Frequently Asked Question

What is Open Adoption?

If you’re facing an unplanned pregnancy, you’re going to be confronted by a whole new vocabulary. For instance, you’ll hear terms like open adoption, closed adoption, semi-open and semi-closed adoption. Feeling confused? Friends in Adoption can inject some clarity into the confusion.

When you hear terms like open and closed adoption you may think of them as absolutes. That is, that there is just one way to have an open adoption and just one way to have a closed adoption. The truth is that each adoption is unique, and birth parents control the parameters of the adoption by choosing how they want the adoptive relationship to work. What you want your baby’s adoption to look like is a crucial part of your adoption plan.

Written by

Patty Smith

Patty has been with Friends in Adoption for more than 16 years. She manages cases, provides in-service training workshops and community outreach and education. Patty Smith is Friends in Adoption’s Supervisor of Home Study and Post Adoption Services. She also manages cases with expectant women/couples and adoptive parents, provides in-service training workshops and community outreach and education. Patty is universally adored, and she has been an integral member of the Friends in Adoption team since 2007.