Adoption: Legal Resolution or Legal Fraud?

Abstract

Adoption, long considered a binding social contract, is under attack because it separates the adopted from their biological family. The attitudes and practices of secrecy by the courts, agencies, and adoptive families have intensified the adoptees' feelings of being different and cut off from their roots. In a changing climate of greater openness about sensitive subjects, less tension in discussing adoption can be a significant prophylactic factor. In this sense, adopted people, collectively and individually, are making a meaningful contribution to a complex area of human relations. However, if adoption records are unsealed by legislative acts, the primary needs of the adoptive and biological parents can be undermined by the needs of the adopted adult.

Staying in touch: Empathy in open adoptions∗

“…Those who advise caution (Kirk, 1982;Foster, 1979;Andrews, 1978;Van WickerGuilden, 1986) voice concern about harboring unrealistic fantasies in birth parents; about changing the perceived status of adoptive parents to that of providers of foster care; about letting the pendulum move too quickly from secrecy to openness, before the consequences of openness for the child are known.…”