure knowing their child is happy and healthy.
Semi-open adopts a middle ground that allows for both desires to be met. Adoption Choices of Colorado uses ChildConnect to send updates to birth mothers. If you are thinking about this type of adoption, consider the following benefits of semi-open adoption.
The Benefits of Semi-Open Adoption for Birth Mothers
Prioritizes Privacy
If you do not want to have a direct relationship with your child and anonymity feels important to you, then semi-open adoption allows you to prioritize your own need for confidentiality. Using our agency to mediate communication allows you to check in on your child without them knowing your identity or contact information directly. Many birth mothers find this deeply comforting and essential to their adoption wishes.
Provides Assurance
While many birth mothers wish to pursue confidentiality, wanting your identity to remain private does not mean you have no desire to have a connection with your child. Semi-open adoptions permits adoptive parents to communicate through our secure, private online portal to the birth mother. This, in turn, allows for updates and photos to be shared in a confidential way. Knowing you will stay in touch with your child as they grow older in this way can be really comforting and important to many birth mothers’ process.
Aids in the Grieving Process
It is completely normal for birth mothers to grieve their child. Placing your child for adoption can bring up many emotions including shame, fear and joy all at once. While some birth mothers’ benefit from an open adoption, others really need the combination of space and assurance that open adoption allows for. It is vitally important to understand what is going to best serve you in your grieving process and pursue the type of adoption plan that best meets these needs.
The Benefits of Semi-Open Adoption for Adoptees
Connection to Their Culture
Many adoptees have a desire to connect with their birth family and the culture that they come from. Particularly as a child grows older, it is common for them to desire a connection with their birth family and to incorporate that heritage into their identity as an adoptee. It can be a gift for your child’s adoptive parents to share that they send you updates and will continue to. This provides a level of contact and ongoing connection that can deeply bolster a young adoptee’s self esteem as they find a more holistic identity within their adoptive family. This sense of confidence can be incredibly beneficial developmentally.
Pre-established Boundaries
Many adopted children who are in closed adoptions express a desire to reach out to their birth parent(s). If an in-person connection is not something you desire, an semi-open adoption can be the perfect way to have contact with pre-established boundaries around those interactions. Working with your Adoption Choices caseworker to establish a plan that outlines the frequency and content that you expect from update creates a pre-existing set of boundaries and guidelines for your contact going further for your child. This framework is mutually beneficial for you and your child.
The Benefits of Semi-Open Adoption
Semi-open adoption is a relatively new adoption that more and more birth mothers are choosing. It creates the perfect middle ground for birth mothers navigating an unplanned pregnancy and desiring to both keep their privacy as well as to feel comfortable knowing that their child is safe and well.
Adoption Choices of Colorado offers free counseling to birth mothers as well as any birth fathers or family members in need of support in navigating the adoption process. Discussing your desires and what will best serve you in the grieving process with your counselor can provide clarity in deciding whether semi-open adoption is the best plan for you. Many mothers have experienced the powerful benefits of this type of adoption. Space can be deeply important to grieving and establishing agreed upon updates can allow for a connection while protecting your confidentiality and supporting your personal wellbeing throughout the process.
If you are facing an unplanned pregnancy and want to learn more about your adoption options, contact Adoption Choices of Colorado by email, phone, or text: Email Us, Call us: 720-371-1099, Call or Text us: 303-670-4673 (HOPE). If you are hoping to adopt, please contact us here.
Meet the Author: Kara Bringewatt is an English major and psychology minor at Queens University of Charlotte. She plans to get her masters in social work and work at a nonprofit as a case manager for at-risk youth. She loves using writing as a means of creating community and bringing attention to causes she’s passionate about.
Kara is particularly interested in educational and mental health interventions for young people in foster care. She’s worked as a tutor, professional caregiver, preschool teacher and acting instructor, and loves being able to utilize her wide range of passions to support young people and plans on being a foster and adoptive parent.