Open adoption and diverse families: Complex relationships in the digital age. Abbie E.Goldberg. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2019

Abstract

In Open Adoption and Diverse Families: Complex Relationships in the Digital Age, author and scholar Abbie E. Goldberg invites readers to deepen their understanding of the complexity and nuance open adoption presents. By the intricate interweaving of 132 adoptive parents' voices, Goldberg elucidates the diverse experiences of adoptive parents with a focus on those navigating openness. The text largely relies on rich description and direct quotes from interviews conducted at four points in time from preadoption to 8 years postadoption. A longitudinal approach enables her to speak to the ebbing and flowing of openness, both structural and communicative, over time, and is regarded as a strength. Although Goldberg identifies common themes in the parents' experiences, which serve as the backbone of the book, her writing also demonstrates that each family's journey is unique.Recent trends in adoption practice reveal a significant shift away from limited or no contact between adoptive and birth families toward encouraging some degree of openness (Wiley, 2017). Openness comes in many shapes and sizes, varying based on type, frequency, and duration of contact (Grotevant, 2012). On one end of the spectrum are closed or confidential adoptions, in which adoptive and birth families have no contact or exchange of information. In mediated adoptions, an agency facilitates the exchange of information without direct interaction between adoptive and birth families, while in fully disclosed adoptions, adoptive and birth families exchange identifying information and maintain some degree (or potential for) direct contact (Grotevant & McRoy, 1998). Families may exchange information and photographs; communicate via the phone, mail, email, Skype, and/or social media; and/or interact in person. These connections may begin prior to the birth of the child, shortly thereafter, or years later, and may fluctuate over time (Siegel & Smith, 2012). Brodzinsky (2005) refers to this contact as structural openness and distinguishes it from communicative openness: the degree of willingness to think about and engage in discussions about adoption. Structural openness and communicative openness have been shown to benefit adoptees' development and other members of the adoption kinship network, including adoptive parents and birth family members (Siegel & Smith, 2012).Qualitative investigation of adoptive parents' (Hays et al., 2016), birth mothers' (Clutter, 2017), and adoptees' (Berge et al., 2006) experiences with open adoption is not absent from the empirical literature. However, Goldberg's book provides an unmatched look into the perceptions of adoptive parents over time. The depth of the stories, the exploration of both structural openness and communicative openness, and the intersection of openness with other contemporary adoption trends all contribute to its success.