Adoption

If you have decided to end your fertility treatments, you do not need to give up hope of bringing a child into your home. There are alternatives to fertility treatments available to couples who are eager to be loving parents to a beautiful child. One such option is adoption, which is one of the most wonderful choices any couple can make. It can provide a child with devoted and caring parents and it also brings special joy into a couple’s life.

What is Adoption?

Most of us are familiar with adoption - it involves parenting a child who was born by another father and mother. When you adopt, you take on all parental rights of the child and are responsible for raising him, providing for him, and loving him. Children are available for adoption from all over the world, and you can have the option of adopting domestically or abroad. No matter what route your decide to take, adoption is a wonderful way of adding to and enriching your family.

Types of Adoption

When you consider adoption, it is important to decide what type of adoption you would like to pursue:

Open Adoption
Open adoption has now become the most popular form of adoption. In an open adoption, the birth mother is allowed to take a very active role. She is involved in finding and choosing the right parents for her child. She is also allowed to maintain an informal relationship with her child and the adoptive parents. Depending upon what is agreed upon, this may include updates on her child’s development or occasional visits with the adoptive family.

Open adoption is now the type of adoption recommended by most adoption agencies. Open adoption has been found to help the adopted child to feel safe, secure, and emotionally stable. It also makes for a wonderful and loving family environment.

Closed Adoption
Closed adoptions are less common today, especially in the United States and Canada. In a closed adoption, an adoption agency is in charge of finding the appropriate adoptive parents for a child. All details about the birth parents are kept hidden from the adoptive parents. The birth mother and father have no input as to who will get to adopt their child, and they will no longer be able to see or speak with their child. Adoption records remain sealed.

Closed adoptions were very popular in the past, but have since fallen out of favor. During the 1940s and 1950s, closed adoptions were viewed as normal and acceptable by most parents. However, by the 1960s and 1970s, more men and women began to call for involvement in the adoption process. As a result, adoption laws in many countries began to change, allowing birth parents more involvement in the adoption process.