Child Welfare Information Gateway

Children’s Bureau/ACYF

1250 Maryland Avenue, SW

Eighth Floor

Washington, DC 20024

800.394.3366

Email: info@childwelfare.gov

https://www.childwelfare.gov

BULLETIN FOR 

PROFESSIONALS

January 2013

Use your smartphone to 

access this bulletin online.

Working With 

Birth and Adoptive 

Families to Support 

Open Adoption

What’s Inside:

• What is openness?

• Trends in openness

• Benefits of openness

• Implications for casework practice

• Implications for agencies

Open adoption allows adoptive parents, and • Adoption and the Internet

often the adopted child, to interact directly with 

birth parents. Also known as “fully disclosed,” 

this type of adoption can help children and 

parents minimize and resolve the change or loss 

of relationships. It also can help those involved 

to maintain and celebrate adopted children’s 

connections with all the important people in their 

lives. 

This bulletin is intended to help professionals 

guide birth and adoptive families who are 
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contemplating open adoption or who are 

already having postadoption contact. 

What Is Openness?

Some think of openness occurring along a 

continuum (as shown in the diagram above). 

On one end of the continuum is a confidential, 

or closed, adoption. In such adoptions, no 

contact occurs between birth and adoptive 

families, and no identifying information is 

shared. (Some nonidentifying information, 

such as medical history, may be provided 

through an adoption agency or attorney.1

) 

In the middle of the continuum is a form of 

openness known as semi-open or mediated 

adoption. In semi-open adoptions, contact is 

made indirectly through a mediator, such as 

an agency caseworker or lawyer, or through an 

anonymous post office or email box. This type 

of adoption allows for communication, while 

also offering some privacy. On the far end 

of the continuum is an open adoption, also 

referred to as a fully disclosed adoption. In an 

open adoption, identities are known and there 

is direct contact between birth parents (and 

possibly other members of the birth families) 

and the adoptive families. 

1	 See Child Welfare Information Gateway’s Collection of 

Family Information About Adopted Persons and Their Birth 

Families (https://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/laws_

policies/statutes/collection.cfm) for information about State

laws regarding the types of information that are required or

permitted to be collected about adopted persons and their birth

families.

Open adoption can have many different 

meanings and structures, and there may be 

variations regarding several components 

of the arrangement. Communication may 

include a combination of letters, emails, 

telephone calls, or visits. The frequency of 

contact can range from every few years to 

several times a month or more, depending 

on the needs and wishes of all involved. 

Additionally, open adoption may include 

communication between the adopted child/

person and the birth parent, or it may be 

limited to communication between the birth 

and adoptive parents. 

Confidential

• No contact

• No identifying information shared

Semi-Open/Mediated Adoption

• Indirect contact

• Share nonidentifying information

Disclosed/Open Adoption

• Direct communication

• Exchange identifying information

Trends in Openness

By 1950, most States had passed legislation 

sealing adoption records, even from adopted 

persons themselves, but beginning in the 

1970s and early 1980s, a movement toward 

open adoption occurred (Grotevant & McRoy, 

1998). In response, many States have changed 

their adoption laws. The following provides 

a snapshot of State laws relevant to open 

adoption:

• As of June 2009, approximately 30 States 

have some form of a mutual consent 

registry, which is a central repository 

through which individuals directly involved 

in adoption can indicate their willingness 

to disclose identifying information (Child 

Welfare Information Gateway, 2009).

• As of June 2009, all States and American 

Samoa allow access to nonidentifying 
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information by an adoptive parent or a 

guardian of an adopted person who is 

still a minor, and nearly all States allow an 

adopted person access to this information. 

• As of May 2011, 26 States and the District 

of Columbia have statutes allowing written 

and enforceable contact agreements, with 

the agreements needing to be approved 

by the court that has jurisdiction over 

the adoption (Child Welfare Information 

Gateway, 2011). No States prohibit such 

agreements. These agreements can range 

from informal, mutual understandings 

to written, formal contracts and often 

include some degree of openness. Even in 

States where postadoption contracts are 

enforceable, no law allows for an adoption 

to be overturned if either birth or adoptive 

parents fail to follow through on their 

agreement. Disputes over compliance or 

requests for modifications, however, may be 

brought before the court or a mediator. 

• As of June 2009, 26 States, the District of 

Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, and 

Puerto Rico allow adopted persons to gain 

access to their original birth certificates with 

a court order (Child Welfare Information 

Gateway, 2009). These petitions are 

generally granted with “good cause.” 

Examples of how adopted persons can gain 

access in other States include the following: 

allowing access when there is a court order 

to which all parties have consented, at 

the request of an adult adopted person, 

or when permission to receive identifying 

information has been established with a 

State adoption registry. 

For more information on laws relating to 

cooperative adoptions, access to adoption 

records, and mutual consent registries, see 

the State Statutes Search section of the Child 

Welfare Information Gateway website at 

https://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/

laws_policies/state/. 

Benefits of Openness

Recent research on open adoption has 

found that the practice is becoming more 

widespread and that the adoption triad, which 

includes adopted persons, birth parents, 

and adoptive parents, tends to experience 

open adoption positively. This research has 

debunked many of the common myths about 

the negative consequences of open adoption. 

(See Open Adoption Myths later in this section 

for more information.) 

Extent of Open Adoption 

More than one-third of all children who 

have been adopted (36 percent) had some 

postadoption contact with their birth families 

(Vandivere, Malm, & Radel, 2009). When 

examined by type of adoption, 39 percent 

of children adopted through foster care 

had postadoption contact, 68 percent of 

children adopted domestically through private 

agencies had postadoption contact, and 6 

percent of children in intercountry adoptions 

had postadoption contact. A 2008 survey of 

100 domestic private agencies with infant 

adoption programs found that over the past 2 

years only 5 percent of infant adoptions were 

closed, 55 percent were open, and 40 percent 

were mediated (Siegel & Smith, 2012).

Levels of Openness 

The percentage of adoptions in which contact 

is maintained varies over time. The California 

Long-Range Adoption Study looked at contact 

patterns over four waves (2, 4, 8, and 14 years 
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after adoption). In one longitudinal study, the 

percentages of adoptive families in contact 

with the birth families were as follows: 59 

percent after 2 years, 46 percent after 4 years, 

60 percent after 8 years, and 39 percent after 

14 years (Crea & Barth, 2009). For those who 

maintained openness, the mean number 

of contacts (mail, phone, and in person) 

between the adopted person and the birth 

parents increased each year, from 7.4 contacts 

per year 4 years after the adoption to 25.6 

contacts per year 14 years after the adoption.

The parties involved in the contacts may vary 

in open adoptions. In one study, 21 percent of 

adoptive parents and 22 percent of persons 

adopted from foster care had contact with 

the birth family (Faulkner & Madden, 2012). 

When looking at private adoption, 50 percent 

of adoptive parents were in contact with the 

birth families, yet only 37 percent of adopted 

persons were in contact with their birth family.

Use of Contact Agreements 

Approximately one-third of all nonrelative 

adoptions include contact agreements, with 

agreements being present in 32 percent 

of foster care adoptions and 67 percent of 

private domestic adoptions (Vandivere, Malm, 

& Radel, 2009). In a study of private adoption 

agencies with infant adoption programs, 

52 percent stated that between 76 and 100 

percent of their open adoptions involved 

written agreements, and 29 percent stated 

that fewer than 25 percent of their open 

adoptions involved written agreements (Siegel 

& Smith, 2012). As would be expected, the 

presence of a contact agreement increases the 

likelihood of postadoption contact with the 

birth family (Faulkner & Madden, 2012).

Impact on Adoption Triad Members

A preponderance of the literature cites the 

positive results of open adoption for members 

of the adoption triad. The following findings 

are based on data from the Minnesota 

Texas Adoption Research Project (MTARP), a 

longitudinal open adoption study that began 

in the mid-1980s:

• Adoptive parents and adolescent adopted 

persons in arrangements with ongoing 

contact had high levels of satisfaction 

with their levels of openness, with 84 

percent of adopted persons, 94 percent 

of adoptive mothers, and 85 percent of 

adoptive fathers being either satisfied or 

very satisfied (Grotevant, Perry, & McRoy, 

2007). Levels of satisfaction with openness 

arrangements were highest for fully 

disclosed adoptions when the children 

were adolescents (Grotevant, Wrobel, Von 

Korff, Skinner, Newell, Friese, & McRoy, 

2007) and emerging adults (i.e., individuals 

who are approximately ages 18 to 25 years 

old and are exploring areas relevant to 

adulthood, including romance and careers) 

(Farr, Grotevant, Grant-Marsney, Musante, 

& Wrobel, 2012). 

• There were no significant differences in 

externalizing (i.e., acting out) behaviors, 

as reported by adoptive parents, in 

adolescents in open or closed adoptions 

(Von Korff, Grotevant, & McRoy, 2006). 

Although contact itself was not related 

to externalizing behavior, the family’s 

satisfaction with their level of contact was. 

Families who were more satisfied with 

their openness arrangements (whatever 

they were) had children with lower levels 

of externalizing, both at adolescence and 

emerging adulthood (Grotevant, Rueter, 

Von Korff, & Gonzalez, 2011).
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• Adolescents who met with their birth 

mothers reported having positive feelings 

toward them and did not report being 

confused about who their parents were 

after the meeting (Grotevant, Wrobel, et 

al., 2007). Adopted persons who met in 

person with their birth mothers expressed 

the highest levels of satisfaction with their 

arrangements, and those who never met or 

eventually stopped contact had the lowest 

levels of satisfaction. Adopted persons and 

adoptive parents who had no contact with 

the birth family were more likely to want 

an increase in contact than for the level to 

remain the same, and less than 1 percent 

of adoptive parents and adopted persons 

wanted to decrease their level of contact. 

Nearly 35 percent of adolescents with no 

contact, however, wanted their level of 

contact to remain the same.

• Families in an open adoption tended to 

have more conversations about adoption, 

and this increased level of communication 

was associated with a more coherent sense 

of adoptive identity for adolescents and 

emerging adults (Von Korff & Grotevant, 

2011). 

• Birth mothers in a fully disclosed open 

adoption tended to have better grief 

resolution than birth mothers in closed 

adoptions (Henney, Ayers-Lopez, McRoy, & 

Grotevant, 2007).

• Adolescents who had contact with their 

birth mothers did not express confusion 

about parental roles; they noted that 

their relationship with their birth mothers 

was a friendship rather than mother/child 

(Berge, Mendenhall, Wrobel, Grotevant, 

& McRoy, 2006). Furthermore, none of the 

adolescents reported that the birth mothers 

tried to “reclaim” them. When adolescents 

were not satisfied with their level of contact 

with their birth mothers, it was because 

they wanted increased levels of contact.

• One review of the data examined cases 

in which adoptive families included two 

nonbiologically related siblings who 

were adopted (Berge, Green, Grotevant, 

& McRoy, 2006). In cases in which both 

siblings had contact with their birth 

mothers, the children or youth enjoyed 

contact with their siblings’ birth mothers. 

In cases in which only one sibling had birth 

mother contact, the sibling without birth 

mother contact tended to still value contact 

with the sibling’s birth mother, found the 

relationship with the sibling’s birth mother 

to “make up” for his or her own lack of 

contact, and was not jealous of the sibling’s 

relationship.

Data from another study also indicated that 

higher levels of openness are significantly 

associated with higher levels of satisfaction 

with the adoption process by both birth 

mothers and adoptive parents (Ge et al., 

2008). Additionally, there was a significant 

correlation between increased openness and 

better postplacement adjustment of birth 

mothers.

Open Adoption for Children in 

Foster Care

According to data from the Adoption and 

Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System 

(AFCARS), 85 percent of the children adopted 

from foster care in fiscal year 2011 were 

adopted by either their former foster parents 

(54 percent) or a relative (31 percent) (U.S. 

Department of Health and Human Services, 

2012). These adoptions are often open 
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either because a relationship developed 

between the birth and adoptive parents 

when the children were in care or because 

the children know their birth families’ contact 

information and may contact them whether or 

not the adoption was intended to be open. 

Greater use of concurrent planning2

 and 

dual licensure3

 has contributed to increased 

numbers of adoptions by foster parents 

throughout the country and may increase this 

type of open adoption as well.

Implications for 

Casework Practice

Agency staff can play a critical role in 

working with birth and adoptive parents 

who are contemplating and negotiating 

open adoptions. In order to be effective, 

professionals working in adoption need to 

be attuned not only to their own philosophy 

of adoption, but also to how to work 

effectively with clients whose personalities and 

relationship histories vary greatly. This section 

addresses how caseworkers can support 

successful open adoptions, understand when 

open adoption may not be appropriate, 

address ethical issues, and help families 

overcome challenges.

2	 Simultaneously identifying another permanency goal

for a child (besides reunification) and documenting efforts

so permanency can be achieved quickly for a child should

reunification efforts not succeed.

3	 Licensing resource families as both foster and adoptive

parents. (Some State laws allow for dual licensure or certification.

Check your State law to see if dual licensure or certification is

practiced in your State).

Until recently, closed adoption was the norm. 

Many myths were circulated about open 

adoption that may have prevented members 

of the adoption triad from openly exchanging 

information or initiating contact with each 

other. The following statements debunk some 

of the more common myths, which have been 

disproved by adoption research: 

• Parties in open adoptions are NOT 

confused about their parenting rights and 

responsibilities. 

• Birth mothers do NOT attempt to “reclaim” 

their children. 

• Children in open adoption are NOT confused 

about who their parents are. They do 

understand the different roles of adoptive and 

birth parents in their lives. 

• Differences in adolescent adoptive identity or 

degree of preoccupation with adoption are 

NOT related to the level of openness in the 

adoption. 

• Adoptive openness does NOT appear to 

influence an adopted person’s self-esteem in 

any negative way. 

• Adoptive parents in an open adoption do 

NOT feel less in control and, indeed, have 

a greater sense of permanence in their 

relationship with their child.

• Open adoption does NOT interfere with 

adoptive parents’ sense of entitlement or 

sense that they have the right to parent their 

adopted child. 

• Birth mothers in an open and ongoing 

mediated adoption do NOT have more 

problems with grief resolution. 

Although these are research-based trends, it is 

always possible for individuals to experience 

these situations differently (e.g., an adoptive 

parent feels less in control because the 

child’s birth parent has mental health issues 

and is unable to maintain boundaries). Rare 

occurrences, however, do not disprove the 

broader generalizations.

OPEN ADOPTION MYTHS
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Supporting Successful 

Open Adoptions

Child welfare research on effective casework 

practice in open adoption is limited, but the 

following are recommendations from the 

literature about how agency staff can support 

successful open adoptions:

• Keep the child as the focus of the process.

• Ensure that parents (birth and adoptive) 

receive information, training, and 

counseling, as appropriate, to inform them 

about open adoption.

• Help the parents determine what level of 

openness is best for their situation.

• Assist the parents in building trusting, 

respectful, and nonjudgmental 

relationships; negotiating conflicts; 

developing empathy; establishing open 

communication; and defining roles.

• Work with the families to plan for contacts 

(e.g., contact agreements) as well as 

prepare for potential changes in openness 

over time.

• Offer parents postadoption services 

to help them overcome challenges in 

communication (Siegel & Smith, 2012; 

Siegel, 2008).

As agency staff work with parents through 

this process, they can try to encourage and 

support the following characteristics that may 

help yield successful open adoptions: 

• Empathy

• Respect

• Honesty

• Trust

• Commitment 

• Flexibility

• Open communication (Siegel & Smith, 

2012; Grotevant, 2012)

Additionally, openness should be viewed as 

a process that occurs over time rather than 

something that occurs immediately. It may 

be helpful for the families to enter into this 

relationship gradually before moving to higher 

levels.

Understanding When Openness 

May Not Be Appropriate 

In some cases, including the child in a 

relationship with the birth parents may not be 

in his or her best interest. This may be true if:

• A birth parent is unable to maintain 

appropriate relationship boundaries with a 

child due to mental or emotional illness.

• There has been violence directed at a child, 

which indicates that contact with the parent 

would likely result in more trauma for the 

child. 

Even when it is not safe for the child to 

maintain an open relationship with a birth 

parent, an extended family member may 

be able to provide a link to the child’s past 

without causing additional trauma. Confer 

with an adoption-competent mental health 

provider and talk to the adoptive family 

for additional assistance in making difficult 

choices regarding the amount of openness to 

include in a child’s adoption.

Addressing Ethical Issues 

In addition to the ethical issues that arise in 

many adoptions (e.g., the exchange of money 

between parties, the level of voluntariness of 

the relinquishment), agency staff should be 
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aware of the ethical issues specifically related 

to open adoptions. Perhaps at the forefront 

is the amount of direction that agency staff 

give to families about their openness decision. 

Agency workers vary greatly in the amount 

of guidance they provide, ranging from little 

advice or encouraging self-determination to a 

paternalistic attitude (Reamer & Siegel, 2007). 

Agency staff should help inform the birth and 

adoptive families’ decision-making process 

but ultimately allow the families to make the 

decision (Reamer & Siegel, 2007; Siegel & 

Smith, 2012). 

An ethical issue that public child welfare 

workers may encounter is the practice in some 

States of offering the possibility of an open 

adoption as an incentive for the birth parents 

to voluntarily terminate parental rights and, 

conversely, to tell the birth parents that an 

open adoption would not be an option if 

they did not voluntarily terminate their rights 

(Reamer & Siegel, 2007).

Helping Families Overcome 

Challenges 

Although most adoptive and birth families 

appear to be satisfied with open adoptions, 

this arrangement does present some 

challenges. One study cited several potential 

challenges, including one party desiring 

a different level of contact, not following 

through on the agreed upon contact, breaking 

trust, and the violation of specified or 

assumed personal boundaries (Siegel & Smith, 

2012). Additionally, family needs regarding 

openness may change over time. Birth and 

adoptive families may need to decide whether 

to adjust their commitments due to changing 

circumstances or react to changes requested 

or made by the other party. Caseworkers can 

use the following methods to help families 

overcome these and other challenges:

• Encourage parents to communicate openly 

and honestly.

• Help educate birth and adoptive parents 

so they can better understand the other 

parents’ perspective.

• Keep the focus on the needs and 

experience of the child.

• Support the development of written contact 

agreements that help establish appropriate 

expectations, set boundaries, and offer 

flexibility for needs that may change over 

time. 

• Offer postadoption support services 

to adoptive families, birth families, and 

adopted persons.

If families need additional guidance 

establishing relationships, overcoming 

differences on how or when contact 

should occur, or navigating changes in the 

relationships, caseworkers can refer them 

to mediation. Mediation, which refers to 

meeting with a neutral third party such as an 

agency or adoption professional, can help 

families develop written agreements before an 

adoption or aid in sorting out changing needs 

and roles later in the adoption.

Implications for 

Agencies

Although agencies should have policies 

regarding openness, including staff roles, 

agency policy should not dictate how the 

openness of an adoption is structured (Siegel, 

2008). A “one size fits all” model is not the 
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correct approach (Grotevant, Perry, & McRoy, 

2007). Instead, a variety of options should be 

made available to families, and staff should 

help birth parents and adoptive families 

identify the degree of openness that is best 

for them, both in the present and as their 

needs change in the future. Agencies also 

should ensure that postadoption services are 

available, either in-house or through referrals, 

to help families prepare or respond to their 

openness levels. Furthermore, agencies 

should ensure that staff are educated about 

open adoption and understand how to 

implement any agency policies. 

Openness, especially mediated openness 

where the agency relays information between 

the birth and adoptive parents, increases the 

workload of agency staff in an era of shrinking 

resources and increased demand on social 

service providers. From a staffing perspective, 

a fully disclosed adoption may be less costly 

in the long run than a mediated adoption 

because there is no need to transfer the 

information between parties. There may be a 

continued need, however, for postadoption 

counseling in these types of adoption.

Adoption and the 

Internet

According to a 2010 Pew Research Center 

report, 93 percent of American teens have 

Internet access, and 73 percent use a social 

networking site (e.g., Facebook) (Lenhart, 

Purcell, Smith, & Zichuhr, 2010). With 

seemingly everything available on the Internet 

(if one knows where to look), birth families 

and adopted persons now are much more 

easily able to research contact information 

than they had been in the past. This increase 

in information availability is changing the 

landscape of privacy and confidentiality, 

including in adoption. Adoption agencies 

may have internal policies in place to protect 

individuals’ identities or establish other 

boundaries, but they ultimately cannot control 

the actions of adopted persons, birth parents, 

or adoptive parents who are seeking another 

party’s information or trying to make contact. 

There are no data about the number of 

adopted persons that seek out their birth 

family, or vice versa, via the Internet, but 

a nonscientific poll of foster youth by 

FosterClub, a national network for young 

people in foster care, may shed some light on 

the issue. Nearly three-quarters (74 percent) 

of the 79 foster youth who responded 

had searched for a family member on the 

Internet (Bodner & Knapp, 2011). More 

than 60 percent of respondents noted that 

it would have been helpful if someone had 

mentored them about connecting with their 

birth families. Some adopted persons may 

try to conduct their searches in secret. This 

may deny them the support and protection 

they need, especially if the contact includes 

a negative situation, such as a rejection by 

the birth parent or an emotional reaction for 

which the adopted person was not prepared 

(Fursland, 2011). 

Agency staff should be aware of any laws or 

regulations that limit or require action on their 

part when a member of the adoption triad 

attempts or does make contact with another 

party through social media or other means 

outside the level of openness previously 

established. Additionally, agency staff may 

want to discuss social media considerations 

with birth and adoptive parents and consider 

including social media provisions in their 

contact agreements. 
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Adoptions Together, an accredited adoption 

agency, lists the following steps for 

professionals to help support adopted persons 

who want to search for or contact their birth 

families: 

• Try to slow down the process so that you 

can talk through various issues and next 

steps with the adopted person.

• Start with a series of adult-adult meetings, if 

possible, before the adopted person makes 

contact.

• Discuss and validate the adopted person’s 

fantasies and expectations about the 

contact (e.g., there will be a strong personal 

connection, the birth parents will be famous 

or rich); explore other possibilities.

• Prepare the adopted person for initial issues 

that may arise, such as no prior relationship, 

lack of commonality, and different values.

• Limit the initial contact to the birth parent; 

birth siblings can be brought in later 

(Ogden, Teeter, & Stahl, 2012).

SEARCHING FOR BIRTH FAMILY 

MEMBERS 

While many adoptions are open from the 

start, others become open years later. 

An adopted person and/or the person’s 

adoptive parents may initiate a search 

to find general information about the 

person’s birth family, obtain a medical 

history, or establish connections with 

birth parents or siblings. State adoption 

agencies may offer services to help with 

accessing information, arranging reunions, 

and supporting adopted children and 

youth in dealing with the powerful 

emotions related to search and reunion. 

For more information about search and 

reunion:

• Visit the Child Welfare Information 

Gateway Search and Reunion webpage: 

https://www.childwelfare.gov/adoption/

search/

• Read Searching for Birth Relatives: 

https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/f_

search.pdf

• Find State support services through 

the National Foster Care & Adoption 

Directory (check Accessing Adoption 

Records or Support Groups for Adopted 

Adults and Those Searching for Birth 

Relatives): https://www.childwelfare.

gov/nfcad/

Conclusion

With the increase in open adoptions over the 

past two decades, it is essential that public 
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and private adoption agencies develop the 

knowledge and skills required to guide birth 

parents, adopted persons, and adoptive 

parents through this sensitive, yet critical, 

process. Although open adoption may not be 

the right choice for every situation, the child 

welfare literature has shown that families who 

choose open adoption tend to be satisfied 

with their decision and that it benefits all 

members of the adoption triad. 

Additional Resources

American Association of Open Adoption 

Agencies. This organization helps families find 

agencies practicing open adoption. 

http://www.openadoption.org

Child Welfare League of America. CWLA’s 

Standards of Excellence for Adoption Services

provides best practice regarding openness in 

adoption.

http://www.cwla.org/programs/adoption/

cwla_standards.htm

Child Welfare Information Gateway. This 

service of the Children’s Bureau provides 

information and publications about a wide 

range of adoption topics, including openness. 

It also provides adoption statutes for each 

State, including Access to Adoption Records

and Postadoption Contact Agreements 

Between Birth and Adoptive Families.

https://www.childwelfare.gov

https://www.childwelfare.gov/adoption/

adoptive/contacts.cfm

https://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/

laws_policies/state

Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute. The 

Adoption Institute provides information about 

a wide array of adoption issues, including 

open adoption.

http://adoptioninstitute.org

Insight: Open Adoption Resources and 

Support. The Insight website offers resources 

for professionals, adoptive parents, and birth 

parents considering open adoption. 

http://www.openadoptioninsight.org

Minnesota/Texas Adoption Research 

Project. This website provides information on 

a longitudinal study of openness in adoption.

http://www.psych.umass.edu/adoption 

Open Adoption Bloggers. This website lists 

more than 300 blogs about open adoption, 

including those by birth parents, adoptive 

parents, and individuals who were adopted. 

http://openadoptionbloggers.com

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Suggested Citation: 

Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2013). 

Working with birth and adoptive families 

to support open adoption. Washington, 

DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human 

Services, Children’s Bureau.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Administration for Children and Families

Administration on Children, Youth and Families

Children’s Bureau