Sometimes I read the warm, loving letters my birth daughter’s parents send and feel almost incapable of responding. But I always do.
The First Year of an Open Adoption: Four Families Share
Families with different levels of contact offer glimpses into their relationships with birth parents during their first year home.
“From Our Hearts”: Letters to Our Child’s Birth Parents
Writing about the little things in letters to our daughter’s birth parents often tells a bigger, warmer story in the end.
What Should We Include In Our Contact Agreement?
We’ve been selected by a birth mom who is due in two months. Our attorney advised us to draw up a contact agreement prior to the birth. What should we include?
Adoptees on Open Adoption: “I Have All My Pieces”
Teen and young adult adoptees who grew up in fully open adoptions talk about their relationships with their birth parents and adoptive parents and the many benefits openness has brought them.
Open Adoption from the Other Side
How does your child’s birth mother feel about being called a “birth mother,” about the frequency and format of contact, her voice in the relationship, and more? We asked five birth mothers in open adoptions these questions. Here are their answers.
Ask AF: Continuing Contact with the Birth Family?
Answers to your parenting questions.
Ask AF: Birth Mother’s Day
Answers to your parenting questions.
[Book Review] God and Jetfire
A beautiful, well-written, and heart-piercing memoir about what it means to be a birth mother.
[Book Review] You Belong
An elephant named Hope guides young children through adoption’s big questions in this delightful book.
Ask AF: Referring to the Birth Mother
Answers to your parenting questions.
Deciding to Adopt: What About Birth Families?
“We cannot build healthy relationships with our children on secrecy and lies—and this includes lies of omission.”
Families Share: Our Open Adoption Experience
“The best part about being a birth mother in an open adoption is that I am at peace. Colin and I are still a part of each other’s lives, yet he is so happy and deeply rooted in his family that sometimes I forget that he’s not their flesh and blood. Knowing he has the life I wanted for him allows me to move forward in mine.” —Jen
The Basics of Open Adoption
What is “open adoption” — and what might it mean for your family?
“What No One Told Me”
When we first met our child’s birth mother, we didn’t know what to talk about and what not to talk about, what might upset her or what she may or may not want to know about her child’s future with us.
Ask AF: Differences in Openness
Answers to your parenting questions.
Ask AF: News of a Birth Parent’s Death
Answers to your parenting questions.
Before the Adoption: Connecting With Expectant Mothers
What to share, what to discuss, what to look for, and what to expect when you start to look for an expectant mother.
Video: Open Adoptee Experiences
In this open adoption video, teen and young adult adoptees who grew up knowing their birth parents share their thoughts and experiences.
Ask AF: Acting Out After Birth Mother Visits
Answers to your parenting questions.