Open Adoption/Closed Adoption

Please find some of our best articles, essays and reviews on this topic.

For more topics and articles, check out our full listing on our Resource Library.

Open adoption is defined as direct contact between the adopting family and the birth family. Closed adoption (sometimes called confidential adoption) means no identifying information passes between the birth and adoptive family. What we know is that in closed adoption adoptees have grown up feeling they didn’t fit, feeling something was missing, feeling confused about where they came from and feeling it would be a betrayal of their adoptive parents and family, whom they love, to ask questions or seek information about their birth family. Open adoption developed as an answer to these haunting questions. Included here are first-person experiences of open and closed adoptions as well as expert advice for managing relationships and feelings about birth parents, with or without contact.

If you prefer, you can use our Library Search Tool to search by title or author. All the material in this section is copyrighted by Pact; for permission to reproduce or re-post it, please contact us at education@pactadopt.org.

• A Biblical View of Adoption
  by Chené Tucker, MSW, LCSW (1994 | 107 KB | )
  
• A Birth Grandparents Perspective Gone Too Soon
  by Mary Stephenson (1993 | 338 KB | )
  
• A Day In My Life
  by Amanda Kirby (1997 | 66 KB | )
  
• About Concerned United Birthparents
  by Bonnie Bis (1998 | 116 KB | )
  
• Adopting Again: Talking to the Other children in the Home
  an interview with Sharon Kaplan Roszia (2001 | 89 KB | )
  
• Adoption and Genetics: Why We Need To Pay Attention
  by E. Kay Trimberger (2011 | 125 KB | )
  
• Adoption Stories
  by Annette Baran (1998 | 93 KB | )
  
• Adoptive Parents and Expectant Parents Alike: Preparing for a Healthy, Lifelong Relationship
  by Leslie Foge, MA, MFT (2012 | 128 KB | )
  
• All of Nathan’s Family
  by Pamela, Barbara, Suzanne & John (1997 | 91 KB | )
  
• and Many a Tear Will Fall
  by Sharon Kelly (1998 | 101 KB | )
  
• Ask Pact: Keeping it "Real," How to Talk About All Your Child’s Parents
  (2011 | 119 KB | )
  
• Ask Pact: Unexpected Birth Parent Contact
  by Pact (2008 | 121 KB | )
  
• Bastard Nation - What’s In a Name
  by Damsel Plum (1998 | 121 KB | )
  
• Being a Birth Father
  by David Leymone Jones (2000 | 51 KB | )
  
• Being A Mommy - A Birth Parent Story
  by Marta Barton (2005 | 99 KB | )
  
• Birth Father Story
  by Paul Weber (2919 | 139 KB | )
  
• Birth Mother Survey
  (1997 | 96 KB | )
  
• Birth Parent Profile - My Secret Life
  Michelle Cabrerra (1997 | 124 KB | )
  
• Book Review: Sam’s Sister
  by Juliet Bond (2003 | 75 KB | )
  
• Book Review: The Third Choice
  by Leslie Foge and Gail Mosconi (2004 | 933 KB | )
  
• Changes in the Open Relationship
  by Candace Kunz (1992 | 95 KB | )
  
• Changes in the Open Relationship
  by Candace Kunz (1992 | 95 KB | )
  
• Choosing Adoption for One Child and Not Another
  by Brenda Romanchik (1995 | 334 KB | )
  
• Considering Placing a Child for Adoption: Thank You for Listening & Thoughts on Birth Motherhood
  by Susan Ledesma & Joy Retzlaff (2010 | 310 KB | )
  
• Different Birth Families of Adopted Siblings
  by Pam Hutsell (1994 | 110 KB | )
  
• Director’s Corner: Getting Over It and Stepping It Up
  by Beth Hall (2011 | 130 KB | )
  
• Family Stories: Surprise Adoption
  by Jill Rege (2008 | 956 KB | )
  
• Family Stories: What Sophia Needed, Open Hearts, Open Minds
  (2011 | 1.85 MB | )
  
• Family Stories: Zora’s and Ezra’s Families Connected by Blood ... and Love
  by Pact (2010 | 162 KB | )
  
• Fine Tuning Openness: Tools for Managing Relationships Between Birth and Adoptive Families
  by Adele Jones (2004 | 108 KB | )
  
• Grief and Open Adoption
  by Candace Kunz (1992 | 94 KB | )
  
• Healing the Primal Wound
  by Nancy Verrier (1994 | 337 KB | )
  
• I Never Thought of It Before - I Was Someone Else Before I Was Me
  by Lori Clemmons (1997 | 112 KB | )
  
• Keeping In Touch
  by Carmen Rodriguez (1995 | 103 KB | )
  
• Kinship Style - Open, Closed, or Shifting
  by Gail Steinberg and Beth Hall (1994 | 104 KB | )
  
• Letter From a Birth Father
  by David Jones (1997 | 107 KB | )
  
• Letter to the Editor - Mother’s Day
  by Janet Herring-Sherman (1994 | 95 KB | )
  
• Living An Open Adoption
  by Jennifer Ferrara (1997 | 120 KB | )
  
• Losing Lauren
  by Rachel Angeline (1994 | 324 KB | )
  
• Nine and A Half Months
  by Allison Towle (1995 | 109 KB | )
  
• Open Adoption Relationships
  by Becca Martinson (1992 | 111 KB | )
  
• Open Adoptions Navigating Our Differences
  by Jim Gritter (2004 | 95 KB | )
  
• Openness In Adoption
  by Pact (2010 | 52 KB | )
  
• Pact Family Stories
  (2012 | 2.54 MB | )
  
• Pact Family Stories: Up Close and Personal with Jamie Lee Curtis - an Interview with an Adoptive Mom
  Interviewed by Gail Steinberg (1997 | 413 KB | )
  
• Parenting the Next Time
  by Brenda Romanchik (1997 | 325 KB | )
  
• Regret
  by Gillian J. Freney (2011 | 121 KB | )
  
• Self Esteem and Adoption
  by Kenneth Watson (1995 | 331 KB | )
  
• Sibling Attachment
  by Patricia Irwin Johnston (1996 | 336 KB | )
  
• Sibling Issues in Adoption
  by Mary Martin Mason (1993 | 328 KB | )
  
• So You Want To Open Your Child’s Adoption
  by Leslie Foge (2004 | 332 KB | )
  
• Speaking of Birth Parents
  by Marta Barton and Beth Hall (2000 | 125 KB | )
  
• Stepping Out of the Shadows: Birth Fathers Speak Out
  by Mary Martin Mason (1995 | 330 KB | )
  
• Teen Corner: A Letter From My Heart
  by Melissa Cunningham (2010 | 327 KB | )
  
• The Body’s Wisdom
  by Carol Schaefer (1995 | 324 KB | )
  
• The Dance of Trust
  by Becca Martinson (1992 | 104 KB | )
  
• The Real Daughter
  by Colleen Houlihan  (1994 | 106 KB | )
  
• Twice a Mother - Unexpected Paths
  by Rachel Angeline (1997 | 109 KB | )
  
• Unconditional Love
  Maria Felipa (1998 | 94 KB | )
  
• Union and Transitions: A Ceremony of Entrustment
  by Rebecca Weller (1997 | 346 KB | )
  
• Which Comes First?
  by Lynn Lape (1994 | 108 KB | )
  

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