The TV-esque notion that everyone will hug and life will be ideal is, unfortunately, very misleading. I've heard too many stories of disappointing reunions to buy into the notion that suddenly everything will be just perfect. Every situation is different, some better and some worse, but open records don't guarantee that everything will be better. I think it's important that kids know this, so they're ground in reality and not fantasy when they win the open records battle-and I hope they do. The teen years are stressful for all teens, across the board.
Adoption provides an easy out for some.
It's extra ammunition, an easy way to point the finger of blame. The reality is that parenting is parenting, by birth or by adoption and that both moms would say no to something that would endanger the child. Most adoptive parents, professionals in the field and others support open records and advocate raising a child to know about adoption from a very young age. Adoption is no longer a secretive, closed door activity. It has come into the mainstream and people deal with it as a part of life, a way of forming a family.