Children of Open Adoption and Their Families

Silber and Dorner, who have developed and implemented open adoption policies in Texas, here define this unconventional practice as one that ``includes the birthparents and adoptive parents meeting one another, sharing full identifying information, and having access to ongoing contact over the years''; they further advocate that the biological parents be considered extended family, like other relatives of the adoptive family. On these terms, suggests this balanced evaluation, adoptees can be spared much of the anguish afflicting those for whom the circumstances of birth remain unknown; birth parents can better cope with their grief and accept their own choice; adoptive parents will almost always be reassured, both because they feel ``accepted'' by the birth parents and because they better realize that the birth parents will not reverse their decision. Case studies, including letters by involved parties, bolster the authors' practical guidelines as well as their astute analysis of the complex emotions surrounding adoption. (Feb.)